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Would work on moving out to smallest studio apartment necessary to get away. REFUSE to put any bills in your name with these kind of roommates. Her behavior could be indication of a mental illness which usually shows up by doing passive aggressive behaviors and just builds from there. Will probably find her complaining and very critical of most people and you just snickered for a while until she's obsessed about messing up you. Since she could handle the couple thousand in bills for a whole year before presenting the bill to you for payment, may consider bailing out right now if lease allows it now and move away. Would make small payments to her for a while to pay off monies due...Would especially leave if my name was not on lease. But if you are on lease, will probably ********* harder unless you can arrange with apartment manager to let you out of lease upon renewal period. If you have to remain on lease, these type will probably get you in trouble by abandoning apartment without paying rent or do tons of damage so you are on the hook. Just keep quiet while you ask the apartment manager to be dropped if you are on the lease.
If you are stuck in this situation another year, I would keep quiet or this situation may turn into hell with someone who will pull this. This little bump in the road was nothing...Work to dissolve the roommate relationship when lease allows it and be financially ready to move to other housing or back to family/friends temporarily until you can find a rental you can afford.
What did you do at the first of the month when rent was due? If she didn't ask for the rent, you just didn't pay it? Most of us know what day of the month the utility bill arrives in the mail and the due date. Sounds like you went ahead and just spent the money, instead of saving it and having it ready for her when she requested the lump sum payment.
LOL.
You clearly have a great overview on my bank balance. Didn't know Big Brother extended to CD.
Would work on moving out to smallest studio apartment necessary to get away. REFUSE to put any bills in your name with these kind of roommates. Her behavior could be indication of a mental illness which usually shows up by doing passive aggressive behaviors and just builds from there. Will probably find her complaining and very critical of most people and you just snickered for a while until she's obsessed about messing up you. Since she could handle the couple thousand in bills for a whole year before presenting the bill to you for payment, may consider bailing out right now if lease allows it now and move away. Would make small payments to her for a while to pay off monies due...Would especially leave if my name was not on lease. But if you are on lease, will probably ********* harder unless you can arrange with apartment manager to let you out of lease upon renewal period. If you have to remain on lease, these type will probably get you in trouble by abandoning apartment without paying rent or do tons of damage so you are on the hook. Just keep quiet while you ask the apartment manager to be dropped if you are on the lease.
If you are stuck in this situation another year, I would keep quiet or this situation may turn into hell with someone who will pull this. This little bump in the road was nothing...Work to dissolve the roommate relationship when lease allows it and be financially ready to move to other housing or back to family/friends temporarily until you can find a rental you can afford.
We all have separate leases which is something I was adamant about due to my last tenancy experience.
I would like to point out an incident that happened with her before I even moved in, which makes me doubt her character a bit.
She advertised an "ensuite" room online. When I got to the apartment to visit, the room turned out not to be ensuite. I asked her about it and her response was: "I have the ensuite room, this is a simple room".
It was her who posted the ad since her name was on it.
She put up pictures of a different room to attract prospective tenants and it was not close to reality. I had to take the room because I was under pressure to move out, but clearly, if she wasn't truthful about the room ad, I can't possibly believe that her leaving the bills piled up was due to laziness or a favor she was doing us. Hence the fact I'm quite annoyed at the bill now as it seems any financial dealing with her is schemed. She's got no transparency.
I set up a monthly direct debit order towards the other tenant who is in charge of the other fixed bills to ensure no issue will happen with him. The other one I'm still debating as to whether I will take over those bills. I was advised to take over the highest bill, but this is a bad idea in my opinion, because the risk is higher.
The bill has now been sorted, but I have serious concerns about her character now that I come to think of it.
Last edited by LostinPhilly; 12-23-2017 at 03:13 AM..
Yes you do owe the bill, but I wouldn’t pay anything until I had a copies of every bill throughout the year. She can claim any amount she wants and you have no proof without the bills. Then I’d tell her paying in a lump sum like that during the holidays is a burden, so you’re going to divide the amount in arrears by the number of payment periods and add that amount to each current bill going forward until it’s paid off. If you get a bill every 2 months, that’s 6 extra payments over the next year. You’re basically paying the bill just like you would have if she’d asked you for your portion in a timely manner. Whether you have the total amount now or not isn’t the point. I’d do it that way to teach her a lesson about respecting other people’s budgets. She doesn’t get to unilaterally decide to wait until the end of the year and use you and the other roommate like a holiday savings plan, then hit you both up for a lump sum like it has no impact on your budgets.
