Dear Amie,
I’m having an issue with my roommates — my BFF, her boyfriend, and his little brother. We agreed to split the rent and living costs three ways. Then the little brother moved, and when I asked my BFF and her boyfriend to help cover that share of the rent, they got mad at me and refused to pay their share. Now there are two people living in my place who aren’t paying, aren’t speaking to me… and are eating all my food and using all my stuff. How do I blast them out of the house?
Signed,
Broke and Confused
Dear Broke and Confused,
Okay, so there are many ways for me to answer this question; however, unless orange is your favorite color and you really like community showers, murder is probably right out! Although I encourage you to be a rational adult, that doesn’t mean you can’t have a bit of fun.
There are two real ways to go about this. The first is definitely the adult and correct way, but the second is probably the only way you will still have your BFF after the fact.
Here’s the proper way to handle the roommate sitch without a hitch! First, let me tell you that after this method you and your BFF will B(e) Fs no more. I strongly advise never living with someone you care about unless it is an extremely strong relationship. Friendships rarely survive roommate-dom. With that said, let’s move on to the advice: Check your lease. What does it say? Anything about roommates? Is it solely in your name? If yes, great! If no, don’t sweat it. You can still do this! If your lease isn’t as ironclad as you’d like, talk to your landlord about the situation. He or she should be able to help you get something worked out. (Usually, the next step will be to issue a written request to your roommates.) If not, he/she can start the process to evict your roommates if they’re not on the lease, or help you revise the lease to include specific rent amounts. Be warned, though, that police can and most likely will be called to aid in an eviction.
Voilà! You are now in the market for a new roommate… and best friend! Depressing? Yes, but at least you’re no longer stressing the rent split and all your goodies are again yours.
The second method (and most likely the only one to save your friendship) is very simple. I mean, if you really want to keep a friend who is basically a parasite sucking money and goods out of you, then this is your method! It can be stressful and costly, but hey — you can take comfort in the fact that you still have your horrible BFF. (Should you choose this method, might I suggest counseling followed by attending a meet-and-greet on campus? There are better friendly fish in the sea.)
Step one: talk to your landlord. Tell him or her about the situation. Explain your plans… which would be moving out yourself. Yup. Time for some house hunting, new deposits, packing, and moving… fun, fun, fun!
Again, no more roommate issues, only this time you still have friends! Yay! Go you! I hope this solved your issue and as always, if you need any more advice feel free to email your questions to enmuhoundbytes@gmail.com