Housemate won't pay bills 50/50

JackieChang

My girlfriend's housemate is giving her a lot of trouble. She's not paying electricity or gas or internet for the times she's not in the house. She will literally get a calculator out and start calculating which days she was in the house and pay for those days.

The most recent example: she just came back from a 10 day holiday, and is refusing to pay the bills 50/50 as she wasn't using the gas etc. while she was away. My girlfriend is now out of pocket as the bills are taken out of her account.

My girlfriend's too nice to kick her housemate in the arse like I recommended, and negotiating a 50/50 deal didn't work with her.

So could she report her to the letting agency for not paying the bills? Or the landlord? Any advice?

dudara

Point out to her that she pays rent for the days she’s in the house and the days she’s not. Therefore the same logic applies to bills.

If she refuses to cooperate, get the landlord or agency involved.

mugsymugsy

Life's too short for this kind of thing. Tell your girlfriend to tell the girl to cop on and pay 50:50. Or ask her who pays when no one is in the house. The other girl is living in cloud cuckoo land and your girlfriend is getting taken for a ride

JackieChang

She already protested and told the housemate it's not fair, but she won't budge.

So she's at the "refuses to cooperate" stage now.

I guess contacting the agency is the next step, although I'm afraid they'll just say it's a personal matter to sort out herself.

KellyXX

First thing to do here is get all of the bills out of her name.

dudara

In the past, a co-tenant stiffed me for bills. When she moved out, the landlord checked with me if everything was OK and when he heard about the bills, he reimbursed me from her deposit before repaying her the rest. I told myself that if I ever again found myself in such a situation I would not hestitate to get the landlord involved.

Part of your tenancy agreement typically involves paying all bills, so I’d consider her to be in breach of her tenancy.

wirelessdude01

What cloud has this one flown in from? First time living out of home? What age is she?

Never heard this stunt pulled before.

Sinister Kid

Change the wifi password & refuse to give it to her.

DoozerT6

TBH, even if the housemate eventually agreed to pay the bills 50/50, the whole experience would have soured me against them and any further interactions with them, financial or otherwise. I'd probably move out myself, if it was feasible.

happywithlife

At the very least if point out she's liable for thr standing charges for those bills - doesn't matter if she used it or not. But yes she should be coughing up. She doesn't seem to have made an argument for example that your gf is unreasonable in her use of oil/electricity etc which I know can lead to disputes

Tylerdurex

Happened to me when I was sharing with a student. I was responsible for one of the bills and he refused to pay his share because he claimed he wasn't there a lot. The kind of logic these ****tards go by . Any way he never paid rent anyway so I had the landlord on my side

endacl

Phrase the following as politely as you like:

“Pay half of all bills, or I’ll replace you with somebody who isn’t a cnut”.

jimmycrackcorm

JackieChang wrote:

The most recent example: she just came back from a 10 day holiday, and is refusing to pay the bills 50/50 as she wasn't using the gas etc. while she was away. My girlfriend is now out of pocket as the bills are taken out of her account.

That can work both ways.

Sinister Kid wrote:

Change the wifi password & refuse to give it to her.

Fixed by a quick press of the rest button.

The_Conductor

Honestly- life is too short.
If she is a licensee- give her a week to find alternate accommodation and get her the hell out of there.
It really doesn't matter whether or not she agrees to pay the fees at this stage- you now are fully aware of how tight she is- and even if she does pay her half of the utility bills, she is certain to stiff you on something else.
Just get rid of her- and I'd put the final sentence in the formal notice to quit as-

'Its not me- its you......'

Karma is going to catch up on her- the first part of Karma being she has poisoned her relationship with her housemates- to the extent that she is being asked to leave. And rightly so.

Avatar MIA

Whatever about gas where she at least has some concept of an argument (not a good one mind) the internet is a fixed cost (unless you go over the limit) so she should have no argument whatsoever there. Once that's sorted hopefully she'll see sense with the other bills...

WoollyRedHat

Just use her logic and bill her for all the time you are not there.

evolving_doors

WoollyRedHat wrote: »

Just use her logic and bill her for all the time you are not there.

from the OP's postings the housemate is just not engaging. No point in reasoning with this person...
next stage, landlord/letting agency.
Look at rental contract about bills maybe!
Who is the house rented to?

MSVforever

Wouldn't waste my time/effort on this cnut. Tell your girlfriend to give her notice asap. God I hate stingy f@ckers like that.

Toots

jimmycrackcorm wrote: »

That can work both ways.



Fixed by a quick press of the rest button.

Log into the router and block her mac address

wally1990

MSVforever wrote: »

Wouldn't waste my time/effort on this cnut. Tell your girlfriend to give her notice asap. God I hate stingy f@ckers like that.

