A very difficult roommate situation
 

During the summer, many students who live in apartments sublet their rooms. People stay in their apartment rooms and pay the students a monthly cost to do so. The student can get back some of the money paid out on rent when they aren't there.

My roommate (call him Joe) ended up "subletting" his room out to a friend of his. It was supposed to be for six weeks. However, Joe was also technically living in the same location as he was despite spending most of his time at his girlfriend's apartment. In a sense, it wasn't subletting as much as it was him temporarily sheltering a friend since he had no place to live around campus.

The only problem is that doing this is a major breach of the apartment contract signed by the students. The owners of the apartment complex (or relatives of theirs) came by the apartment stating that they heard that Joe was sheltering a person for an extended period of time. Joe was notified that a $100 fine must be paid for every day his friend stayed here! As college students, there is no way either of them have enough to pay them off since he's been here for over 3 weeks. It was also said that the fine is non-negotiable. The friend needs to be out ASAP.

Myself and Joe also suspect that one of the other roommates (the apartment houses four people) might have ratted him out. Very few people knew about this situation. One is 3 hours from here (the guy I'm subletting from), myself and Joe didn't tell anybody. So, the only person that could squeal and does know is the lone female roommate.

A few questions arise from this:

-Who should pay the fine(s)? Should it be the roommate who housed his friend or should it be his friend for taking him up on the offer? Both of them knew it was against the contract, but did this anyway. Is it best to split the costs?

-Should anything be done about the potential squealer? Myself and Joe personally do not like this person too much and the feelings might be mutual.

-Joe's friend, who is enrolled in classes at University Park will have no place to stay. Does Joe have an obligation to help find his friend another place to stay?

Cliff's Notes:
-Roommate illegally "subletted" his room to a friend
-Apartment complex owners found out and demand a $100 fine per day the friend was here (over 3 weeks). Neither of them can pay that much in fines and it is non-negotiable.
-Other roommate might have ratted him out about this issue

Any other thoughts or opinions?

Re: A very difficult roommate situation
 

New rule: Nobody should answer a roommate question unless the op provides a picture of a lathe.

Re: A very difficult roommate situation
 

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New rule: Nobody should answer a roommate question unless the op provides a picture of a lathe.

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http://www.lathe.com/images/820.jpg

Re: A very difficult roommate situation
 

I think they should both split it. Actually, the most fair way to do it would be 25% joe, for not obeying the contract, 75% the guy for having a place to stay for 3 weeks and no obeying the contract.

I would not ever want to live with someone who squeals, or who you suspect might squeal. I mean do you smoke pot? Do you have minors over drinking? Anything else? think about that.

and if that was my friend i would absolutely help him find a place to stay.. 100%

Re: A very difficult roommate situation
 

Now that you have posted a lathe picture, here is my opinion. As much as it sucks it seems that Joe and his pal are on the hook for the fine. They need to work out who pays how much with each other.

You guys definitely need to smoke out the snitch, and once it's proven, kick his ass out. There is no real reason for anyone to have bitched about the situation, and if they wanted to they should have spoken to Joe instead of ratting to the super.

Re: A very difficult roommate situation
 

Your other roommate (the one who may have ratted) has a reason to bitch. Providing he agreed to live with you and Joe, he didn't agree to live with this other random dude. If he did rat, he handled the situation poorly, but he's got a legitimate complaint. You and Joe are in the wrong here, and Joe should probably get this dude out.

Re: A very difficult roommate situation
 

The owners of the complex are asking for 3 weeks at $100 a day as a fine? How do they know he was there for 3 weeks?

I'm not sure about the legality issue of it all, but I would refuse to pay any of it. This seems like it is very hard to prove, and I doubt the landlord would want to go to court to collect the money.

Re: A very difficult roommate situation
 

How do they know how long the friend has been there? Lie like mad and say its only been a couple days.

Joe should pay it, but friend should be nice and offer to help where he can.

Joe has no obligation, but like the above scenario, he should be willing to help his friend. The last two answers to me are like "wtf, you're friends aren't you? who cares about obligation, just help each other where you can."

Regarding the squealer, you have no proof, and pretty much nothing you can do would be worth the time or effort. Just let it go.

Ray

Re: A very difficult roommate situation
 

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I would not ever want to live with someone who squeals, or who you suspect might squeal. I mean do you smoke pot? Do you have minors over drinking? Anything else? think about that.

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I chose to sublet here because I did so through one of my old high school friends (we were roommates when we lived on campus). Joe, the roommate, is also a close friend of mine. There was no hassle of apartment hunting involved and I didn't have to live with random people at my place.

Since Penn State is pretty much desolate over the summer and just about all of my friends are 21+ (or don't drink), I really have no issues of that nature. My roommate does salvia, but that's legal.

Re: A very difficult roommate situation
 

Also, I re-read the OP, and am now confused. You're subletting too? What about the 3rd party, who may have snitched? Is he also subletting? This may change my opinion.