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Roommate not paying Utilities- Cutting off Internet

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dcraver877

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Joined
Apr 18, 2009
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Toxic Wasteland
My roommate moved in the beginning of august. He was late on the first two rent payments and hasn't paid me for any of the utilities yet. I understand hes looking for work but thats not an excuse because he eats out almost everyday and always has weed. Everytime I bring it up he says he's mailing the check next week but whenever I ask him, he has not sent the check.

I figure he's not going to pay anytime soon since he has been late on almost every payment so far. I changed the password to the internet as my first move. Do you think thats a reasonable decision? I don't want to piss him off and have him angry with me all the time but it seems fair to me.

What do you think?
 
I'd be straight up with him. Tell him, either he pays the bills or he has to leave. Even if he is a friend, or a friendly person...this is life! It's a living situation, and problems need to be addressed. Last thing I'd do is play games with each other. Tell him you changed the password for the internet because he hasn't paid his bills yet. It's simple, and fair. Yeah, he'll probably be angry...but tough shit, that's what happens when you buy weed instead of paying you're bills.
 
^Agreed. If he's not paying for the Internet connection, he shouldn't be using it. Two months is long enough time to get some cash together. If he gets angry about it, maybe offer giving him access with some sort of down payment for the due bills?
 
dcraver877 said:
Everytime I bring it up he says he's mailing the check next week but whenever I ask him, he has not sent the check.
Click to expand...
he lives in your house but he's mailing you a check? odd...
dcraver877 said:
I changed the password to the internet as my first move. Do you think thats a reasonable decision?
Click to expand...
it's perfectly reasonable.

alasdair
 
he's a piss taker. alarm bells should be ringing. anyone who has money for drugs but not bills is going to skimp on bigger bills in the future. cut the net and wait for money
 
haha, i can hear him cursing under his breath in the next room tryin to figure out his internet. I just hope this gets his priorities straight.
 
I agree with J.Wallace that you should be straight up with him. I don't think being passive aggressive by changing the net password is the best way to deal with things. I think you really need to tell him straight up that to live in the house, he needs to meet certain standards, such as paying for rent/utilities, on time! Surely everyone understands this is a requirement of living somewhere. You sound like a nice person, and it seems he's taking advantage of that.

I hate conflict myself and I'd find it hard to address this directly myself, but I think it needs to be done or he'll keep using you. Unfortunately I found out that rental contracts basically mean shit (at least, in Australia), so if he decides to fuck off, you don't have much chance of recovering your money legally. If that happens, it'd be better if it happened sooner rather than later :\
 
footscrazy said:
I agree with J.Wallace that you should be straight up with him. I don't think being passive aggressive by changing the net password is the best way to deal with things. I think you really need to tell him straight up that to live in the house, he needs to meet certain standards, such as paying for rent/utilities, on time! Surely everyone understands this is a requirement of living somewhere. You sound like a nice person, and it seems he's taking advantage of that.

I hate conflict myself and I'd find it hard to address this directly myself, but I think it needs to be done or he'll keep using you. Unfortunately I found out that rental contracts basically mean shit (at least, in Australia), so if he decides to fuck off, you don't have much chance of recovering your money legally. If that happens, it'd be better if it happened sooner rather than later :\
Click to expand...

I did ask him at least four or five times over the last couple months and he kept saying he sent the check when he hadn't. I changed the password after two months of him not paying because I didn't want him freeloading off me. He asked me for the password just now and I told him I would turn his internet back on when he pays his bill. I am afraid he would keep using me too so I knew it needed to be done. He seemed pretty cool about it but I think he just puts off a nice front.
 
i agree that I should not have done it without telling him what was going on first. Sometimes my anxiety disorder leads to me irrational decisions. Thanks for all your advice!
 
he just needs to give me the check. I owe my mom for last month because she helped me out with the bills so I have to give his check to her. I agreed to live with him because he seemed better than my old roommate. It seems like everyone I interviewed was a little crazy and he seemed like the best option. We've signed a year lease and we are a little over two months into it. He seems fairly nice besides the fact that he owes me money. I had to take a gamble because I would be paying the whole rent EVERY MONTH no matter what if I did not take that chance.
 
so now you're locked into a year-long relationship with this person? If so, then you need to develop a better plan for getting him to chip in for bills than cutting off his porn, imo.
 
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