Need helpful advice please.......

Kiera

Hi guys and gals,

Need advice on what to do.

You might remember the thread about my weirdo housemate? http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=298864.

Right well things have been very strange from day one. He seems to have an obsessive compulsive disorder and it’s very extreme. Each to their own and all that as long as he’s not hurting anyone.

So anyway, he likes to shower a lot. He turns the immersion on for 2 hours in the morning and again in the evening for about an hour. I just got the ESB bill and its 325 (normally, without him it was 85 max). Now it’s set up as a direct debt from my account so it has to be paid but do you think that it should be split 3 ways or should he pay more? I need to sit down with him tonight about it as he’s leaving Ireland in the next few weeks and I heard last night that he was escorted out of work so he could leave any day now. Really need to sort this out asap.

Thanks.

Mr Magnolia

He should pay the difference, show him the bills with and without him.
If he's leaving the country I doubt you'll get too much out of him, rent or otherwise (he sounds dodgy).
It's going to be a tough one, keep us posted.
Good Luck!

Kiera

I’m kinda afraid approaching him about it coz he was escorted out of work and they don’t do that for no reason so I’m worried that I’ll be the straw that breaks the camels back. My other house mate is going to sit down with me tonight and we’ll talk to him about it but I just don’t know what way to go about it, as in what exactly to say without pssing him off.

RobEire

I would not worry about pissing him off if there are two of you present. If he goes off the deep end ring the Gardai - that will put paid to his leaving the country for a while and cost him a bit in rebooking flights, etc.

danniemcq

Personally i think he should pay more, if you have the old ESB bills show him how much it's gone up since he moved in.
you have 2 problems though in that he has no job therefore no money to pay it all so you might have to comprimise with him, and because he is leaving anyway if you pi$$ him off 2 much or he does get annoyed he could just up and leave depending on how big the deposit was

ferdi

absolutly he should pay the difference. if he is crazy enough to need the immersion on 3 hours a day for showering, why should you pay? your not family.

if you have a hefty male friend, invite him over while your having the talk with this housemate. this may make him less likely to cause trouble.

Kiera

His deposit is 250 but the landlady has that and I was talking to my boss today and he said by right she doesn’t have to pay his bills out of it. He is entitled to it back. She doesn’t live in the house so has nothing to do with it.

Beruthiel

Kiera wrote:

His deposit is 250 but the landlady has that and I was talking to my boss today and he said by right she doesn’t have to pay his bills out of it. He is entitled to it back. She doesn’t live in the house so has nothing to do with it.

talk to him first and see if he is open to paying it off
if not, I would then contact the landlady and explain the situation to her, she may not have to help you out, but perhaps she will....

danniemcq

the ESB is usually part of the deposit for the case of unpaid bills and/or reconnection fees. thats what happened with me before

Kiera

Beruthiel wrote:

talk to him first and see if he is open to paying it off
if not, I would then contact the landlady and explain the situation to her, she may not have to help you out, but perhaps she will....

Yeah i think thats the best thing to do.

How much of it do you think he should pay?

Beruthiel

Kiera wrote:

How much of it do you think he should pay?

well
325 (normally, without him it was 85 max)

I'd ask for 225 if your max without him is 85,
you paying the 100 means he has nothing to say - be sure to have some back up bills to prove this to him

Mr Magnolia

Kiera wrote:

Yeah i think thats the best thing to do.

How much of it do you think he should pay?

I thought you owned the house (1st line of attached link you said "new guy has moved into my house last week")

Definitely involve the land lady, if your renting long and are a good tenant, which I'm sure you are, she'll want to look after you.

He should pay 250+.

Talk to the landlady before you talk to him.

whiskeyman

Kiera wrote:

Yeah i think thats the best thing to do.

How much of it do you think he should pay?

You really should have addressed the immersion issue with him once you noticed it, and explained that this will mean an increased electricity bill and you'll have to consider him paying a higher percentage.

You could have also monitored the meter usage.

Given that this bill is probably for Nov / Dec, it's obviously going to be higher than previous months.

You may demand the extra money, but going on the above, he's a good case to say no, and just pay his third as normal.

Best of luck with him... sounds like a loose cannon.

Kiera

We did actually say it to him back in September coz he was leaving it on all day. We told him that it wasn’t on and that it was very dangerous and he said sorry and stopped leaving it on for so long.

