And now, on Judge Judy

By Anonymous - 15/10/2019 22:00

Today, I found out my roommates spent my rent money and told the landlord I never paid. I've paid my rent and theirs the past 6 months. My name's on the lease. FML
I agree, your life sucks 1 811
You deserved it 432

Same thing different taste

Top comments

I'm sorry this happened to you, but if your name was on the lease, you should have been making the payments directly to the landlord yourself. Don't trust other people with your rent money, regardless if they're good friends or just roommates. I hope it all works out well for you.

rotflqtms_ 21

if you're the one paying, why did your roommate have access to the rent money? If your name is on the lease, don't you think you should have been a little more careful about making sure to get it done right? And 6 months of back rent and your landlord didn't come after you? You never asked for a receipt ever after paying? Sorry, next time you'll be a little more careful with your rent money.

Comments

rotflqtms_ 21

if you're the one paying, why did your roommate have access to the rent money? If your name is on the lease, don't you think you should have been a little more careful about making sure to get it done right? And 6 months of back rent and your landlord didn't come after you? You never asked for a receipt ever after paying? Sorry, next time you'll be a little more careful with your rent money.

I'm sorry this happened to you, but if your name was on the lease, you should have been making the payments directly to the landlord yourself. Don't trust other people with your rent money, regardless if they're good friends or just roommates. I hope it all works out well for you.

For those saying OP’s roommate shouldn’t have been in charge of the rent if OP was on the lease, maybe they both signed the lease and they’re both on it? If that’s the case, then it makes sense for only one person to handle rent than to have two people turn in half rent.

But OP clearly stated that he'd been paying the rent in full - not half - for everybody during the past six months. When it comes to housing and certain other important fees/ payments in life, all-ways be sure to leave a paper trail to CYA. Yep, all-ways get a receipt; that way you can prove how much you've been paying per month/ year in case your gov't gives you credit/ rebate/ discount for doing so on your annual income taxes and the like eg, some states in the USA. Also, don't trust anybody with significant amounts of cash eg, $50+. You never know what type(s) of secret addiction(s) that they might have/ be recovering from. Good luck, OP! :-)

The way OP words it heavily implies that they are the only one on the lease.

I guess it depends on the country? When I lived in Scotland as a student and my roommates and I would sign a lease, we'd basically sign for a room in the flat. Which meant that if one roommate didn't pay, they could get evicted if they didn't pay rent, but the other roommates would be safe and wouldn't be required to make up the missing rent.

Mungolikecandy 19

If your name is on the lease maybe it is time to find a new roommate. Also if they spent your rent money a call to the police for theft may also be called for. How did they even get access to your rent money anyway as surely you pay the landlord directly which is the standard thing to do?

The standard thing to do when you live with roommates is to pool the money and one of the leaseholders gives the money to the landlord. In this case it sounds like they missed the part of it needing to be one of the leaseholders. Non-leaseholders have 0 incentive to make sure the money is paid.

I agree your life sucks but you also deserved it. If your name is on the lease then you're the one that gives the money to the landlord. They have no incentive to do so.

Super easy! If your name is on the lease and you're the one paying the entire rent simply change the locks and they'll all need to find new places to live.

Where I live there's a legal process to getting someone out once they're established "residency", typically by living there for 30 continuous days. Doing what you suggest could get OP sued or arrested.

If your name was on the lease, you should have been collecting the money and paying landlord. Ydi 100%

awoodss 0

I've been there kick there ass to the curb fr

Check made out to the landlord.....

If the lease is in your name why are they in charge of dropping off the money?