Situation with Roomate

[Zagriel]

Jurisdiction

Michigan

I have a situation with a roomate, which I have been lving with this individual for over 3 years, now at this point I know I should have wised up by now, but wishful think and me being taken advantage of easily. I am at the current situation and dillema I am at right now.

Lets start when we signed a new lease when our former roommate moved out. This was back in 2015, at the time she warned me to move out as well but wouldn't specifiy as to why she was saying this to me. Over the past 3 years I have come to realize why because there was a situation back in the mid part of July that happened. Now prior to this, I would ask him money for his share of the electric bill and internet because we both agreed that we would equally pay both portions of these bills. Well until recently he has never gave me any money towards any of these bills.

Now the situation back in 2016, he had a stroke in June and was out of work from June to late part of December of that early going into early Janurary of 2017. Prior to this I was in college, and I had to take out college loans to help pay for my housing expenses, he was not paying anything towards the rent at this time, nor again nothing towards rent. It got so bad to a point during the months from August to October, that we were taken to court on 2 separate occasions. I think he finally realized at a point that hey...I should contribute some of my short term disability money towards rent. Which out of 4,500 owed he thought 800 would be sufficient. With damages he down towards the property.....I still have a settlement of I believe around 3,500-5,000 against me and himself....but tbh I didnt see him as a defendent on the case when I got a letter in the mail. Anyway

In November of that year, we find a house to rent, which is 550 a month but this time all utilities have to be in someones name. Agains he tells me I can't put the heat, electric, internet, trash in his name becuase of situations where he still owed money. The only bill that he put in his name was the water bill, and I told him then I was not going to pay anything towards the bill and that was solely on him for that one.

In Janurary of 2017, he couldn't pay his share of the rent because he was recently going back to work and it was to a point where I couldn't afford all this on my own again, so I had to take out a loan on my 401k. Which I paid off some of utility bills and put down two months of rent. I told him I expected to get his share of the money once he started getting payment again from work. To this day I haven't seen anything from that amount.

Now from the months of November 2016 to Feburary of 2018. I have been paying all of the bills associated with the electric, gas, internet and trash. Now there was a situation in November of 2017, where I was still on the lease and still am at this time. My father he had Deep Brain Stimulation Surgery, to regulate his Parkinson's disease. I had to quit my current jobs, find a job closer to my parent's place live there for the time being. Now legally he cannot sell any of my stuff, because he knows I didnt abandon the place because I told him at the time I was eventually going to move back in or either get my stuff at the end of May 2018 which the lease ends then I would get what little I did have in the house/apartment. During this time period again I had financial difficulties, he had lost his job for medical reasons, which feel on him. and we were taken to court by our current landlord. Again I had to dip into my 401k, which my loan wasn't paid off so in that circumstances I had to do a hardship withdrawl in the amount of 1,500. After deductions/taxes I gave the landlord around 1,300 and worked out payment plans with him. Which at this time my roommate found a new job and was also helping out with these payment plans.

Which at the time was 125 a week per person, I was doing this for awhile but I was not staying there at the time, and in the course of November-March he has racked up close to 7,000kwh which going by there daily rate of 30kwh a day at 4.52 dollars thats around 1,055 dollars in electric bills under my account. Now I've got other bills and it was getting hard to pay the weekly rent on top of all these bills, especially the freaking electric...which in one month alone was nearly 300 dollars. We worked out a plan every month for a two week period, I would pay 250 towards the electric and he would pay my portion of that biweekly rent due.

Well I've been busy over the past 2 months, working at the first job I had to find and also discovered a remote at home call center job. Which he knew about this month in advance, well apparently I've been to busy for him to socialize etc and on this which I discovered recently his 13 year old cat died. This was the only thing holding him together when his bed ridden parents died after taking care of them. I haven't had a chance to get ahold of him over this period because my phones off atm and he messages me on social media about getting fed up with me about things, which I couldn't respons to since he blocked me....oi vey

Now his last message was I just sold your 4k TV for 450, and if you dont get the rest by Monday March 26th...the rest will get sold or thrown in the trash.

My question is I know he cant since Im legally stil on the lease, but can he under some circumstances sell my belongings? Also do I have ground to take him to court for the lack of payment on the ultility bills for the past time we have been living together and the rent that I pad on his behalf, which was not a gift etc.

 

[adjusterjack]

I can answer both your questions without reading that long post.

can he under some circumstances sell my belongings?

The word "can" denotes the ability to do something not whether it's done rightly or wrongly.

Many states have statutory provisions for disposal of a tenant's property left behind. Michigan, unfortunately, does not. Though I suppose under the circumstances you could probably sue him and win on that count but he can countersue for the unpaid bills and maybe get an offset.

Also do I have ground to take him to court for the lack of payment on the ultility bills for the past time we have been living together and the rent that I pad on his behalf, which was not a gift etc.

Sure, you have grounds. Whether you win or lose depends on what parts of the arrangement you can prove (not just say).

If either of you have defaulted on any part of the agreement then NONE of your excuses mean a damned thing.

It's a big mess.

If you want a judge to try to unravel it for you, you are free to take it to court. No way to predict the outcome.

 

[Zagriel]

Trust me I know, I have tried over countless times for him to admit that he owes these things but he will never do so over email,text messages etc. He always insists on speaking over the phone or in person when It comes to the matter at hand.

