I've been living with a house mate for a little over a year now and she's has to go. Positives: -all in all not particularly messy -pays bills Negatives: -pays bills late -Rarely speaks -Replies to "hello" with a rude grunt and will storm off in a sort of half-tantrum if you ask her to do anything ridiculous like her dishes. -moves my stuff around -gets angry when I move her stuff [which I only do when I'm cleaning] -hasn't done an ounce of communal (eg. toilet, bathroom, kitchen, loungeroom) cleaning in over 9 months -has no job, so is at home all day, everyday (I work from home so this is particularly annoying)... IT should be noted that I told her this before she moved in, and she lied and said she had two jobs, totally full time work... She in fact had already lost one of those jobs, and the other one was 1 day a week gig......... I later learned that the other job was also part-time. From what I can gather the most she's ever worked in her life is about 3 days a week and that was for a month (she is 22). -flatly refuses to buy cleaning products but happily uses mine in her own room -argues with me whenever it's her turn to buy toilet paper (I think I've bought 80% of it) -makes a little seat out of the toilet paper I pay for -uses deodorant instead of buying air freshener after taking a dump - to paraphrase Seinfeld: It combines with the [shit] smell to form some kind of mutant funk. -washes dishes about once a fortnight -does a clothing was a day (I'm serious) My partner moved in recently and so we want her out, but, she won't go. Which was sort of fine; we just ignored her for the most part. I simply continued to clean up after her, went about my business, and rarely spoke to her. Seemed to be fine, I couldn't really care less - She's paying half the rent and bills after all which is a bit of extra dosh in my pocket. BUT, I recently received a call from my landlord to tell me that the house-mate called her to complain that I'd been shouting at her, threatening her, and all sorts of other bull. It was such a shock I laughed initially until I realised she was serious. After a good hour long chat with my landlord, we concluded that she does in fact need to move out. But, the landlord's hands are tied, the only thing this tenant pays on time is the rent, which happens to be one of the few reasons a landlord can evict someone. So here it is: How the bloody hell do I get rid of her? I've sat her down and asked her to leave once already (about four months ago), and she flatly refused. I've looked around from some ideas but most of them apply to really messy people, which she's not. I need to make her want to move out, but in spite of the brat's perception of me; pranks and bullying are not my style. Any ideas?... good pranks are still considered welcome contributions, I could use a laugh. Thanks for your time
Is leaving an option for you? I know that's a suck-ass response, but eviction is a serious faff. When I was at university, I owned the townhouse I lived in, a duplex we call them here in the States, and the people renting the other side paid rent ONCE and then never again. It took me NINE MONTHS to legally get them out. Taking your description at face value, your flatmate sounds like a professional leach. She knows what she's doing.
Threaten to leave. If the rent isn't paid, the landlord can evict anyone in the apartment, and since she has no job, it sounds like she won't be able to pay rent for the whole place by herself. If she calls your bluff, then I guess leaving is pretty much the only option you have. The only downside to this is that you may lose all of your security deposit since you're breaking your lease.
Do you have a lease (not just a month to month rental)? If so, you're tied to the terms in that. Ditto if you have a separate legal agreement with your roommate. Considering the call to the landlord, no pranks! You could end up in more trouble than a bad roommate. So depending on the lease/rental agreements, I'd say ignore her and look for other digs.
How did you end up in this situation? Was it a friend or answering an ad? Who moved in first or did you move in together? And if you do have a lease, can you get someone else to take over your spot? Sounds like you might be wishing you had considered moving in with your partner rather than vice versa. If it used to be a friend, I'd try talking it out, though you probably have. There are also going to be landlord tenant laws that apply and I'd look those up to start with. I've been a renter and a landlord both, and the laws are fairly detailed in these situations, assuming Oz is similar to the US in this respect.
you and your partner live there as well as her, but she's paying half the rent? Hardly fare is it? No wonder she won't buy a toilet roll.
