OK, I am the landlord at the place I am living right now (aka I own it and rent it out). The room mate I have had this summer has been for about half of it cool and decent but turned to utter shite in the last half to the point where I would come home and find him doing drugs almost everyday, or there would be parties that after I told people to keep it down would get riled back up almost to the point where someone was knocked out by myself because they entered my room while I was sleeping. So now here is the kicker. I have a damaged table that is his fault. This isn't my table and there are burn marks in it from where he and his friends would smoke Hookah. I asked him a couple times to help me re-finish the table since I had also had to do some work on it from where I left marks in it from putting a bottle of bleach down on it. I have finished my bit and he moves out in under 12hrs. He has yet to do any of it and I am expecting him not to. Also two nights ago, we had a fire in the backyard and him and my other room mate who has been here since the 9th decided to bring out the petrol. long story short there was a line of fire leading to the petrol tank after one of them tried to make a molotov. They ran away from it while I, being the only sober one, ran and move the petrol tank away from the flames before it caught fire. Here is the deal, I am expecting him to tell me no when I ask that he pays for me to refinish the table that he messed up ( I would charge $50 since I have to sand the table past the burn marks, varnish it, and clear coat it). I can either A) Take him to small claims court over the cost B) Call the cops on his new residence for drugs. Both the room mates are living together in an apartment with other people who have REALLY pissed me off in the past. (I had to clean up one kids puke because he didn't feel like cleaning it up and left with some friends before i caught him). And all of them smoke weed habitually. At this point I really don't care if I **** up their lives by getting them in jail. The one room mate who burned the table already almost got kicked out of uni for stealing prescription meds. The only thing that prevented him from that having happen and going to jail was the fact that the kid who he stole from tried to extort him. So what do I do? Like i said, I don't care which court i show up to as I will be transferring Universities in 4 months.
This. Small claims court sounds like a hassle (even if it doesn't cost you anything, you still have to put time into it). You'd probably be doing society - and another landlord - a favour by calling the cops on them (anonymously) at their new address.
agree, just make sure he is up to no good at the new place already first. cause if hes not you might get stuck footing a false claims bill. Or did they do away with those?
Well all I have to say is "look for a diet coke can in the room and unscrew the top of it". And then they have evidence.
If you do call and they get into trouble, it may just be the opportunity they need to grow up and learn to be responsible. Then again, some people just never learn and you'll only have the satisfaction value. ;P
Do you not take a security deposit? Could the $50 not come from that? If not there's a free idea for you for the future
This. Also, make DAMN sure that you get away without suspicion if you are going to send the heat on them. From what you said, it sounds like you have a lot more to lose then they do, which means you cannot possibly win, even if they go to jail. In your situation, i'd take it out of his deposit if there is one, or otherwise hold an item from him as collateral. There's also the secret option Z: Just let it be, repair the damn table yourself, and be glad you never ever have to hear from this dickhead again. That would be well worth 50 pounds in my book.
"If you lend someone £1000 and never see them again - it was worth it" (quote from somoene who's name doesn't spring to mind) If you're moving away in a few months - report them in a few months. But yeah - withhold it from the deposit, that's what it's for! RwD
Do A, then B, and then when they're down at the police station, break in and reclaim the money he obviously didn't stump up in part A. I may or may not be serious. Use your discretion.
I agree with this - is the fact that these people will be out of your life not enough? And yeah raid the security deposit for the table man.
Actually for their behaviour I would not return ANY of the deposit. I would however call the cops and while they are in lockup dump all their crap out on the street and change the locks. Oh and have a few big mates around for when they return. Just in case.
Im not sure how the legal system works where you are, but over here you can get a Possession Order - meaning you can keep his stuff up to the valuse of damages, back rent etc, It all depends if you want to pay the legal costs but you can put them on to the money you want from this room mate. Option B - sounds like a good idea, But the best option is to break the F****** legs
Well there is one problem, the guy who came the 9th of august isn't under contract since he was here that short amount of time and i didn't expect him to be this retarded. Also, and this is purely my fault, since this was a last minute deal on the house I overlooked the security deposit while writing the agreement. Granted it is in there now for the other people moving in tomorrow, but for my current room mate there isn't one.
I'd just repair the damn table and be glad not to see 'em, just like Xtrafresh said. Both these options are liable to end in more effort for you. Do you really want that?
Ah, i see. In that case, i'd take the 50 as a loss, and just bug him about it from time to time (whenever you feel like it), preferrably in front of his mates. Don't expect to ever see it back though
Well option B only requires an anonymous tip to the local "crimestoppers" and can net me some cash (min $100 up to $1000) I think at this point though I will just let them go, although revenge would be oh so sweet since the poor schmuck wants to be a lawyer, and i quote "I should really stop doing stupid **** that can get me in trouble"
upto that last post where you said he wants to be a lawyer i was thinking just leave it. itd b so sweet if he couldnt b a lawyer because he had a record becuase you reported him but seriously personally id say just forget it and be glad to be rid of him. is it worth the bother of getting the money off him and if you report him will he not just figure out it was you and do stuff to your house? he does know where you live