Agreed, Would ya be bothered like!

Thank god I live with my partner (Used to houseshare and NEVER AGAIN!! as Long as I have a choice)

My god, some people would test your patience.

This person is paying the bills having to chase people for money and then she is grabbing a calculator to penny pitch. Feel sorry for the person paying

JackieChang

evolving_doors wrote: »

Look at rental contract about bills maybe!
Who is the house rented to?

Contract says "pay promptly the authorities or to whomever they are due all bills, refuse, ESB etc."

It doesn't say pay 50/50 though! Just that it has to be paid. Which it is, directly from my gf's account every time.

I'm not sure I understand the last question. The house is being rented to the two of them. The names are on the contract.

The_Conductor

JackieChang wrote: »

Contract says "pay promptly the authorities or to whomever they are due all bills, refuse, ESB etc."

It doesn't say pay 50/50 though! Just that it has to be paid. Which it is, directly from my gf's account every time.

I'm not sure I understand the last question. The house is being rented to the two of them. The names are on the contract.

Fine- if the other girl is taking the ostrich approach to this- your girlfriend goes to the landlord and advises that she has made every possible attempt to resolve the situation and failed. The gonads on this kid are something else- some people imagine they'll get away with pulling these stunts- well, its not acceptable to do this.

Its up to your girlfriend to resolve it though- if you get involved, before you know whats happened you'll have a community Garda knocking on your door advising you that you've been accused of harassment- thats how girls like this operate. Do not get involved yourself- and if your girlfriend cannot resolve it- she goes to the landlord and presents him/her with the situation.

I'd also suggest your girlfriend point out that if the other girl had no heating on- that its entirely possible you'd have frozen pipes and damage- keeping in mind the recent cold spell......... It is not the case that you can wander off somewhere- and expect the house to miraculously be perfect on your return- its not a fairy tale, its the real world........

You keep out of it though- tempting as it is to get involved- you won't get any thanks for it- when the other girl sells a story to the local Gardaí- or the landlord- you'll be the villain in all of this.

Bythefire

Do you stay at the house much op? Maybe the housemate has a problem if she is paying bills for a couple when she is not there? If you do stay much do you contribute towards the bills?
I ask as a few years ago I was in a house share with a couple and we all moved out as the girlfriend was living there rent and bill free which isn't on either in a houseshare.
I think she's 100% wrong not to pay & would definitely get landlord or management company involved. Just trying to understand her reasoning behind it.

Sleeper12

JackieChang wrote:

So she's at the "refuses to cooperate" stage now.

Change wifi password

April 73

Your girlfriend should stop paying the bills by direct debit from her account. She should tell the flatmate that half the bills will be put into her name & that she will keep the others in her name, ie: one pays the electricity, one pays the gas etc.
Then if the flatmate insists on this ludicrous arrangement then your girlfriend should say she will be doing the same for the bills that are not in her name & counting up the hours she is not in the house & only paying a portion of the bill.
The flatmate is getting away with this because the bills are in your girlfriend’s name & she has to pay no matter what. So change that situation & hand some of the responsibility for bills to the flatmate.

James 007

<Mod Edit> Your girlfriend needs to cop on and split the responsibility equal, but as another poster pointed out are you hogging the heat/communial space and internet use too, is there some reason behind her stance other than the stingy part.

Victor

James 007 wrote: »

is there some reason behind her stance other than the stingy part.

Possibly thinks she is living in a hotel.

Browney7

Op, try not to argue with stupidity. It'll drag you down to its level and beat you with experience.

Remove DD's and put half bills in her name as suggested. Maybe take out a stopwatch when she's cooking dinner and having a shower to make a point and then check the electricity meter and tell her to take a long walk off a short pier.

myshirt

To be fair, what about a scenario where housemate is out of house from 8am to 10pm between work, gym, and other things, whereas other housemate is there all the time and is constantly freezing, watching the TV, cooking dinners while others eat most main meals outside the house. This runs up mad bills.

I've had 3 friends living in houses well insulated already, and yet the women in there were blasting on the heating, like a sauna it was. One girl even had an electric heater by the bed. Genuinely nothing wrong with the insulation, seals on the windows, or anything. Now these lads paid their share, but this thread would get you thinking, do some people take the piss

whomitconcerns

And when you can sell that sob story to the ESB, bord gais, etc when bills are due, then it's a valid argument. Till then the bills get split evenly irregardless. Or the other party bus their own house.

JackieChang

She'll be going to the letting agency tomorrow.

