Worst roommate evvaaah!!

Joe · Post by **Joe** » 2004-12-21 05:28pm

I've had bad roommates before, but no one would put up with even 2% of this shit. When you have roommates, only one of you is actually holding the lease. If it's you, you can just kick him out. If it's him, you can just leave.

Actually, me and my roommates had to sign our own leases. No one person is legally responsible for all of the rent (that's how it is for utilities, though). Of course, in this story, the crazy roommate was the one responsible for the rent.

Dillon · Post by **Dillon** » 2004-12-21 05:44pm

That whole thing sounds made up to me, but that guy would make a pretty good writer.

Lord Rog · Post by **Lord Rog** » 2004-12-21 08:23pm

Darth Wong wrote:I've had bad roommates before, but no one would put up with even 2% of this shit. When you have roommates, only one of you is actually holding the lease. If it's you, you can just kick him out. If it's him, you can just leave.

This isn't always the case over here. Last year I ended up renting a house with my friend Kate (we have known each other for about 10 years and she is kinda like a sister) and her boyfriend of about 4 months, Dave. The tenancy we signed had all three of our names on it and we were each liable for our share of the rent for 12 months (or the landlady would take legal action to recover the rent) meaning we could not move out until the end of the tenancy.

4 months into the tenancy Kate dumps Dave as he was becoming increasingly violent and spent most of his time drunk (he didn't work and was on some kind of invalidity benefit after blagging some bullshit back problem). Unfortunately he didn't leave and proceeded to make our lives as miserable as possible for the next 8 months, he tried to assault me twice, had his friends over drinking for days on end (I believe one of them actually stayed on the sette for 3 months), he turned the lower floor of the house into a complete shit tip. Thankfully our bedrooms were upstairs (his - well the spare one he moved into when they split up - was not) and we soon put locks on the doors.

Worst of all he used to be exceptionally abusive towards Kate (I should point out that she suffers from bouts of extreme depression and agrophobia so made a particuarly easy target) whenever I wasn't around (like most bullys he wouldn't try his shit if there was someone around to stand up to him - at least whenwas sober). I often used to be called back from university to deal with this shit. Anyway eventually the tenancy run out and myself and Kate moved into another house away from Mr Woman Abusing Piece of Shit.

The story doesn't end here though as about a week later he somehow found out our new address (presumably through a mutal friend although I still don't know which Bastard betrayed us) and broke the front door down. Obviously I tried to stop him and we were still fighting in the hallway when the police arrived handcuffed him and took him away. For a few seconds I thought I was going to get nicked too for defending my home but I managed to talk calmly to the police officers and after explaining what had happened they put him in the cells for the night.

I didn't press charges but the police assured me that he had been told that if he came anywhere near our house agin he would be arrested. We haven't seen him since but I've been told that he has since been kicked out of the house of one of his friend's where he went to doss afterward for not paying the rent and is now livng back with his mother (and almost aged 30).

Unfortunately is is possible to be stuck in an unfavourable living arrangement but I have learned to be very careful about who I live with or even let hang around my house. Hopefully Kate has learned to develope a better taste in men as well.

Anhaga · Post by **Anhaga** » 2004-12-22 02:29am

Joe wrote:
I've had bad roommates before, but no one would put up with even 2% of this shit. When you have roommates, only one of you is actually holding the lease. If it's you, you can just kick him out. If it's him, you can just leave.
Actually, me and my roommates had to sign our own leases. No one person is legally responsible for all of the rent (that's how it is for utilities, though). Of course, in this story, the crazy roommate was the one responsible for the rent.

Thats pretty much how it is over here too. Everyone signs the lease for a 12 month period. So if you end up fighting with your housemates you're pretty much stuck.

Post by **Darth Wong** » 2004-12-22 02:36am

Why would you sign partnership leases? That's just asking for trouble; partnership is not something you walk into lightly.

Joe · Post by **Joe** » 2004-12-22 02:46am

Well, they both have their ups and downs...yeah, if you do it this way, you run the risk of running into roommate trouble and not being able to boot the guy out. But on the other hand, if one of your roommate defaults on the rent and you're the one who's legally responsible for paying it...well, you're totally and completely fucked, aren't you? If you've got separate leases, though, it's his problem and his alone when he decides to stop paying rent.

Anhaga · Post by **Anhaga** » 2004-12-22 02:48am

Darth Wong wrote:Why would you sign partnership leases? That's just asking for trouble; partnership is not something you walk into lightly.