I wouldn’t put any of the bills in your name. If she’s that irresponsible with collecting money, she may not be any better about paying her portion once it’s in your name. And if she moves, I can almost guarantee she’ll skip out on the closing bills.
Going forward, see if the account can be set up so all roommates can view it online. Everyone should have user name/password access to the account so they can log in and see the total amount, then use one of those payment apps to send her your portion when it’s due. It would be ideal if you could get all (or as many as possible) of the common household bills set up this way, i.e., water, trash, internet, cable TV, etc.
If getting the account online isn’t possible, then at least get copies of the current year’s bills so you can see what the usage trends are for each season, then you can send her an estimated amount each billing period. If it’s off, then you can settle the difference at the end of the year, but at least it won’t be $500 or $1000 all at once.
But whatever you decide to do, communicate your plan to both of your roommates so it’s not a surprise.
I’d tell her paying in a lump sum like that during the holidays is a burden
How so? The OP knew she was responsible for paying her portion of the bill. That should not have been money that she was spending. If she didn't want to speak up and ask about the bill, then she should have just moved enough to cover the bill into a savings account each month.
I don't understand how each roommate has their own lease but certain roommates have the bills in their name. Seems like the homeowner should have all bills in his name and collect. I was under the impression that the op was renting a room from the one who is asking for the money but I think it's 3 strangers renting from the owner. The whole thing seems awkward.
How so? The OP knew she was responsible for paying her portion of the bill. That should not have been money that she was spending. If she didn't want to speak up and ask about the bill, then she should have just moved enough to cover the bill into a savings account each month.
I agree, but I have the hindsight of a 51 year old person who has lived through some of these situations and, as a result, has become a responsible member of society who pays my bills on time. I no longer get myself into these situations because I’ve learned to read the signs before problems arise. How many of us had that kind of foresight in our 20s (the age range I assume the OP to be in), to set aside utility money on a monthly basis? Part of the adulting process is learning from this experience how to do it better going forward. The OP learns that the money is still owed because the utilities were used, regardless of whether or not the roommate asks for it in a timely manner. And the roommate learns that it’s not ok to commandeer other people’s budgets by demanding a burdensome lump sum payment like a Christmas bonus. All parties share responsibility. The OP doesn’t deny that the money is owed to the roommate. The OP is asking how to deal with it and the payment arrangements going forward. My suggestion was designed to put some of the responsibility on the roommate for handling the situation poorly. What if the OP really didn’t have the money in a lump sum to pay the roommate? What if the OP had no way to borrow the money? What’s a reasonable solution? My suggestion is to pay the arrears monthly, along with whatever the current bill is, until the OP is caught up. The solution places responsibility on both parties, as it should be, for letting this go on for a year.
In fact, I would make a further suggestion that the OP request in writing that the roommate provide the previous year’s bills. Don’t ask verbally, get it in writing in case it ever goes to small claims court, that way there’s proof. In the letter, acknowledge that you own an unspecified amount of money towards the utilities, but want to see the bills first and want to make payment arrangements with the roommate so it’s not such a burden on your budget. That way, if you ever have to go to court over this you have proof that you tried to work it out with the roommate beforehand. A judge will be more likely to view you favorably and allow you to make payments if the roommate becomes unreasonable and demands all the money up front without proof of what you owe.
I don't understand how each roommate has their own lease but certain roommates have the bills in their name. Seems like the homeowner should have all bills in his name and collect. I was under the impression that the op was renting a room from the one who is asking for the money but I think it's 3 strangers renting from the owner. The whole thing seems awkward.
Yes, each of us is renting directly from the landlord (under separate leases).
I don't see anything awkward about this. This provides me security lease wise as none of my rommates can interfere in my tenancy and should they fail to pay their rent, they have to take oit up directly with the landlord not me.
Yes, each of us is renting directly from the landlord (under separate leases).
I don't see anything awkward about this. This provides me security lease wise as none of my rommates can interfere in my tenancy and should they fail to pay their rent, they have to take oit up directly with the landlord not me.
I'm saying that the bill payment process is awkward since it's not a typical roommate situation. I think he should have the bills in his name and collect from you three instead of having you guys be responsible for collecting from each other.
He's basically running a boarding house and imo should be in charge of the utilities bills and payment should be remitted to him.
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