Its just that he gets up at 4.30 to put it on and doesn’t hit the shower till 6.30. He used to put the heating on then too which we soon put a stop to by leaving a note by the switch.

Beruthiel

btw
is he still walking around in his man knickers?

Kiera

Yes he is the little bollox

seamus

2 hours? How long is his shower? 10-15 minutes beforehand is more than enough for a standard shower. Although if he's prone to compulsive behaviour, getting up 2 hours early is probably part of this - he would have trouble functioning if he couldn't get up and then go back to sleep.

It's a tad late now, but if he's very regular, you could have got a timer fitted whereby the immersion goes on at 6.15 and goes off at 6.35.

Our housemate left the immersion on for nearly two weeks one time... :eek:

ST*

Kiera wrote:

He seems to have an obsessive compulsive disorder and it’s very extreme.

Definitely time for a talk Kiera. It doesn't matter one way or the other if he has a disorder or not, he is still responsible for high bills, and he knows that too. Is it wise to have the bill paid by direct debit at the moment?

When I used to let out rooms, I left all the bills pinned on the noticeboard for all to see. tbh its your call, from what i've skimmed over he seems to be quite strange alright. This is going to seem quite sly, but I had an annoying lodger too and I told him I had to give him a months notice as I was returning the house to its owner. he was loopey enough to lose the head if you tried to approach him about a problem. I hated house sharing, there are so many people out there with very odd living habits. :v:
Good luck with the problem anyway.

seamus

Is he a tenant or a lodger?

If he has already lost his job, be wary of him trying to dodge his rent. If he's a tenant, you have to give him one month's notice to get rid of him (even if he hasn't paid his rent), but if he's a lodger you can just throw him out on the street.

Wait till rent day comes up, if he makes any excuses then either give him notice to quit or tell him he has 24 hours to pack up and leave (depending on which he is).

Kiera

seamus wrote:

Is he a tenant or a lodger?

If he has already lost his job, be wary of him trying to dodge his rent. If he's a tenant, you have to give him one month's notice to get rid of him (even if he hasn't paid his rent), but if he's a lodger you can just throw him out on the street.

Wait till rent day comes up, if he makes any excuses then either give him notice to quit or tell him he has 24 hours to pack up and leave (depending on which he is).

The house is rented out in rooms. There are three of us there and we all pay the rent separately to the landlady. He is leaving Ireland on the 28th to go back home for good. This is where my problem lies. The landlady is the one with his deposit.

Kiera

Update:

Came home to a nice long letter from him after he’d opened my post. Saying that there is no way we (underlined) used that much electricity in the last 2 months. He wasn’t home by the time I left last night so wrote a note back saying that it was so high because the immersion is on over 2 hours everyday.

Hopefully I’ll see him tonight to sort it out. I’m going to mail our landlady and fill her in and ask her what I can do about it.

Femelade

he opened your post?
good luck wit it, sounds like a complete nightmare to live with, hopefully he'll pay what he owes and sure u wont have to see him again.
i think if he does leave some bills unpaid then the landlord should just help ye out with that out of his deposit.

Demetrius

You ought to keep the pressure on him. The moment he gets his deposit back you all ought to confront him. It seems youve had to put up with alot over the last few months.

Kiera

Its just not as simple as that. He’s a very strange person and I don’t want to confront him too much cause I don’t know what way it will go. Hopefully the landlady will tell me that she still has his deposit and will hold it till he sorted us in the house out first.

Ickle Magoo

Maybe contact citizen's advice and see what they say - it doesn't seem fair that you would be black-listed or be forced to pay his share of the bills because you have to have the bill in someone's name....and that should be pointed out to the landlady.....maybe request a timer & meter are installed at the landlady's expense?.....

In my old office (Life Assurance) if you were sacked or even if you resigned you were escorted off the premises - I left work to come to Ireland and was escorted off the premises to ensure I didn't take any docs or anything with me....so that may have an innocent enough explanation....

The getting up at 6 to put emersion on and walking around in tiny pants would freak me out too tho! Best of luck! :cool:

ST*

Kiera wrote:

Came home to a nice long letter from him after he’d opened my post. .

Did you inform him it is against to the law to open other peoples mail?

