in august i moved in with three people i don't know. they are wonderful people, don't get me wrong- but one of them i guess cannot afford rent anymore. this was brought to my attention not because she told me, but because i looked online and saw she hasn't paid for the last 2 1/2 months. i don't know what to do about it. we're all 21 year olds, and it would have been awesome if she sat us down a while ago and told us her problem. she has a minimum wage job and works at an unpaid internship for her major for school. we have a balance on our account, so nothing has happened yet, but that balance is slowly shrinking to zeroooooo...and when that happens, THEN will she bring up that she can't pay rent? is there such a thing as a responsible young adult nowadays? what do I do in this situation? I'm so sick of handling everything in this house, including cleaning, scheduling for shoveling and taking care of the yard, taking out the trash, etc. help?
It depends on the terms of your lease. Most say that each person in the house is jointly and severally liable for the full rent, which means if someone else doesn't pay, you're on the hook. So I would suggest confronting her *immediately*, with the rest of your housemates, and find out what she plans to do. Personally I wouldn't accept any sort of vague "oh, I'll get it caught up" but would insist on a specific payment plan, preferably weekly or whatever day she gets her paycheck...and a written agreement that if she misses even a single payment that she agrees to move out within 48 hours. The reality is, you'll probably get left holding the bag for the rent due, and unless you want to go to small claims and get a judgment you won't be able to enforce (she has no assets) and sit and wait till she has a real job... there isn't much you can do. I've had housemates do this, and I actually *have* gotten the judgment and sat on it for 5+ years and then collected the judgment plus 5 years interest, long after they'd forgotten about it... but most people won't go through that hassle.
thanks for the advice! i think im going to talk to her tomorrow as awkward as its gonna be. she put me in this situation, its time for me to get out of it before i suffer more consequences..
