Ex-housemate still hasn't paid her half, now it's on my credit file.

heuchera

How much money are we talking, here?

Munch

heuchera wrote: »

How much money are we talking, here?

1.7k Twice what I actually have.

Munch

So basically i can't pay it, can't get a loan. What I've worked so hard for, for 18 months of zero spending and re-paying my own stuff (which I'm pretty much done with) and it was all for nothing. There was no reason why I should have bothered owning up to my debt. Brilliant.

Pixie5740

I know it seems disheartening but it really wasn't all for nothing. Imagine you had this plus your own debts still. You've also learned a good financial lesson for only £1.7k. Others have learned the same lesson (myself included) for a lot more than that (it was still a small price to pay to get the A-hole out my life though. )

You both have joint and several liability for bills that were in both your names. You could try taking her to small claims court to recover "her share." However, getting the judgement is the easy bit, enforcing it is the tricky part.

Guest101

Munch wrote: »

Been moving to a new place, lots to sort out and picking up post from previous address so I can see how bad it really has become. Quite a bit! :eek::(:eek::(:eek:

Hi all, great replies!

I can see a common themes here, and it's hindsight - learn your lesson.

The tenancy where I moved out early was unfair to the letting agent, - The LANDLORD, not the agent. but they were pretty poor at being letting agents, employing staff who couldn't understand English, didn't fix basic problems - The LANDLORD, not the agent. (you couldn't open my bedroom window as the hinges weren't connected is one of the examples, I have extensive emails and photos and nothing was done) so them - The LANDLORD, not the agent.having to wait until the end of the agreed tenancy for their money did not fill me with guilt at all. I took photos of my room to show I had left it undamaged. - What about the rest of the property? They could have easily took the last month as compensation and re-rented it out as my ex-housemate claims she was not living there either. - no they couldn't. that's not how housing law works.

I do now have her mums address, and I have picked up all letters from the old house and calculated that her half was not paid for 5 months (on all bills) prior to her leaving the property. I've sat down and calculated it all, and I simply don't have enough money to cover it all, barely half, so I plan on simply passing on her details as with the now damage to my credit file, I very much doubt I could get a loan out. - Maybe not. but you need to pay it still!

As for disassociation I've spoke to my - You have your own credit check company? credit check company and they said this wouldn't be applicable as we were not registered as a couple, just both liable for 100% of whichever bill.

If I am forced to take out a loan (and can get it approved) and take her to court, do you guys believe it's likely to also get back fees that I would incur from having to pay her half of the bills? - no. Like loan interest? - no. (I've never had a loan so I'm unfamiliar with the details, but I should consider it an possible option). Her name was on all the bills and I added mine once I'd moved in.

I feel like such an idiot for trusting someone who I believed to be my very good friend. *sigh*

Thanks again for all your input, even the sarky people have some good points, I do deserve to be made fun of for letting this stress me out as much as it has.

No you don't deserve to be made fun of. But you need to go and learn about life!

dancingfairy

What a nightmare Horrible for a 'friend' to do this to you. Perhaps they didn't realise that it would affect your credit file and they just thought it wouldn't affect them either and they would just ignore it? Maybe they were embarrassed and couldn't afford it?
Either way you find yourself in a bad place.
Maybe start with a list of the companies and how much is owed to each. One thing at a time.
df

Munch

Well, in short I have managed to remove my name from all the bills, including council tax, water, gas and electricity.

Some VERY understanding people over at SSE not only took my name off, but refunded me £153 as I'd paid over 50% of the bill covering my part of the contracted tenancy. They even spoke directly with my old landlord who confirmed that the other tenant was living in there prior and post my tenancy and as I'd supplied them with her work address and telephone number, her mums address where she was now living and her phone number. Sounds harsh and I didn't want to have to do it, but in the spirit of co-operation and anti-screwing my situation, that was my last remaining play.

I'm now super relieved in the knowledge that if she'd have stuck to paying her share, I'd never have had this bonus refund

This was a hard lesson and I know others have had more expensive lessons learned, I'm VERY grateful for the outcome and will NEVER put myself in this position again.

Thank you for the supporters, haters and tutters alike.

:T :beer: :j :rotfl:

AnnieO1234

Munch wrote: »

Well, in short I have managed to remove my name from all the bills, including council tax, water, gas and electricity.

Some VERY understanding people over at SSE not only took my name off, but refunded me £153 as I'd paid over 50% of the bill covering my part of the contracted tenancy. They even spoke directly with my old landlord who confirmed that the other tenant was living in there prior and post my tenancy and as I'd supplied them with her work address and telephone number, her mums address where she was now living and her phone number. Sounds harsh and I didn't want to have to do it, but in the spirit of co-operation and anti-screwing my situation, that was my last remaining play.

I'm now super relieved in the knowledge that if she'd have stuck to paying her share, I'd never have had this bonus refund

This was a hard lesson and I know others have had more expensive lessons learned, I'm VERY grateful for the outcome and will NEVER put myself in this position again.

Thank you for the supporters, haters and tutters alike.