Hes not stupid, I will say that lol

 

[Zagriel]

Theres another issue as well with this recent matter, the Landlord is a huge dirtbag...the place is spiderwired with cloth and normal wires, other issues abound. Then he sends an invoice with nearly 1,200 missing in rent paid and that was a huge mess just to get that fixed.

When we were taken to court this past time, I couldn't attend due to a emergency situatiuon and the court/landlord understoof. I advised him on countless times explain these situations to the judge, because there written confirmation about these issues. The previous owner, who happens to be the next door neighbor, explained the place use to be condemened, would likely happen again after the next inspection......and I was telling my roomate this information because there is no way any person, a Judge for that matter would rule that 550 a month for a place under these circumstances would be justified.

So I am also in the process of taking my landlord to court, and seeing if the rent cant get lowered, and deem a judgment against rent minus the actual amount the judge deemed fit for the place.

 

[mightymoose]

You are in a no win situation.
There is no point in suing someone you already know does not have the means to pay you. This guy has mooched as much as possible and you have allowed it.
It is unlikely you will ever get that money back even if you successfully sue. You might have better luck by not suing and trying to stay on friendly terms... But don't count on it. Once the lease ends and you no longer live together this person will become very hard to contact.
I say cut your losses and move on.

Yes, he could sell your property, but not legally. The landlord could eventually sell your property legally, but that doesn't seem likely. Hopefully you have already retrieved your valuables.

 

[Zagriel]

Now this situation I am in, I tolerated for the most part but now I am at a point where this Landlord(Individual) has made it entirely difficult for myself and he is siding with a roomate who by the standards of the word is a mooch.

I need to know under the circumstances provided if I can take my landlord to court. When I moved in, this is a really small rouse for rent where only two people were allowed in occupy the premises. A friend at the time, and my current roommate were looking at a new place. We found one, and thought for the price and situation it was the most ideal place to go but anything would have been great at that point, or so I thought.

To this house, it a small porched pation, a living room, kitchen, second enclosed entry way, bedroom, another room that was convereted into a laundry room and that room connects to the bathroom. Well to the bedroom, there was no door there whatso ever and there was no door to the laundry room nor was there a door to the bathroom.

Prior to moving in under these circumstances there was no privacy, we requested that door be put in place. One definitely for the bathroom and one for the bedroom. Well nothing happened at first, so we contacted the office and requested they put a work order in for these doors. Well when the landlord's work team arrive, the cant install on door to the bedroom because they didn't get permission to do that and theres an issue with the bathroom door. They couldn't install it for some reason and when they did install a door it could only be the entry way leading to from the kitchen to the laundry room.

Now this door inquestion that they installed, said legal codes permitted them from installing a door so they had to install an accordion door. I thought this was odd at the time because it legal code permitted from installing a door to this entry way, why would an accordion door be acceptable. From what I come to understand now, my landlord is a dirt bag, a scumlord, and very very cheap. If theres a cheap solution to a porblem he will find it and Im guessing he didnt want to pay for a real door and pay his handymen the fees associated with that installation.

I put in writing, that I would atleast install a door to the bedroom myself, but only if this charge was taken off the rent in that total amount. I spoke to one of his office associates at the time, and was advised don't even bother. He would never agree to anything of that sort. Which for your information, those associates no longer work for this individual because during August/September of last year they all quit because he refused to sign their payroll checks.

I got to know one neighbor over the summer, and found out she use to owe the property in question. She told me many problem with the house, the roof hasn't been fixed in over 20-30 years, when she inquired about fixing it she was advised not to becuase it cost more than what the place was actually worth. The houses wiring, which we'll get into issues about that, is spiderwired with cloth and normal wires. Im sure at this point, there is even more issues with the place but I don't have the patience and didnt to fully explore these issues.

About the wiring, its so riduculosly bad that if the water heater(which is electric), ever turns on and were consuming even a little bit of electric power aside from that, it will click the breaker's overload limits. At first we couldn't understand what was causing the power to go out, but after some trials and erros we discovered the water heater was the root cause. Now even with this aside, if it is really windy out one section of the house will be without power. Theres more to list about these issues but I dont think I'll waste time going into those issues.

Now we were taken to court about past due rent, which I forgot to put it in escrow...LOL my bad but I couldn't attend the court date at the time due to a family emergency. I told my roommate at the time, to bring these issues up to court, because the judge could rule that due to the circumstances and what was already documented. We could of had our rent prorated, paid less until the lease was over etc.

No, he fails to do that when the time comes and with the situation with my family emergency. I couldn't really care too much at the time. Aside from that, I'm also dealing with a situation with that roommate, which hes making me out to be the villain with my landlord, to a point where I have to get my name off this lease, take out all utilites and let him fend for himself...becuase hes a mooch.

My question is, if I am taken to court over this do I have an legal recourse in this matter. I dont know if any letter I have sent him are saved and his ledgers are untrustworthy at this point because were missing 1,200 in rent paid. Which we still have the money order receipts and verified what was missing.

If either of us get taken to court about rent, can we legally get what we paid over this time period prorated etc. I know Id probably have to get an inspector, can we sue for the cost of that? etc. Also if I get a city inspector, I was told the place would probably get condemened becuase it was prior to us moving in tho this place from the neighbor I mentioned before. Thanks

 

[mightymoose]

It's unlikely you have much of an argument to make against the landlord.
Your best option was to not move in to a place with so many problems.
It is also unlikely you followed the terms of your lease regarding repairs. There is usually a specific procedure set out, and failure to follow it exactly can complicate things for you.