Dealing With Housemates Who Won't Pay Their Bills

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Is that Adam Bennett? It sounds like Adam Bennett?

Also what were you doing living with your girlfriend? Don't eat where you poo man

In all seriousness hope you get it sorted.

Nah, I've heard horror stories about Adam Bennett though...

Reply 41

Aeschylus

Original post by ilickbatteries

Nah, I've heard horror stories about Adam Bennett though...

Yes they were an absolute nightmare last year. Not to mention overpriced. Private landlord this year (and in my 2nd year) and life has been infinitely easier...

Reply 42

ilickbatteries

Original post by anonymouspie227

Sorry to hear this happened, but are you sure he can't speak English? I just googled it, and the main language of Nigeria is English....Also, why didn't you just divide it by 3 this time?

I've heard him try. He has a basic grasp of the language and at times says things which make me think he has a higher vocab than I give him credit for.

Problem is, when he flies off the handle at a minor incident, he isn't possible to talk to. I was cleaning the kitchen and he'd left a notepad on the worktop, so to avoid it getting wet, I left the notepad outside of his door. When he came in, I had him screaming 'DO NOT DISDAIN ME' in my face. Apparently in Nigeria moving someone's stuff is really insulting? I just didn't want to get Mr. Muscle on his workbook...

Reply 43

ilickbatteries

Original post by Aeschylus

Yes they were an absolute nightmare last year. Not to mention overpriced. Private landlord this year (and in my 2nd year) and life has been infinitely easier...

I had a look at a place on AB's website. £80 a week, bills included.

When I got there, it was possibly the smallest, darkest, dingiest accommodation I've ever seen. There was a live-in landlord who was a 40-something Chinese man in Tesco jeans who could not have looked creepier.

I almost got a place with Progress Property but they kept stalling. Then after a week or so they told me that YSJ had rented the entire building out for next year and I couldn't live there. Fortunately got a nice place sorted with Sinclair Properties for 13/14.

Reply 44

Aeschylus

Original post by ilickbatteries

Thing is with AB, is that I knew the Landlord (he was my boss at work) but he outsourced all the property work to AB. They ignored mould on the walls, the bathroom being out of order, the electrics falling apart... it was a nice house too! This year the shower broke and the landlord had it fixed within 5 hours. Much better.

Sinclair are very good - never heard a bad word against them. Best mate had a house with them last year and it was nice .

Reply 45

anonymouspie227

Original post by ilickbatteries

aww, that's so sad, and slightly odd?! I honestly don't know what to say :/, good luck though.

Reply 46

ilickbatteries

Original post by Aeschylus

Ah, my landlord is the opposite. Boiler broke and I phoned AB, they said it was nothing to do with them. Because it was a bank holiday weekend the landlord wouldn't send anyone around until the Tuesday either. We were also promised a tumble dryer that never turned up. Not a good experience this year I'm afraid. Hoping next year will be much better. It's kinda ruined this year of uni for me tbh.

Reply 47

Hopple

Original post by ilickbatteries

Perhaps, but the letting agents aren't the most trustworthy of characters.

They're describing the flat on their website (right now) as 'stunning' (its really not) '10 minutes from the supermarket by foot' (at least 20) and with a an A-grade central heating system (it's a D...) and the rent next year is £10 more than it was this year.

No surprise then nobody has taken it yet :biggrin:

They just need to get him to talk to you. He can read numbers, and can pay money, so it's all down to him and you agreeing on how much each.

Unless you're open to stealing his money, the only way you're going to get him to pay is to talk to him, and it seems the only way you're going to get that is if there's some third (well, fourth) party being objective about it.

Reply 48

Stanners95

For the sake of of a quiet life, it might be worth allowing him to pay a third just this once, while you two cover the £30 extra you want him to pay, before you can all sit down and agree how you're each going to pay. For the sake of £30, the Nigerian's being ridiculous, yet equally... for the sake of £30, split between you and your other housemate, you could have this sorted amicably without any extra late fees being slapped on. There's no way the Nigerian can moan, he's paying an equal share, and I'm sure for buying peace for £15 each seems like a dream buy, if he's being as anti-social and unreasonable as you suggest.