I would stay there once or twice a week, during the work week. Usually arrive after 7 or 8pm. Don't use the communal area whatsoever. Basically I'm like a mouse, she wouldn't even know I'm there. More often than not the gf is in my house.

You know she might have a problem with that too. She complained to my gf that I had a very long shower when I didn't have a shower at all and it was in fact my gf.

The main problem though is her paying whatever she wants and coming up with her own bills when reading the meter.

Emails (yes she sends my gf emails even though she's in the bedroom next door) read like cold corporate emails. For example:

"Dear x,

As per meter reading and absence from apartment for X days please find transfer to your account for the amount of €X.

Thank you

Annoying housemate."

By the way my gf has been living in that apartment 4 years, and this girl has just moved in in the last 6 months and turned everything upside down.

I think the only thing to do is for my gf to move out, and leave the girl up **** Creek somehow. As in inform her at the last second "by the way I'm moving out tomorrow and the gas and electricity and internet are cancelled from midnight tonight, bye bye."

I don't think this relationship can be salvaged. They hate eachother now over this and these arguments are getting more and more frequent.

Ray Palmer

I really don't get the people who think the landlord is responsible or should be involved. Unless the landlord put the two people together it has nothing to do with him.

The_Conductor

Who is this girl- and how was she introduced into the apartment?
If the landlord found her- she is the landlord's issue- if your girlfriend found her- well, they are jointly and severally responsible for the tenancy.

As for the meter readings- what about all the standing charges you have on gas and electricity accounts?
Aka- its not just usage- its also having the facility to use it. If you don't pay the standing charge- you get disconnected- regardless of whether or not you use one iota of power or gas..........

Its a right clusterfúck.

Jim 77

Ray Palmer wrote: »

I really don't get the people who think the landlord is responsible or should be involved. Unless the landlord put the two people together it has nothing to do with him.

Technically, you are right but as a landlord I'd have no problem with a tenant coming to me with the same or a similar problem. I wouldn't want to see one of my tenants screwing over another and besides the situation could escalate and the landlord could be left with all bills (minus deposits) and a lot of hassle.

I think the landlord could resolve this situation quickly and hopefully the OP's friend has one that's prepared to get involved.

DesperateDan

It's easier said than done to just 'make her put half the bills in her name'. If she just says no, they have another argument nothing is sorted at all.

Nothing to do but get her out of the house asap, lowering herself to her level with games of calculating her own usage or blocking Internet access are just stop gaps that won't fix anything.

You would wonder how this person was raised if they think that's appropriate behaviour for an adult. If she is still in doubt her behaviour is wrong, show her this thread in a lovely (formal) mail.

dzilla

This is such a common practice out of mean folks im afraid. We advertised a room recently in our share and one of the main points on the advertisement and what was reinforced when people viewed the place was that all bills are split equally even if you never watch the tv, use the net, are tethering your phone, take cold showers, go home the weekend etc etc. Its a sad state of affairs that this has to be said to people.

dzilla

Your girlfriend should ask the other person what is the contingency for when both of them are on holidays in the same calander month. Who would pay the bills if both people where not there?

Sono

dzilla wrote: »

This is such a common practice out of mean folks im afraid. We advertised a room recently in our share and one of the main points on the advertisement and what was reinforced when people viewed the place was that all bills are split equally even if you never watch the tv, use the net, are tethering your phone, take cold showers, go home the weekend etc etc. Its a sad state of affairs that this has to be said to people.

That is unbelievable!

Neyite

dzilla wrote: »

This is such a common practice out of mean folks im afraid. We advertised a room recently in our share and one of the main points on the advertisement and what was reinforced when people viewed the place was that all bills are split equally even if you never watch the tv, use the net, are tethering your phone, take cold showers, go home the weekend etc etc. Its a sad state of affairs that this has to be said to people.

I've only encountered it once ever - a house with a lot of Polish lads split their bills by the days they spent in the house - however, the standing charges were shared equally first and then the daily usage was worked out.

But every tenant was on board with it and every tenant paid their agreed share. To me it seemed like a lot of faff to split even the smaller bills such as TV licence between 12 lads on a per-day basis, but they all seemed happy with it.

In this case though, the tenant is changing the rules that have been common practice since before she moved in. Work on getting her out of the house - talk to the landlord, because if your GF moves out, the landlord is the one that will get stiffed for the bills, and this sounds exactly the type to consider not paying the last month's rent either or doing a runner so the LL will be out of pocket, so the LL will want them gone as much as your GF.

Ray Palmer

Jim 77 wrote: »

Technically, you are right but as a landlord I'd have no problem with a tenant coming to me with the same or a similar problem. I wouldn't want to see one of my tenants screwing over another and besides the situation could escalate and the landlord could be left with all bills (minus deposits) and a lot of hassle.

