Roommate moves out, gives no notice, belongins are still there, and she thinks she doesn't need to pay rent (apartment)

[kt82]

Hi,

I have a more detailed summary below, but basically I was wondering if I have a case here. All roommates signed a roommate agreement that expires on Nov 1st. Per the roommate agreement, you must give 30 days notice of moving out if you decide to leave before November 1st. Each roommate pays a total of $850 +$100 utilities. One roommate never gave any notice, her belongings are still there, and she thinks she doesn't have to pay rent because she is not physically in the apartment. She says she told me she was looking for another apartment and that she said she couldn't afford the current apartment. The only time she said she couldn't afford it was to RESIGN the lease on Nov 1st to continue to live there. And she never once said she was looking for an apartment or that she was moving out. She also said she can't move her belongings because she just had surgery. I have all this documented in text messages and the signed roommate agreement. At this point she owes me a total of $1,200. Below is a more detail description.

I live in a 3 bedroom with two other roommates. I'm the only one on the lease from the landlord, but all three of us signed a rooommate agreement where they pay me rent + utilities and I pay one check to the landlord. One moved in April 1st and the other on May 1st. Both paid a security deposit of $850 and 1 month's rent of $850 and moving forward agreed to pay a flat rate of $100 for utilities. Keep in mind Comcast by itself was over $300, so they were getting a pretty good deal So the lease from the landlord ends on Nov 1st. This is also true that the roommate agreement is through Nov 1st. So both are paying the full amount to me, $950, on time until one of them looses/quits her job (I'm not sure the exact story there). August rolls around and she let's me know that she she will pay me $800. So she owes me $150. September comes, she will be a week late. I say fine. Week rolls around and still no word, so I send a text, she says to use her deposit. Fine, which means she owes $150 from last month and now $100 for utilities. I text both of them letting them know that I will not be resigning the lease on Nov. 1st, but the landlord has said they can stay if they want, they would just have to resign. The one that owes me money says "I can barely afford it now with my new job, so I don't think I can". Fine whatever. The landlord doesn't want to find new tenants so she drops the rent price. Again she says "Yeah no thank you" So I get a text from her late September saying that she is in the hospital. I saw her once on September 28th and she let me know she was going to stay with her parents to recover. I texted her on Oct 2nd, asking when she will get me the rent. Her response, "I'm not living there, why should I have to pay rent?" She just keeps coming up with ridiculous excuses that my other roommate can attest to. I just feel like I won't see this money unless I take her to court. Any thoughts?

[emathias]

Originally Posted by kt82

...
I texted her on Oct 2nd, asking when she will get me the rent. Her response, "I'm not living there, why should I have to pay rent?" She just keeps coming up with ridiculous excuses that my other roommate can attest to. I just feel like I won't see this money unless I take her to court. Any thoughts?

If someone doesn't understand what personal responsibility is, they're not going to just give you money. I'd tell her you're going to sell all of her items and give what doesn't sell to Goodwill. If she's cool with that, do it. If she isn't, she has x number of days to pay her rent.

You could try talking to her parents if you know how to contact them. Once I sold something on EBay and the buyer was trying to renege on the deal and I quite accidentally got ahold of her grandmother (I had a phone number from EBay and it happened to be her grandmother's), so I explained the situation to her grandmother and the next day payment came through via Paypal. This is a little different, but likely her parents understand what a rental agreement means.

Or you could take her to court - you'd almost certainly win, but even with a judgement you might have a hard time collecting.

[Alacran]

Free pawn items

[personone]

Originally Posted by emathias

If someone doesn't understand what personal responsibility is, they're not going to just give you money. I'd tell her you're going to sell all of her items and give what doesn't sell to Goodwill. If she's cool with that, do it. If she isn't, she has x number of days to pay her rent.

You could try talking to her parents if you know how to contact them. Once I sold something on EBay and the buyer was trying to renege on the deal and I quite accidentally got ahold of her grandmother (I had a phone number from EBay and it happened to be her grandmother's), so I explained the situation to her grandmother and the next day payment came through via Paypal. This is a little different, but likely her parents understand what a rental agreement means.

Or you could take her to court - you'd almost certainly win, but even with a judgement you might have a hard time collecting.

The notice/threat to take her to court would likely immediately scare her into paying up. I would consider letting her know that you didn't want to go this route but that you will if you have to.

Now if she still doesn't bulk, then you'd have to make a decision. The time/cost of actually taking someone to court may not be worth it. However, as a polite threat, it could be used in an attempt to get her to pay up.

[citylove101]

Originally Posted by emathias

If someone doesn't understand what personal responsibility is, they're not going to just give you money. I'd tell her you're going to sell all of her items and give what doesn't sell to Goodwill. If she's cool with that, do it. If she isn't, she has x number of days to pay her rent.

You could try talking to her parents if you know how to contact them. Once I sold something on EBay and the buyer was trying to renege on the deal and I quite accidentally got ahold of her grandmother (I had a phone number from EBay and it happened to be her grandmother's), so I explained the situation to her grandmother and the next day payment came through via Paypal. This is a little different, but likely her parents understand what a rental agreement means.

Or you could take her to court - you'd almost certainly win, but even with a judgement you might have a hard time collecting.

There's your answer.

[ChiGuy2.5]

You could follow through with the advice of selling her items to cover some of the rent but unless she has nice stuff I doubt it would cover the cost. Certainly don't do that without consulting her though, those items are still her property and you don't want to do anything that might put you in the wrong.

Are you all DePaul students? I dealt with a similar situation in the past where a roommate who wasn't on the lease didn't pay us. We had one of our DePaul roommates speak to the CSLS to see what options we had.

Turns out we didn't have to investigate much further since our landlord agreed to eat the cost of the missing rent. I will tell you what I know which is that you can definitely take her to small claims court. Sounds like you have all of the evidence necessary to win your case. All you can do in the short term is limit your losses which starts with giving her written notice. You need to give written notice to her TODAY to vacate the property immediately within 30 days (you must give written notice 30 days in advance before evicting someone who doesn't have a signed lease). After 30 days is up you can throw her stuff out to the curb. You should not have used her deposit already since now you have nothing to fallback on for any owed rent but what's done is done. Sorry you have to go through this, people suck sometimes.

https://resources.depaul.edu/student...s/default.aspx

[nonnieparent]

Illinoislegalaid.org

[glass_of_merlot]

Originally Posted by emathias

if someone doesn't understand what personal responsibility is, they're not going to just give you money. i'd tell her you're going to sell all of her items and give what doesn't sell to goodwill. If she's cool with that, do it. If she isn't, she has x number of days to pay her rent.

.

op this! ^^

[glass_of_merlot]

Is this why landlords like to have a just 1 renter or a family. When I said to my landlord we were a family moving to our current apartment, he seemed excited. lol