Who pays the bills?

AstonMartin

a girl has been living in the house for 6 months.

apart from deposit and first month she has not paid rent. Telling the landlord she is expecting a cheque, ect ect.

she has not paid anything towards the bills and we have continued to pay our share while leaving the arrears for her to deal with.

it has come to a head recently and we think she will do a runner soon.

she owes e500 on the household bills. She likes her little fan heater!

3 bed house, nobody knew eachother before moving in. Agreement was rent room only, nobody signed a lease for the house as a unit.

her deposit is e250.

we have all the old bills and receipts to show we paid 2/3 of each new bill (arrears excluded).

we all get on and she is convinced if she takes off we wont get stuck with her bill.

what is the story here and a link to any legislation would be appreciated as it can be expected the landlord will chance his luck with leaving us with the bill.

thanks.

patwicklow

Its hard to know what type of contract that yous have, like say 3 people at 300 per month plus bills then if its that type then yes she sould pay,you say she likes to over use the fan heater well they really hike up the esb bill only thing is some one have a quite word with her or some thing clear the air and know were you all stand like, because it aint worth bikkering behind each others backs,

Victor

Does the landlord know she isn't paying bills?

She is taking you for a ride. The utilities will come after whoever's name is on the account. They won't take a sob story about how she did a runner.

You need to get together and sit her down and give her an ultimatum to clear it within 7 days (or a substantial part thereof) or you will be taking legal advice. While this may force her into doing the runner, at least you'll be rid of her. AFAIK you can take her to the small claims court for mutually incurred bills.

An alternative is to clarify with her where she expects this money to come from. If she is waiting on social welfare, she should go to the community welfare officer and ask for an interim payment, ont he grounds that not paying rent and bills is cuasing hardship to others. I'd escort her to the CWO for this.

You might talk to Threshold. www.threshold.ie

AstonMartin

The bills (esb, gas, bins) are in a combination of names.

one is in the name of the landlord, one is "the occupier" and the other is in the name of a previous tenant that we never got around to updating.

we can make it clear we paid our share.
assuming she takes off will the landlord have to cover her share or will we have to cover it?

if its a case the landlord has to cover it as we have a room only lease i will leave the legal choice/threashold dealings between them and not bother to rock the boat if i am not going to be out of pocket.

AstonMartin

The landlord knows she is not paying the bills until her "cheque" arrives.

patwicklow

Well looks like its between the landlord and her then, but make sure though you all know were you stand.

AstonMartin

It would help if i had a print out with some sort of tenants rights legislation to give to the landlord when he ineviatably tells us we have to pay her bills.

He will chance his arm to see if we will pay it so it would be better to be able to cut him off straight away and also avoid any prolonged argument. planning ahead.

listermint

OP, thats a ridiculous situation to be in, and to continue in. Why dont you move? Because its only going to end 1 way and thats negatively.

El Weirdo

AstonMartin wrote: »

The bills (esb, gas, bins) are in a combination of names.

one is in the name of the landlord, one is "the occupier" and the other is in the name of a previous tenant that we never got around to updating.

we can make it clear we paid our share.
assuming she takes off will the landlord have to cover her share or will we have to cover it?

if its a case the landlord has to cover it as we have a room only lease i will leave the legal choice/threashold dealings between them and not bother to rock the boat if i am not going to be out of pocket.

I'm sorry but the whole situation seems ridiculously shoddy and hap-hazard.

Utility bills all in different names? One of which is a previous occupier? Does this person know?

No tenancy agreement?

Jesus, the longer you let all this crap this go, the more trouble you're going to find yourself in.

AstonMartin

So is it clear in this situation who pays her e500 share of the bills?

whippet

AstonMartin wrote: »

So is it clear in this situation who pays her e500 share of the bills?

it is a bit of a mess alright ... but the reality of her disappearing in the morning and not leaving a forwarding address is that none of the utility companies will give a monkies about her whereabouts.

Who ever has their name on the bill owes the money as far as the utility company is concerned.

if the bills are not paid .....

I don't know how they would go about chasing Mr 'The Occupier' .. probably just cut service to the household and insist that arrears are paid in full before resuming service.

And chase the people who are actually named on the bills regardless of where they now live.

AstonMartin

Ok, so I am looking to move for other reasons so I will just give copies of my receipts to prove i paid my share and take off after giving a months notice.

then the landlord is likely to keep my deposit. A very stubborn man.

my only alternative at that point is threashold i assume?

Victor

Threshold and then court.

As you are only renting a room, you can't go to the PRTB.

the groutch

just make sure that the landlord knows that you won't pay a penny of her share of the rents or bills if she does a runner, that might encourage the landlord to get it sorted quicker

Zamboni

AstonMartin wrote: »

we all get on and she is convinced if she takes off we wont get stuck with her bill.

You shouldn't get on with her.
She is an irresponsible and immature child who is taking advantage of you, your housemates and the landlord.
Somebody will be footing the bill here. And it won't be her by the look of it.

AstonMartin

Im not footing the bill either.

What I wanted was a link to relevant legislation that I could print off and give to the landlord on my way out the door and say return my deposit within 30 days or ill see you in the small claims court. He gives me back the deposit to avoid additional hassle and thats the end of it.

in a perfect world...