Massive Housemate Problem - council tax/electricity/gas

Rakesh.Chauhan_2

Moved into a shared apartment with 4 others and the council tax/electricity/gas bills have come through.

1 person wont pay for their share of the bills.

The landlord is useless because he says "its not" his problem and wont even kick this certain indivdual out because he pays the rent. The indivdual buys drugs but cant afford to pay for the bills.

Will the council tax/electricity/gas companies appriciate ONLY receiving our share only?

How can we get rid of this indivdual too?

lynzpower

Ahhh, the perils of housesharing . Ive been there and know how awful it can be. Feel for you

IN my experience there is unfortunatley sod all you can do in the short term. You can negotiate, cajole all you like, but sadly it doesnt always work.

I guess you could take him to the small claims court to get it back.

Or drag him on to judge judy, which have been the only 2 ideas Ive had over the years.

Id love to know though if there is anything else you can do from the LLs on here...

Lynz
x

devils_advocate

What people forget these days is that for every right there is a duty. Your flatmate probably wants to assert his rights to accommodation, etc, but convieniently forgets his duties 'cos it doesn't suit him. He aslo conveniently forgets that you have to bail him out, becasue if he doesn't pay, you all have to.

If he's paying rent, its nothing to do with the landlord.

Buut you live with him. You therefore should do what you want to get him to pay up or leave. If he doesn't want to fulfil his duties to you, you should not have to allow him a right to quiet enjoyment of his accommodation. If you therefore want to add flavour to his morning cornflakes, do it so long as its not toxic.

Tassotti

Whats wrong with 'masssive' housemates. Is he eating all your food?

nelly_2

move out.............

mjk_2

I agree with Nelly - the rest of you move out and find somewhere else. Or if that's a bit drastic/too difficult, pretend you're going to - leave property ads around, discuss it at every opportunity etc.

Though if this person is as selfish as they sound they'll probably always be a problem housemate so you're better off without them.

ts_aly2000

Ahhhh, nightmare housemates.

If all four of you are on the bills the ulility companies will chase those that are on the bill, and in the order of the ones that communicate with them. If for example a bill is £1000 and you've paid your £250, and you phone up said utility company to tell them this, they'll come after you. Sorry to tell you that little bit.

The landlord is right not to get involved. Additionally he/she will hold a deposit on the property, and I'm guessing you're all on a shared tenancy here, which means they can take money from your entire combined deposit.

I don't understand why this person thinks that they don't have to pay, that's simply part of life. As for the drugs thing, pinch their drugs, that'll soon get their attention.

Here's how you get rid of the individual... You start advertising their room and having people come round to look at it. Technically that person is breaching the tenancy on certainly 3 fronts; bills, drugs, being antisocial towards fellow housemates.

Seriously, put an ad up and have people come round to look at the room. It'll certainly get the message across.

You're on your own here, it's part of the perils (as lynzpower said) of house sharing. It's stressful too having to deal with it.

You need to sit them down (house meeting) and get them out. Another thing you can do is to devise a cleaning rota... Cleaning rotas are great for truly winding up people who don't want to do them. We all know it's got to be done so ultimately bite the bullet and get on with it.

The most important thing in this is that the other three of you need to stick together. Just moaning about the final tenant doesn't do much, you need to sit down and decide exactly what you're doing and to be in agreement about it.

In 6 months time this won't matter one bit, so just hold in there. Personally when I was in this situation I just joined a gym and switched off to it all.

It will eventually sort itself out.

Actually last thing... If you're on individual contracts then the other three of you can terminate the contract drugs. While we all know it goes on, most likely know people etc. In the eyes of the law you don't have to be exposed to it. And if the landlord is aware, and aware that you're being exposed to that type of environment.....

But it will be ok. Hope there's some ideas for you here.

claz

put in writing what they owe, call a house meeting and state that you want them to sign a payment plan to cover the debt they owe and any future bills

this will be of use if they continue not to pay and you will be able to use it in court as long as they sign it

ring his mother to sort out the drugs she might whoop his ar*e

xycom1

Umm if he is engaged in illegal behaviour (drug taking) then shop him - hopefully he'll get done by the police, won't pay his rent and then the landlord will want to evict him.

Rikki

Why won't he pay?

Is it can't or doesn't want to?

movieman

That's the other thing: would any sane landlord really want the police turning up to arrest one of his tenants for drug use? I'm sure that will impress the neighbours.