Taking old roommate to small claims court

[arkcom]

You lived there alone for some time, and were able to pay for it your self. Why not just do that now? If you go to court you will just end up money behind. He'll just quit his job if he gets garnished. He already said he was thinking about quiting.

 

[bsobel]

Originally posted by: arkcom
You lived there alone for some time, and were able to pay for it your self. Why not just do that now? If you go to court you will just end up money behind. He'll just quit his job if he gets garnished. He already said he was thinking about quiting.

And never get another job? Not likely.

 

[arkcom]

Originally posted by: bsobel

Originally posted by: arkcom
You lived there alone for some time, and were able to pay for it your self. Why not just do that now? If you go to court you will just end up money behind. He'll just quit his job if he gets garnished. He already said he was thinking about quiting.

And never get another job? Not likely.

So pay a few hundred in court fees now, to maybe get 1/2 of three months rent sometime in the future?

 

[alevasseur14]

I'm in the same boat. My roomie hasn't paid rent since March. Luckily, my landlord is about as cool as they come and isn't holding me responsible for the other half. He owes me about 150 in utilities and owes the landlord just under 1k. If push comes to shove, the landlord said he'd break the current lease and let me just pay my half until September when my lease is up and I have another roommate lined up.

I'm really lucky my landlord is as cool as he is, I really hope your situation works out. I don't want to take the roomie to court over utilities, but I'm not seeing any other way. Good luck!

 

[Gunslinger08]

If he's on the lease, I don't see how they can hold you responsible for him failing to pay.

 

[alevasseur14]

Originally posted by: joshsquall
If he's on the lease, I don't see how they can hold you responsible for him failing to pay.

I think the idea here is that having both your names on the lease just states who's allowed to stay on the premises. As far as the rent, it needs to be paid in full, regardless of who pays what portion.

That's how I've always understood it anyways.

 

[waffleironhead]

If he is that young you might have a chance of getting the parents to kick in the money. It might be worth it to contact them. While it is not there responsibility, many parents are pretty good at making sure their kids avoid responsibility by taking care of problems for them.

 

[DaveSimmons]

Mail a copy of the lease to his parents to try to shame him into paying up.

 

[MichaelD]

I'm :laugh:ing hard at the general ignorance in this thread.

Ignorance: ?noun: the state or fact of being ignorant; lack of knowledge, learning, information, etc.

Anyone renting to college kids, AND their lawyer, property manager, etc are well aware of ALL the possible negatives that come with renting to young people with no/hanging by a thread jobs, no skills and zero dependibility. I guarantee you that the wording of the lease leaves the original lessor or lessees (sp?) 100% responsible for all rent/deposits/damages. I.E. the OP, being the sole, original signor of the lease, is on the hook for it all.

The OP was ignorant when he sublet to a friend of a friend with no security deposit required. What young people don't understand (I didn't either, 20 years ago) is that business is business.

Here's what should've happened when the OP was thinking about letting the bum live there:

/flashback swirly sound

"Uhm, hey, Bob. *young people high five/handshake/gang sign* I know, like you're all Tom's friend and all but like, I'm the name on the lease. If you're late on the rent, I'm locking you out of the apartment until you pay it. Sorry but that's the way it is...if you can deal, then you're in."

OP is ESPECIALLY ignorant if he was able to pay the rent by himself but then got himself into the situation anyway.

Good luck, OP. Roommates suck. I lived alone from 1996-2006...after getting screwed over by roommates, of course. We all have to learn the hard way. I hope you have.

 

[ManyBeers]

Originally posted by: ScottyB
Why didn't you just find another roommate when the other one wanted to leave instead of being a putz about it?

Wow dude! I'd hate to have you as a friend.

 

[alevasseur14]

Originally posted by: ManyBeers

Originally posted by: ScottyB
Why didn't you just find another roommate when the other one wanted to leave instead of being a putz about it?

Wow dude! I'd hate to have you as a friend.

No kidding. You try and find another roommate that isn't going to suck in such short notice.

 

[Terabyte]

Call his parents. Haha.

 

[SilentZero]

Originally posted by: edro
Your only hope is Judge Judy.

^ See above

 

[leglez]

Yeah now that I think about it I guess it is only right to try and get the rent and not really worry about the utilities except for the half month that he stayed here and still owes.

I can afford living here by myself thats not a problem, the problem is that he signed the lease and is responsible for his half of the lease. Only reason I let him move in was because he wanted to move out of his parents house and I was trying to be the nice guy. I realize that was a bad decision now and I don't plan on having anyone else move in.

And the whole parents thing won't work at all. His parents were wanting him back home just as much as he was. They talked to the landlord multiple times trying to get him off the lease. His parents told the landlord that he would continue to pay rent and the half of utilities that he owed the first of every month.

I am going to go ahead and type of some sort of letter and send it to him through certified post and hope to get a reply or something from it and see where that leads.

 

[newnameman]

Originally posted by: leglez
And the whole parents thing won't work at all. His parents were wanting him back home just as much as he was. They talked to the landlord multiple times trying to get him off the lease. His parents told the landlord that he would continue to pay rent and the half of utilities that he owed the first of every month.

If that's the case, you definitely should contact his parents. They tried to clean up his mess once before, there's a good chance they'll do it again.

 

[DayLaPaul]

I would go with talking to his parents idea before the small claims idea. Let them know that he's risking fucking up his credit if he doesn't make good on the lease in some way. Hopefully his parents will have more wisdom than he does and realize how big of a deal that is.

However, getting him to pay for the entirety of the lease is not very likely. I would ask him for 2-3 months worth of rent and cut my loses. It's better than him finding the first crackhead on craigslist to assume the rest of the lease for him.