Roommate from Hell
 

Here's the situation. I currently live in a college apartment with three other guys. Two of them I get along with fine and are good roommates. The third is my dorm roommate from freshman year who has just followed me along. All three of us can't stand living with him for multiple reasons:

-He never cleans his dishes unless told to.
-He never helps clean the apartment.
-He rarely throws money down for apartment supplies.
-He drinks our liquor/beer and never buys any for the apartment.
-He is extremely loud and annoying during the day and early evening, but once he goes to sleep, he expects us all to be quiet and gets pissed if we're making noise or watching TV in the living room.
-He bought a lathe, and without asking anybody, placed it in the living room. When told that's not going to fly, he said he already bought it and has nowhere else to put it.
-He totally disrespects me because I don't have a 'real' job and I just sit at home and play poker for money. Of course I make 20x as much as him doing this and I sense jealousy there.
-He just isn't a fun person to hang out with and is somewhat uptight.

My other two rm's know a friend from back home that is transferring up to our school and needs a place to stay. I've met him before and he seemed like a cool guy. They tell me he will be a MUCH better rm. Our lease here ends very soon, but we STUPIDLY all signed for another year.

What should we do? If we move out, we have to pay a cancellation fee and find another place. I don't believe we have the authority to just give him the boot from the apartment. Does anyone know anything about this? We could just break this all to him and tell him none of us want him around anymore. This option would not be fun but is doable. Any other options OOT can think of?

Re: Roommate from Hell
 

a lathe? wtf does he need a lathe for?

Re: Roommate from Hell
 

[ QUOTE ]
a lathe? wtf does he need a lathe for?

[/ QUOTE ]

That's what we said. He works at a woodshop and his hobby is carpentry type BS/building guitars. Why the hell he needs a lathe in the middle of our living room I have no idea.

Re: Roommate from Hell
 

He bought a lathe? A [censored] lathe?

Man, you might be stuck. Unless he wants to leave, or you can make him want to leave, there isn't much you can do.

In any case, if he stays, start keeping closer track of things like apartment supplies, etc. If he doesn't pay, charge him like it's the rent. Same with your booze. If you have to keep it in your room to keep him from mooching, do it.

The cost of what he doesn't pay for apartment stuff, and what he steals vs. whatever your cancellation costs are + the inconvenience of dealing with him may make it worth just paying to get rid of him.

And make him get rid of the lathe. Clogging up a common area with [censored] like that is stupid. Or tell him he has to pay more rent per month, since he's using up most of the common space.

Re: Roommate from Hell
 

create a gimmick facebook account and send him the url to this post

or

be a man and just tell him the issues and make sure he knows you guys are [censored] serious

Re: Roommate from Hell
 

Yea, if hes on the lease theres nothing you can do, and even if he isn't youd have to give him some time. Definately bring up all this to him, and ask him why hes a [censored] [censored]. If you're lucky he will get pissed and want to leave himself, a win win situation. I know this will be tough to do, but with all these things its the only way.

Re: Roommate from Hell
 

he has a legal right to live in your apartment pursuant to the lease.

Re: Roommate from Hell
 

Talk to him, see if he's receptive. If so, give him a chance to shape up.

If that doesn't work, then pay the cancellation fee and sign a new lease with the other guy included. It's worth it to avoid locking [censored] in your room and dealing with a [censored] roommate for another year.

Re: Roommate from Hell
 

I think it's awesome that he put a lathe in the middle of your living room. That takes gumption.

Re: Roommate from Hell
 

You and your 2 other roomates just need to bite the bullet and pay the cancellation fee and move. Of course the guy you want out will stiff you on his share and you'll each have to pay part of that as well, but that is the only way to get rid of him. It sounds like paying that fee and the hassle of moving will be a small price for better domestic arrangements for the next year.

Just don't try to threaten him with the above to get him to change, because he'll just wait until school starts and revert to his old behaviour when the rest of you won't want to carry out the threat.

However, if he tries to talk you into letting him stay you could offer him the alternative of paying him the cancellation fee so as to save the rest of you having to move.