Nightmare housemate and rent

LegacyUser

I'm going to try to make this as short as possible. My flatmates and I got a new person in who seemed fine to begin with but we gradually got on worse and worse as they made noise at night etc. They have also been lax about paying bills since we fell out. Now we're moving out and have discovered that they have not paid rent for a month and it's going to be taken out of our deposits. This person appears to have ran off and is not answering their phone. What can we do to get the money back? Would it be worth bringing them to the petty claims court? They have left a lot of their things behind and we are supposed to be moving out tomorrow, I'm afraid to get rid of them in case they get us for legal action for damaging their things.

Roisy7

How can the landlord possibly take money out of your deposits for someone else's rent?

OP don't have any hesitation about moving their stuff either. Jut bag it and leave it in the sitting room, and explain to the landlord why you've done this. As the person is avoiding you and the landlord, I'm sure they have written off whatever they left behind.

As for your own money, yes, a small claims court might be worth it depending on the amount. Maybe have a word with a solicitor, they'd know how best to handle it. You could leave a final voicemail on the person's phone saying something like, "Because you haven't responded to calls and you still owe me €x, I feel I have little other option other than consult a solicitor." It might be enough to put the frighteners on them. Text them as well for additional proof.

You might have to write off what you are owed, but stand your ground with the landlord and don't let them take anything out of your deposits for this person. Explain and say you have also been left out of pocket by this person and the rent issue is strictly between that person and the landlord, and nothing to do with you.

Best of luck, OP. Someday you'll never have to live with other people again :D

dilallio

needhelp999 wrote: »

I'm going to try to make this as short as possible. My flatmates and I got a new person in who seemed fine to begin with but we gradually got on worse and worse as they made noise at night etc. They have also been lax about paying bills since we fell out. Now we're moving out and have discovered that they have not paid rent for a month and it's going to be taken out of our deposits. This person appears to have ran off and is not answering their phone. What can we do to get the money back? Would it be worth bringing them to the petty claims court? They have left a lot of their things behind and we are supposed to be moving out tomorrow, I'm afraid to get rid of them in case they get us for legal action for damaging their things.

Hi OP,
It is very difficult to say without further info?
Do you have a rental contract, and if so who is named on the contract as the tenant(s). i.e. Is this person who has disappeared named on the contract?


As far as I know, you can't use the Small Claims Court to get money back from an individual who owes you money, but you can use it to get a deposit back from a Landlord if the deposit is being withheld on unfair grounds.

gypsy_rose

Roisy7 wrote: »

How can the landlord possibly take money out of your deposits for someone else's rent?

OP don't have any hesitation about moving their stuff either. Jut bag it and leave it in the sitting room, and explain to the landlord why you've done this. As the person is avoiding you and the landlord, I'm sure they have written off whatever they left behind.

As for your own money, yes, a small claims court might be worth it depending on the amount. Maybe have a word with a solicitor, they'd know how best to handle it. You could leave a final voicemail on the person's phone saying something like, "Because you haven't responded to calls and you still owe me €x, I feel I have little other option other than consult a solicitor." It might be enough to put the frighteners on them. Text them as well for additional proof.

You might have to write off what you are owed, but stand your ground with the landlord and don't let them take anything out of your deposits for this person. Explain and say you have also been left out of pocket by this person and the rent issue is strictly between that person and the landlord, and nothing to do with you.

Best of luck, OP. Someday you'll never have to live with other people again :D

Sorry, I forgot to add, we don't have their name written down on the lease, they came in after someone else. I really wish I didn't have to pay for their bitchy move, but I don't feel like we have any other choice?

28064212

What happened to their deposit? Who did they pay rent to, you or the landlord?

LegacyUser

28064212 wrote: »

What happened to their deposit? Who did they pay rent to, you or the landlord?

Most likely they paid their deposit to the person that was moving out. It's a pretty common practice with shared households here [a bad one IMO].

Did you all sign one lease when you first moved into the place? If you signed one lease then you rented the whole property from the LL and it's not their issue who owes what to whom within the house as it was rented out as one unit. If you each signed individual leases ie renting a room with shared common spaces then the LL can't expect you to pay for the other tenants running out on rent. It could be a tiny bit of a gray area if the person moving signed no lease they could claim a Part 4 tenancy. Best to contact Threshold for advice OP as technically you can't go after someone in small claims for breaking a lease it has to go through the PRTB but thats for LL and tenants not two sets of tenants.

28064212

cant log in right now wrote: »

Most likely they paid their deposit to the person that was moving out. It's a pretty common practice with shared households here [a bad one IMO].

In which case the landlord would still have the original deposit from the person who moved out, and it would become the new tenant's deposit

gypsy_rose

Thanks for your advice everyone but we got the problem sorted in the end!