I don't know what the particular laws are down in Oz, but the first thing I'd want to know is what kind of written agreement exists as far as the two of you and the dwelling? Did she sign a sub-lease, or did the two of you sign one lease? Did she sign an agreement with you? Those are what would govern. If all you've got is an oral agreement, that's a mess. Does your written lease with the LL allow subleases or additional tenants? Since you indicate that you have spoken with the LL, I'm assuming that this is not an issue, although if the lease does not allow subleases or additional unnamed tenants, the LL could possibly sue to evict her. I find it bizarre that she called the LL to say that you yelled at her. That seems to imply that at least she believes that the LL has the ability to evict one of you. If the lease or your local laws provide for this, I'd say to work with the LL to get this done. (If you've got no written agreement with the LL either, then that's an extra mess, and a situation which I have not encountered. Then it would be up to the LL entirely.) You may be stuck, in either having to wait out the lease, and having the LL execute a new lease with only you and your partner's names, or in moving out yourself. If the LL doesn't care enough to get involved, or who renews the lease, when it comes time to renew it, you can refuse to enter into a joint lease with the roommate. It would be up to the LL to determine which of you she wants to contract with.
Not really, the house is owned by my family, I've been here for about four years and love the place. Everything in here is mine, so moving house would be more than a hire-a-van scenario. Four furnished rooms would have to go. Despite loving it here, I had contemplated just moving, but logistically it would be a costly nightmare. I had thought about this, but due to the fore-mentioned status, it's a pretty hollow threat. If I move, the house is most likely going to be sold or completely refurbished so there'd be no "I can't pay the rent" just straight up 14 days notice. Person answering an add. She has a lease but I don't. She was being evicted from the place she lived in before mine. I felt really sorry for her: Turns out there was a damn good reason they were chasing her off (which is almost literally what happened according to her). I'm no pro, but I know my way around Australian property law, and 8 years renting and some bastard property managers has given me a pretty solid understanding of tenancy law: There's no way of getting her out. She needs to leave by her own accord. I've lived with friends in the past in this house and others. This whole situation has caused me to reflect on my rental history. I've never lived with anyone longer than 2 years so I wondered if maybe it was me that was the issue. But I'm still really close friends with all bar one of my old flatmates (the one being my ex), one of which I met through her answering an add. We offered her a reduction; but she declined. We were fixing ourselves for a battle. We share a room while she has her own, so we weren't going to give her more than 30% off, but when we mentioned it she said "not now" and stormed off. Hasn't brought it up since. Given that she never does any house work, my partner joked we she get a quote for a maid and stack that ontop of her rent.
thought about it: Illegal . Honestly I'd never have the guts to do that, and even if I did; because I'm a relative of the landlord, she could sue the landlord and say that I as a tenant was a representative of her [the landlord]. I doubt she'd win but that's a whole kettle of shit I don't want to stir up.
You know, houses catch fire all the time. So it would be a shame if your house accidentally caught on fire. Just make sure you have fire insurance and move all your stuff out before the house accidentally catches fire.
Is she allergic to anything? If so, bring home as much of it as possible. What is her least favorite music? Play it. Start having awkward sex in all of the communal rooms when she's home
We're talking about a flatmate who asked in all seriousness "How, like, if you leave a candle, and it's just there can it start a fire?" - She asked that about a month after moving in and I answered with "Never leave a candle unattended... please." Since then the longest I've been out of the house was 10 days, and I took everything worth more than $150, stashed it at my parents place (two hours drive, so no small feat). I take my laptop with me if I leave the house for more than 15 minutes because I live in fear that I will return to a smouldering ruin. I've google drived my writing, but I have about 80gig worth of digital artwork that aint going online any time soon. If you trawled through these forums you'd find it's dotted with references to the sheer stupidity of this person - albeit a painful one, she's a great source of party stories. I contemplated writing her into a novella but if you read her, you'd think the writer was an idiot. She's 22 and watches hannah montanna.
fresh out: Don't know. Don't know. Sounds like a plan. I had thought of getting on of my friends to do a couples shoot with us. Then blowing up the photos so they're massive, like 1.5x1meter prints and plastering them all over the house. A passive aggressive reminder that there is us, and then her... But again... I probably won't. She has lived here for a year and I don't know anything about her. I think that's the scariest part. You ask her a questions, she thinks for a moment then says "stuff" - I think she's hiding something... but what....