Admittedly this is a somewhat unique situation- since these are student houses, you'd generally rent the house together with people you would have lived with in the university's halls during your first year. Thus you have some notion of what you're getting into.

Post by **Darth Wong** » 2004-12-22 03:19am

Joe wrote:Well, they both have their ups and downs...yeah, if you do it this way, you run the risk of running into roommate trouble and not being able to boot the guy out. But on the other hand, if one of your roommate defaults on the rent and you're the one who's legally responsible for paying it...well, you're totally and completely fucked, aren't you?

Not really. He comes home to discover that his stuff is on the lawn, and you either get another roommate or deal with it until the next semester; I always had enough spare cash in university to deal with contingencies like that. You need a contingency fund after all.

If you've got separate leases, though, it's his problem and his alone when he decides to stop paying rent.

No, it's your problem because the landlord can't kick him out for a long time even for nonpayment. Nor can he evict him at all during the winter months, at least not where I live. So you're stuck with him, and anybody who defaults on the rent is going to be a complete prick in most cases anyway, so you can look forward to months of hell. It's like being temporarily married, but without the benefit of sex.

Joe · Post by **Joe** » 2004-12-22 03:32am

Not really. He comes home to discover that his stuff is on the lawn, and you either get another roommate or deal with it until the next semester; I always had enough spare cash in university to deal with contingencies like that. You need a contingency fund after all.

Not always that easy. We sign yearly leases around here, so you could potentially end up waiting over half a year to deal with it. And spare roommates are hard to come by; people are desperate to sublet their apartments during the summer months when they go home/have to leave town for an internship.

No, it's your problem because the landlord can't kick him out for a long time even for nonpayment. Nor can he evict him at all during the winter months, at least not where I live. So you're stuck with him, and anybody who defaults on the rent is going to be a complete prick in most cases anyway, so you can look forward to months of hell. It's like being temporarily married, but without the benefit of sex.

Points, but honestly I would rather have to put up with a shitty roommate and not worry about paying his bills than boot him out and pay all his rent and utilities. Of course, my experience with roommates in college has been pretty good so far even after going pot luck a couple of times during the early years, so I guess I've been more lucky than some people.

Post by **Darth Wong** » 2004-12-22 03:36am

Joe wrote:
Not really. He comes home to discover that his stuff is on the lawn, and you either get another roommate or deal with it until the next semester; I always had enough spare cash in university to deal with contingencies like that. You need a contingency fund after all.
Not always that easy. We sign yearly leases around here, so you could potentially end up waiting over half a year to deal with it. And spare roommates are hard to come by; people are desperate to sublet their apartments during the summer months when they go home/have to leave town for an internship.

Oh yeah, I forgot about universities that don't have year-round education. I went to a real school

No, it's your problem because the landlord can't kick him out for a long time even for nonpayment. Nor can he evict him at all during the winter months, at least not where I live. So you're stuck with him, and anybody who defaults on the rent is going to be a complete prick in most cases anyway, so you can look forward to months of hell. It's like being temporarily married, but without the benefit of sex.
Points, but honestly I would rather have to put up with a shitty roommate and not worry about paying his bills than boot him out and pay all his rent and utilities. Of course, my experience with roommates in college has been pretty good so far even after going pot luck a couple of times during the early years, so I guess I've been more lucky than some people.

I've had a few bad roommates, but none that ever got that bad. I had one that probably would have gotten that bad, but because I was the leaseholder and he had no legal status, he knew he couldn't do anything or I'd just throw his shit on the lawn when he was at class and change the locks.

Joe · Post by **Joe** » 2004-12-22 03:47am

Oh yeah, I forgot about universities that don't have year-round education. I went to a real school

Zing!

Actually, it does have year-round education - if you want, you can take summer semester every year, non-stop - but most people just take the three months off to work.

Bertie Wooster · Post by **Bertie Wooster** » 2004-12-22 09:12am

When I was 19, I had a 22 y.o. roomate who broke his lease and moved out at the end of the school year in May (he signed the lease through August, and I told him if he wasn't going to pay rent, I'd have his stuff removed and sell it), and he came back unexpectedly soon after moving out to hang out with another one of my roomates, and I told him he had to leave (He was probably going to start squatting) and he threw a temper-tantrum threatening to kick my ass, so I called the police to have him removed, and told him I'd put a restraining order on him.

A week later, I received a letter from his shrink saying he was on medication and in therapy and had been for quite some time. I put that letter in my "evidence" folder.

It's fucking amazing what some uneducated, thuggish, trashy scumbags think they can get away with, and how stupid they think other people are.