What's going to get me through this nightmare of a day?

[xfer]

huh? what would make you think that?

my roommate grant vanished yesterday and said he was going to be back "in a long time" and didn't leave an august rent check! wtf!

 

[minxnim]

i'd call a bounty hunter.

SORRY JOSH

 

[xfer]

i think he left a giant picnic basket in his room! this could be the makings of a wacky and wild movie where all three of us split up to sell that shit and try to make at least $475 by the 5th, when it becomes officially late!

 

[minxnim]

he just sounds like he is taking advantage of your leniency on his making a decision on whether or not to move out. it's flakey. i am so adamant about rent on time stuff, i'd be geeking out.

 

[xfer]

but what can we do? he left no forwarding number and all we know is he's possibly somewhere in or near philly. should we send the rent without his?

 

[avi]

sell his shit for rent. I assume he left furniture and clothes?

and then kick his ass out

 

[xfer]

his shit ain't worth $475. except for the bud.

he's on the least til 8/31/04. that makes him basically immune from being kicked out, legally.

 

[avi]

even if he defaults on rent?

 

[xfer]

the way i understand The Law, when you sign a lease with four other people, you are responsible for ALL of their rent, not just your portion (and they're all responsible for you, too). So under the law, if he doesn't pay, we can be held responsible, or we ALL "default". I don't think there's a legal separation between one person defaulting and everyone defaulting.

 

[xfer]

N.B. i have thoroughly Azaled this thread. as planned!

 

[minxnim]

well yea you cant just send in the rent without his portion or you could be evicted. can you call his girlfriend and see what happened? you can always take him to small claims court later and sue for his portion of the rent if you get a receipt from the landlord stating who exactly paid rent that month and who didn't. or if he left a security deposit, ask the landlord to just keep that?

 

[FrostGiant]

My brother and his roomate got sued for the third roomates portion (2gs) of the rent. The dude who was behind never got sued cuz he had 4 cases pending already so the landlard went after the two who didn't, thusly to get paid. It's then up to my brother and the other roomy to file a suit against the 3rd dude to get the money from him, but in the meantime have to pay the back rent. At least in WI it's that way. Each state is difernt

 

[minxnim]

p.s. you dont have a legal right to sell his stuff until you sue him in small claims court and get a judgment. otherwise, he can report you for transference of stolen property.

 

[FrostGiant]

BTW, I just took a nice half hour nap. I feel refreshed and ready to work. Ok, maybe not work. But I do feel refreshed.

And you can sell anything that's not in someones possession at the time. That was determined to the case of Finders vs. Keepers

 

[xfer]

right, right, and right.


i think his girlfriend is with him?

so you're saying it's probably better to not send any rent at all, rather than send a portion? okay.

and i'm suggesting going to a picnic and not telling him because he certainly can't sue us over THAT!

 

[minxnim]

no i mean, you basically HAVE to pay your rent, or you can be evicted. so you need to scrape together his portion and send in ALL the rent. signing a lease with someone is basically like saying 'if this person screws up, i have their back' in massachusetts.

 

[minxnim]

it's akin, if you will, to co-signing a car loan or something.

 

[FrostGiant]

No I'd send a portion at least. They don't usually get as pissy when they have at least some money.

 

[minxnim]

it just depends on your landlord. did you tell him/her what happened? either way, i'd call the clerk at your county court and ask how much it is to file a small claim in MA. i can't even remember.

 

[xfer]

right, yes, i realise that, preppy; what i'm saying is, if we DON'T decide to go that route, would a portion be better than nothing?

our landlord usually doesnt cash our rent checks until the 15th-20th. he also knows that Grant is being really weird recently and he likes me and Lisa. usually we send the checks on the 1st or 3rd and he gets them the 5th or 6th, so rather than pay a portion of Grant's rent and have him show up the next day and think "Oh, if I wanna pull this shit again, they'll just cover me", I'm thinking we might wait it out and just send the whole rent when Grant gets back, hopefully by Sunday or Monday, so it's only a couple days later than usual and still earlier than the checks are usually cashed?