:T :beer: :j :rotfl:

You've been amazingly lucky; make sure you get an up to date credit check over the coming months to ensure the debt has gone. Xxx

FBaby

I don't get it. So for 5 months, you lived together, you paid half of the bills and she paid nothing and not once during that time you got notice that half of the bills were not paid or if you did, you didn't challenge her?

Your attitude to breaking your term of the tenancy is very wrong. You have no right to do what you, regardless of whether the LL agreed to go ahead with repairs you claim they had a responsibility to fix.

What happened with the deposit? Normally, it will be secured under one lead tenant name, so I am curious how this was resolved. If it was under your name, you would have had to agree to release it, so did you agree to release half only and gave your housemate the other half? If so, why didn't you agree to keep it towards her half of her bills? If it wasn't under her name, then she would have had to agree for the landlord to retain half of it towards your last month rent. What if she refused to do that? Was the deposit exactly two full months rental? If it was only one month and the landlord kept it all, what about your housemate? (unless you paid the full deposit).

You've made the whole situation a mess by deciding not to pay the last month of rent, so maybe it is just a case of getting a taste of your own medicine.

ps: So during 5 months, you had £3,400K worth of bills not counting actual rent? That's quite a lot!

Munch

FBaby wrote: »

I don't get it. So for 5 months, you lived together, you paid half of the bills and she paid nothing and not once during that time you got notice that half of the bills were not paid or if you did, you didn't challenge her?

Your attitude to breaking your term of the tenancy is very wrong. You have no right to do what you, regardless of whether the LL agreed to go ahead with repairs you claim they had a responsibility to fix.

What happened with the deposit? Normally, it will be secured under one lead tenant name, so I am curious how this was resolved. If it was under your name, you would have had to agree to release it, so did you agree to release half only and gave your housemate the other half? If so, why didn't you agree to keep it towards her half of her bills? If it wasn't under her name, then she would have had to agree for the landlord to retain half of it towards your last month rent. What if she refused to do that? Was the deposit exactly two full months rental? If it was only one month and the landlord kept it all, what about your housemate? (unless you paid the full deposit).

You've made the whole situation a mess by deciding not to pay the last month of rent, so maybe it is just a case of getting a taste of your own medicine.

ps: So during 5 months, you had £3,400K worth of bills not counting actual rent? That's quite a lot!

Ok, I see where you are coming from completely with this.

The damage deposit was one month rent. I gave this to her originally when she moved into the property because she didn't have enough and I knew I'd be living with her in the future. I also gave her £100 on top to help her out with setting up direct debits/start up fees etc and she wanted Virgin Media (which at a later date I wasn't allowed to use when things went sour) and she wanted to buy a washing machine. I never asked for it back as it was my way of helping her out as she was living alone and that's what friends do right?

After shed been living there the tenancy was up for renewal, so I moved in. The deposit was under her name.

I lived there for three months which ended up being a nightmare. I was working extra hours for free at my new job just so I was out of the house for longer. By this point I'd added my name into the bills and as I was doing each, each company refused to talk to me about the currant balance as I was not named on the account. Once I was it was bam, the current balance is ...

We had a discussion where I told her I would read meters and talk to companies for her, and I would pay 50% of that bill that month, but she would need to clear what was on it before. I checked with all companies beforehand and they said that they just needed to see some activity on the account.

So I did this for a few months, noticed she still wasn't paying after I'd asked her to.

The company I worked for wanted to offer me an opportunity to work abroad expenses paid for a few months to reward me for working so long and hard (which was a fantastic surprise) so I jumped on it as I could dump everything in storage and get out of this persons life forever.

I told every company and as I had given my housemate the equivalent of a months rent before I even moved in, I decided that she can suck it up and pay for it out of her job where her wages were higher than mine. So I only actually stayed for 4 months and 10 days, I paid 50% of all bills for 5 months, and left.

All the companies were on me as soon as I got back, she still hadn't paid a penny, she also squared up with the letting agent, meaning she kept my half of the damage deposit, which would supplement my final months rent. As I was liable for 6 months, I didn't mind losing this to the letting agents.

In the end, Council tax saw the days I was living there and cancelled their claim. The water company cancelled their claim as they don't go by tenancy agreement, and I send them the flight tickets to show I wasn't even in the country. Virgin Media wouldn't let me put my name on as its one name only so when they called me demanding payment I simply gave them her number. G&E were the tough ones. In the end it was the tenancy agreement that it came down to, so I was liable for 6 months, but as I had over paid during my stay to try and get it down, originally believing that I would be there for longer, they actually gave me a refund of £150ish.

The letting agents were completely terrible at every step. I'll never use them again. They didn't deserve to get screwed over, and they wouldn't have as they would have kept money back to cover the final months rent, which from their T's&C's, I was allowed to do.

The total £1.7k was pretty much her total of the bills from before I moved in to my tenancy end date, baring in mind, I'd over paid compared to my stay, perhaps £70 of that for my half of the final month, she'd paid so little and I had to get out of there, I was bullied in my own home and made to feel like I was always wrong and an inconvenience.

I HAVE learned my lesson for sure and feel bad that I had to screw anyone over, but when you're in a situation like that you do desperate things.