Given your other comments, I don't understand "owned by my family", but if you mean that literally, and it was in the US so assuming Aussie laws are similar, you'd have to wait until her lease expired and your family would have to claim all tenants needed to leave for remodeling. Then you'd have to fake leaving, they'd have to do something to justify it if you believed she'd sue, then you could move back in. But I have another idea. She doesn't like certain things, do them. Eat her food, move her stuff, have loud parties, get a cat or dog if she doesn't like pets, blame it all on your mate, say you're sorry but you can't control the other person, offer to give her a good reference (sometimes you just have to pass the hot potato on to the next person). Least you might have a story there.
I like how they put "Real Facts" in quotation marks. You might want to see if you can find a second source.
You've lived with her for a year but know nothing about her? Did you ever get on with her? Did she agree to your bf moving in? By the way - there are tons of volcanoes in Oz http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_volcanoes_in_Australia Sounds like you have The Best Of Both Worlds... (ask her)
you know... the family. <a href="http://italianaware.com/pictures/misc/godfather.jpg"> Very literal, my aunty owns the house. Yeah, she doesn't like pets, and my girlfriend's cat is moving in in a couple of months. She's a social invalid so I'm thinking that regular parties should be a part of the fixture. When I've had people over she'll stay in her room most of the time, occasionally venturing out to snub them when they introduce themselves. I wish she'd lived with me a couple of years ago when I still drank. There were people in my house until 4am, five nights a week. She wouldn't have lasted.Perhaps I should get in touch with the ol' drinking buddies. I mean I won't imbibe, but I doubt they'd pass up a catch-up + the opportunity to use my house as a hotel. Her lease has expired, she is on a month to month because she rang my aunt in tears, saying she had no where to go at the end of her lease. She's so peculiar - I just figured this sort of shit was just common knowledge. I had no idea that anyone thought that when your lease expired you had to move out. I don't know about the US, but here the tenant has to give 28 days notice if they want to leave when their lease expires.
I did at the beginning, but she would just ask me questions constantly. Pretty much would just say "why" again and again like a 5 year old or something. Whenever I asked her something, she would give either no answer or a very elusive one. Girlfriend, and no. I spoke to my LL before I considered speaking to my flatmate, sand was told she doesn't have a choice in the matter: It is the Landlord's decision as to who lives in her property, not the tenant. There has not been an erruption in Australia in two or three thousand years(I think), can't quite remember. There are no active volcanoes in Australia, captain semantics. But there's one in the ocean I think. EDIT: Wait just one hopping minute, that's what it says on the fuggin' cap. There aren't any! I love volcanoes, if there was lava and ash spewing out of anywhere in Australia I'd be there.
The written lease always prevails, but generally they provide that if the lease period has ended, then the tenancy becomes a month to month, and either party can end it with one month's notice. In the U.S., usually it is expected that one would move out at the end of the lease term, or renew the lease for some additional time period (usually a year, but sometimes for a lesser or greater time). Interesting that down there, it is tenant-based. If the only written agreement is between your aunt and your roommate, it's up to your aunt to get her out.
AV - I've just realised you're a guy.... maybe she fancies you, wants to break you guys up. Maybe she's your Single White Female? Has she introduced big pots into your kitchen? Have you checked your bunnies lately? Best of Both Worlds by the way is Hanna Montana's theme song... said I know that but....
Honestly, this sounds like a kick-ass story premise (comedy). *adds another card to the to-write pile*
