I think my housemate is trying to run away and leave me with all his bills?
Ok I live in the Uk, I have 2 housemates. One is a real problem, he has so many debts its ridiculous I would not have moved in with him had I known. He ows hundreds in water, electricity and now over a thousand in rent.
We are on a joint tenancy and were unaware till now that each of guarantors is liable to pay the missing rent. So now me and my good housemate ave recieved letters from the estate agents threating legal action in 14 days if the guy dont pay his rent.
WTF!
Are we responsible for his rent? Hos does that work?
And secondly because of all this he went to live with his parents for a month and is now saying he will come back to pick up his stuff because he wants to premanetly move back.
We suspect he is going to try and run away and leave us to pay all his rent,(we still have 3 months left so it will be a lot more then the thousand it is already.)
What should we do? There is no way he can pay his debts and he has nothing but debt left here for him so I think he trying to run away.
Shuld we sell his stuff? Without his consent? I really dont know what to do, I dont want to get in trouble and there is no way, no way in hell we are paying his rent.
Please help, thanks in advance
England / Wales
Unfortunately, you can not sell his stuff.
You are responsible for the rent – the agreement you signed will include the phrase "joint and several liability" which means the landlord can claim from any or all of you. If you explain the situation to the landlord, he might be willing to pursue the missing tenants guarantor first – but he doesn’t have to.
I suggest you advertise for someone to fill his place (a lodger) to help cover the missing rent.
If you can keep track of him, and remind him that he owes you £X at least every 6 years (yearly is better) then you can sue him for your losses when he does have money – although that could be a long time in future.
sell that asshole’s stuff, same thing happened to me but being a pushover i payed it, you shouldn’t have to.
Don’t let him to pick up his stuffs, & report to the bill collectors about what you are not gonna be responsible for his debts, before he runs away!
U are not responsible at all to pay the bills on behalf of anyone as long as u have a joint tenancy agreement this mean that there is other partners legally,u saying that your housemates went back and planning to come back this means that u know in which country he is from so the estate agent should go for the court order against this person and by law they can arrest him once he enter any airport,i don’t think it’s a good idea to sell his belonging,don,t touch any thing as one day a Bailiff will come and do the job instead of u,also u can have an advice from a citizen advice berue as they will direct u to legally adviced solicitors.
When he comes home a dark night you will be waiting. Stand in a dark corner preferably, then when he comes home you hit him across the nogget with something hard a bat or garden rake will do fine. next when he is lying down kick or punch him some times in the gut so he cant get up and will have indigestion the next couple of days. After that you get the biggest piece of tarpaulin you van get and wrap him in it, nice and snug. Then you place him on the floor in his apartment and wait. when he wakes hu you have a pot of boiling water ready. You ask him "will you pay the rent and get the fuck out?" if he says something like "fuck off" or "screw you" then you simply scald him with the water. Then you ask him again. If he still says something rude well be inventive kick bite or pee on him tills he pleads for mercy and says he will pay the rent. That would pretty much sort it out for you though you will need his new address so you can keep threatening him so he wont go to the police.
Other than that you will probably do very good you sound very very menacing: 
<— happy smiley —> 
Hold his stuff ransom…If it is worth more then he owes tell him he can buy the stuff off you or you will sell it for the money. If it isn’t worth anything then you will have to take a legal time consuming and costly route of getting the money through the courts.
If you are a joint tenancy how did it get so bad? you should have made sure you were on top of it and kicked him out earlier really if he wasn’t paying his share.
I guess you won’t be making the same mistake again .
Follow the landlord’s advice. Sorry, you are responsible. But some things you can do within the law. Don’t let the guy move his stuff out without paying you what he owes. So clear his room and put his stuff in boxes. Put them in storage. Hold his stuff ransom for the money you are owed. Change the locks. Yes you will have to do some work. Chalk it up to life experience.
Find a part-time renter for the remaining time. From new renter make sure you get a first month, last month and security deposit. Check references both their employment references and a former housemate. More help about finding and keeping good housemates: http://www.sharinghousing.com