Issues with flatmate

Thmstlly

Hi all,
I moved into an apartment in Dublin city centre just over 6 months ago.
I moved in with my girlfriend, another friend and a mutual friend of theirs. The mutual friend was very nice and easy to live with, he moved out and was replaced by another person who is just as nice.

The problem is with my 'friend'. She has become a serious problem in the apartment.
Firstly, she began to eat all of my food, going through my press and just taking it all, I did a shop one week, had to go away for a day, came back and about €20 worth of it had gone. This continued for a while, then stopped. Only a tub of butter was replaced, which was then taken again. Since September, not ,much of my food has been taken.

Things such as toilet roll, cleaning products etc. have only been bought by the rest of us in the house. Our own washing powder, coffee, milk, tea etc has been taken too. It has been mentioned for this to stop several times, but it appears to be starting again.

The thing is, she pay bills at her own convenience. As the rent for all of us comes out of my girlfriend's account, she has been left nearly €400 short for weeks at a time, while she avoids us so she can go off and get stoned and drunk instead of giving us rent. Same goes for internet and ESB. Sometimes the rent is on time, but usually it is late. We obviously can't prove this to the estate agent, they probably don't care as long as they get paid.
I should mention I'm the signature of the flat.
The place is always left in a mess by her, while using our pots, knives and other utensils. She has taken to taking stuff owned by the new flatmate too.

Do I have the right to ask this person to leave as signature. It has been nothing but stress with her for months, and I would like to keep the apartment on after the lease is up. That is still 6 months away though, I would like her out sooner.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

conorhal

Living with friends can be a boon or a burden, because friends often fell that they have a degree of latitude that other flatmates don't.
There's not easy way around what you have to do. You need to sit your friend down with all of the other tennents and calmly explain the situation.
The rent needs to be paid on time, that is your friends primary obligation and if it's regularly weeks late then they need to understand that going forwards it needs to be paid on time or she needs to start looking for another place.
Regards the nicking of food and the failure to contribute to other household expenses, perhaps you could suggest a monthly kitty into which everybody contributes a fiver and common expenses such as toilet paper, cleaning products etc can be purchased. If you want to extend that to foodstuffs like bread and milk make it 20 euro's. Failing that it's time to go down the nuclear, 'this is my cupboard, this is your cupboard route.
Should she move out, you've learned some harsh lessons, there's always a minority of people that will push their luck and scam you, they might even be friends of yours, but clearly they have no respect for you, and at the end of the day who needs friends that don't respect you?
In future a 1 page room-mate agreement given to any new flatmates up front to outline your basic expectations from the people you share with is a good way to set expectations from the start. There's no need to go all 'Sheldon' on it, it just needs to outline things like 'the rent must be paid on a particular date every month'. Perhaps you could agree that this is done by direct debit to the account of the person paying the rent so that ther is no messing around.

barneygumble99

She is no 'friend' of yours. She sounds like a leech. Lived with a girl for six months, who never once emptied the dishwasher and would store her dishes in the bedroom until it was emptied. Always last to leave money out for bills. Never took out bins. There was no lease agreement so we got rid of her, gave her a week to leave, kept her deposit for unpaid bills and now the place is happier and stress free.

djimi

You havent mentioned it but Im assuming you have sat her down and said all of this to her? If not then there is little point considering further action until you do.

If youre name is the only name on the lease then technically you are soley responsible for everything, ie the rent is your problem alone and its up to you to ensure that everyone else pays their share. If their name is not on the lease then at best they are subletting from you (assuming the landlord is aware of the situation), and at worst they dont technically exist in the tenancy at all.

the_syco

If only your name is on the lease, boot the leech out. You home is your castle, and not somewhere that you want to have to hide stuff. TBH, sounds like it's the first time that the leech has lived outside of "home", and hasn't quite figured out that food is bought and put into the fridge, as opposed to the fridge being a magical place where food appears.