Kiera wrote:

Saying that there is no way we (underlined) used that much electricity in the last 2 months..

He has no plans to play fair on this one, go over his head.
Assumably its the landlady that selects the tenants then?

Kiera wrote:

I’m going to mail our landlady and fill her in and ask her what I can do about it.

Not being cheeky but, why you havent yet is beyond me.

Kiera

Shock_treatment wrote:

Not being cheeky but, why you havent yet is beyond me.

The electricity bill is nothing to do with her. Its not in her name so she doesn’t worry about it. Just like the oil. I’m only mailing her now as a last resort. There wasn’t much point getting her involved till I found out whether I was getting the bill sorted or not.

aoifeg

the post of yours that was opened - was it an electricity bill? cos that's not so bad.. mad flatmates are tough tho- i found emailing threshold.ie really helpful with this sort of stuff before

ST*

Kiera wrote:

There wasn’t much point getting her involved till I found out whether I was getting the bill sorted or not.

I can see your point Kiera, but I was wondering who does the tenant selecting? It must be the landlady if she has the deposit.

I rented a house, and sub-letted the spare rooms. the landlord said he was ok with it. now all the bills were in my name, not linked to my bank account, and I held onto the deposits from the sub-letters, as the contract was in my name, any damages etc, and I would be held accountable. I brought them in and chucked them out as I saw fit.

Its not fair to you what is going on Kiera is all Im saying. You don't need all this crap coming home after a days work.

Kiera

Email from my landlady:

Kiera,

Panty-wearing-guy sent me a txt about ESB and that fact that he thinks other bills were estimated. I told him to ring the ESB and get whatever info he needs.

Don't worry he will need to pay whatever you agree before I give him back his deposit. Keep me updated on the progress, I think he is due to go around 28th.

Landlady.

Woohoo

ST*

Great stuff Kiera

Ickle Magoo

Nice one!! :cool:

Siogfinsceal

makes me angry how people do this. Same thing happened to a friend recently. Guy didnt pay rent for 2 months, refused to pay the 3rd month and she leagally still had to give him 28 days notice!! she ended having to move out herself too. Is he renting from you (ie are you sub-letting) or is he renting from the landlady??
Id sit him down with your other house mate and tell him he is paying the esb bill. also make it very clear that any other money he owes will also need to be paid asap before he fecks off

Kernel

Siogfinsceal wrote:

makes me angry how people do this. Same thing happened to a friend recently. Guy didnt pay rent for 2 months, refused to pay the 3rd month and she leagally still had to give him 28 days notice!!

I'm not one for advocating violence, but if someone owed me 3 months rent, they'd wake up tied to a chair with electrodes attached to their testicles!

Hagar

Kernel wrote:

I'm not one for advocating violence, but if someone owed me 3 months rent, they'd wake up tied to a chair with electrodes attached to their testicles!

That'll only run up a bigger ESB bill...

jaggeh

Kernel wrote:

I'm not one for advocating violence, but if someone owed me 3 months rent, they'd wake up tied to a chair with electrodes attached to their testicles!

people PAY good money for treatment like that, careful now....

Demetrius

Hagar wrote:

That'll only run up a bigger ESB bill...

Ha-ha good one!

Enii

Maybe the bill had been estimated at 85 for the past few months and then the 325 one was the actual meter reading.......

AngryBadger

Kiera wrote:

Email from my landlady:

Kiera,

Panty-wearing-guy sent me a txt about ESB and that fact that he thinks other bills were estimated. I told him to ring the ESB and get whatever info he needs.

Don't worry he will need to pay whatever you agree before I give him back his deposit. Keep me updated on the progress, I think he is due to go around 28th.

Landlady.

Woohoo

awwwwww....I mean that's great, but i'd just seen this post, and was reading through it,g etting ready to apply my ample problem solving skills, (and my +10 Hurley of Righteousness), to the....problem, and now it's solved.....

Now I know how Space Tree feels....

I kid! Glad it's sorted. *swish*

Kernel

Hagar wrote:

That'll only run up a bigger ESB bill...

Haha.. yah that's true, I'd use his car battery for juice!

jaggeh wrote:

people PAY good money for treatment like that, careful now....

So I'd get my 3 months rent and a few quid on the side! RESULT!

Hagar

If the bills were estimated there would be a letter E after the number of units on the calculation part of the bill.