A very difficult roommate situation

SuperUberBob · #1 06-05-2007, 05:03 PM

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?

Golden_Rhino · #2 06-05-2007, 05:08 PM

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

SuperUberBob · #3 06-05-2007, 05:10 PM

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

[/ QUOTE ]

Golden_Rhino · #4 06-05-2007, 05:13 PM

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.

onthebutton · #5 06-05-2007, 05:14 PM

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.

unbluffable · #6 06-05-2007, 05:11 PM

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%

applejuicekid · #7 06-05-2007, 05:15 PM

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.

atnels · #8 06-05-2007, 11:20 PM

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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.

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My Dad owns a bunch of apartment complexes in TN (no, not in a sweet college area - more like the ghetto). He has to deal with the opposite end of this all the time. Lots of times Mexican migrants will rent out a place - usually with one or two legals signing the lease - and two weeks later there are several families sleeping on the floors. In the leases there are very specific occupany clauses but proving that extra people have established residence (opposed to just visiting, staying the night, etc) is very difficult in a court of law unless you practically stake out the joint.

There is no way that the owner will try to come after anyone for this unless somebody just writes them a check. Also, you should be aware that there is also language in the lease specifically preventing fines from being taken out of a security deposit, so they can't just take that all away.

However, the landlord will be pissed and is likely to dock your deposit for every nickle they can.

Good luck.

P.S. Sorry to take a racial slant and I'm not trying to offend anyone, but this is the truth of the matter.

SuperUberBob · #9 06-05-2007, 05:16 PM

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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.

findingneema · #10 06-05-2007, 05:17 PM

That is seriously [censored] up. I'd tell the owners to kiss my ass and I wouldn't pay the fine unless they could prove there was a subletter and it violated the terms of the contract. Basically make it real difficult for the landlord to do anything and they will probably back down. As for whoever squealed, I'd make life hell for them.