I think the landlord could resolve this situation quickly and hopefully the OP's friend has one that's prepared to get involved.

I have been doing this a long time and I can say never get involved in other peoples' arguments that have nothing to do with you. A landlord is not a substitute for a parent or teacher.
The bills are not in the landlord's name so never has to pay. That has luckily changed from the old days when changing a name on the bill was near on impossible and had a charge.

dixiefly

The_Conductor wrote: »

Who is this girl- and how was she introduced into the apartment?
If the landlord found her- she is the landlord's issue- if your girlfriend found her- well, they are jointly and severally responsible for the tenancy.

As for the meter readings- what about all the standing charges you have on gas and electricity accounts?
Aka- its not just usage- its also having the facility to use it. If you don't pay the standing charge- you get disconnected- regardless of whether or not you use one iota of power or gas..........

Its a right clusterfúck.

This is a key point and should indicate the direction the gf should take.

Victor

JackieChang wrote: »

My girlfriend's housemate is giving her a lot of trouble. She's not paying electricity or gas or internet for the times she's not in the house. She will literally get a calculator out and start calculating which days she was in the house and pay for those days.

Does she keep food in the fridge / freezer for these times? :pac:

Ray Palmer wrote: »

I have been doing this a long time and I can say never get involved in other peoples' arguments that have nothing to do with you. A landlord is not a substitute for a parent or teacher.

Sure, but the landlord needs to be aware they may be the next mark.

Mrs OBumble

Ray Palmer wrote: »

I have been doing this a long time and I can say never get involved in other peoples' arguments that have nothing to do with you. A landlord is not a substitute for a parent or teacher.

Agreed.

And this is a perfect example of why the LL should never be involved in selecting individual housemates: if the LL found this person, then her behaviour IS the LL's problem, and I would lose no time making them sort it out.




But if the LL did not find the tenant, then the GF needs to sort it. One option is:

1) Do even more complicated sums splitting out the daily charge vs the unit charge. Everyone has to pay an equal share of the daily charges. But apportion the usage-based charges based on days present. (Don't forget to include houses guests - billed to the person who had the guest :-) )

and

2) Tell the housemate that they will need to remove all their stuff from the frige / deepfreeze / hotpress while they are away. (Can't be using cooling or heating while not paying for it.) Comment that if they forget, you will do it for them.



Hopefully this will either soften their cough, or force them to move out.


Years ago, I had a housemate move in on Sunday, by Wednesday we'd agreed to ask her to leave, I told her on Thursday and she was gone the following Saturday - because of precisely an issue like this. Nip it in the bud fast, or you'll be stuff with bollox-behaviour for ages.

KellyXX

Just tell your gf to reply to the emails saying that she wasn't in the house any of the time the housemate wasn't, but also she wasn't in the house another few times too. So her bill is cheaper than the housemates.
That will soon sort it.
But fgs get the bills out of your gfs name. That will just get worse.

evolving_doors

KellyXX wrote: »

Just tell your gf to reply to the emails saying that she wasn't in the house any of the time the housemate wasn't, but also she wasn't in the house another few times too. So her bill is cheaper than the housemates.
That will soon sort it.
But fgs get the bills out of your gfs name. That will just get worse.

I think any attempt at negotiating with this Lula is pointless.
All bills have to be paid... the wagon knows it.

JackieChang

KellyXX wrote: »

But fgs get the bills out of your gfs name. That will just get worse.

Who's name should it go in then? There's no way this wan will put them in her name, she's too tight.

SNNUS

This one is in cuckoo land, tightness is a horrible trait..If she says it's not fair , send her a link to this forum.. she needs to wake up to the world or have zero friends.

mada82

Maybe this person is just naive and needs to be sat down and explained that’s how renting a room works.

Would another solution be to cancel something like the electric/gas/internet and just say it got cut off as you didn’t have the money? Let her stay in your place until the other one got the message.

The_Conductor

mada82 wrote: »

Maybe this person is just naive and needs to be sat down and explained that’s how renting a room works.

Would another solution be to cancel something like the electric/gas/internet and just say it got cut off as you didn’t have the money? Let her stay in your place until the other one got the message.

She isn't renting a room- she is a co-signee on the lease of a property with the OP's girlfriend. This is no rent-a-room situation- its a fullblown freeloading situation.

mada82

The_Conductor wrote: »

She isn't renting a room- she is a co-signee on the lease of a property with the OP's girlfriend. This is no rent-a-room situation- its a fullblown freeloading situation.

My suggestions still stand though.

A2LUE42

Did the OP state who got this other girl, was it his GF or the letting agent?