(edited 11 years ago)

Reply 49

Ollied

Original post by ilickbatteries

I'm white. My other two housemates are black.

That's skin colour and not race, however I have to agree with others in that you have completely over complicated it.

Reply 50

Tyrion_Lannister

Original post by ilickbatteries

It wasn't possible to consult him about it. He simply doesn't communicate. He doesn't listen to anyone and just shouts over them.

The only student house I've lived in prior to this one, the bills were split the same way. It's the fairest way to do it.

If someone spends twenty days away from the house over Christmas, why should they subsidise the gas use of the individuals still living in the house.

I'd actually save money if the bill was split three ways, and I'm still in favour of this system. IMO, it is the fairest way.

Agree with this. I'd be pissed if I'd been home for two weeks and then some cheeky bastards tried to charge me for it. OP I have no idea what to do but I feel sorry for you :frown:

Although I did laugh at "he thinks I'm trying to kill him". Da*** is wrong with this person :lolwut:

Reply 51

tory88

Original post by ilickbatteries

I've written down also why he's being charged that much.

He's supposedly a computer science masters student and a lecturer back home, but I get the feeling that the standard of education in his home country is very poor. He once asked me (he's fine to speak to when he wants something :rolleyes:

) how to network his printer, and also how to get rid of a virus.

His English is very, very poor. I'm very surprised he can study in English. Language barriers make so many difficulties. I'll have another word with him when he gets back home tonight. At the moment he's leaving the house early in the afternoon and arriving back here about midnight. He must have somewhere else to crash/get showered etc so it probably won't bother him when the electricity goes out.

Me and Housemate 3 have changed the internet password though. If he isn't paying for electricity, he's not using the router or anything else for that matter. He has no right.

Well, in an ideal world, I'd still be living with my girlfriend and my entire world wouldn't have fallen into some kind of abyss, but sadly that isn't the case.

Yes, but did you outline to him so that he understood how the bills would be paid BEFORE telling him what he owed (as in at the start of your living together)? Changing the internet password will only provoke reaction, as will that attitude.

Reply 52

Student-95

Original post by ilickbatteries

£519.23, divided by the days in the billing period = daily rate.

Surely this is a flaw too. The majority of the time, more than one person will be in the house and naturally, 2/3 people will use more gas/electricity than one person.

This means that the "daily rate" will be an average amount used on an average day (by more than one person) so when guy 1 is in the house alone, you are charging him the rate of more than one person.

(edited 11 years ago)

Reply 53

Pastaferian

Original post by ilickbatteries

Sorry mate, but I think you're misunderstanding what I'm trying to say.

We can't consult him on anything because whenever we try to talk to him, he either ignores me, or shouts over Housemate 3. He never listens to anyone, instead he shouts over us.

As I've explained several times, him paying the most money is because he's spent the most time in the house, and therefore used the most gas and electricity, so he should have to pay the most. I understand how it looks, but we've tried to explain this all to him and he just won't have any of it.

If the bill was split into thirds, I'd save money. Instead, a fairer system of billing has been implemented that only charges people for actually being in the house (and therefore using gas/elec).

I appreciate where you're coming from but I do not understand why you keep saying that the bill should have been split into thirds - that's an unfair way of working the bill out and means that housemate 3 has to pay a third of the gas/elec use for when he wasn't even at the property.

The worst thing is, he's a grown adult. He's 31. He has a wife and kids back in Nigeria. He told me that he's a landlord himself. I can't believe a grown man would act this way. He frequently calls me a 'small boy' and when challenged on things, he presents his University ID from Nigeria where he was a lecturer. During an argument he also once shouted that his brother was a medical doctor, then went back to his room. MASSIVE language barrier issues. I need someone who speaks his language.

My dad has dealt with quite a few Nigerians, although many were scam fraudsters, so maybe not a great advert for their country (the rest are lovely!). The scammers he's talked about are from the Lagos area, one of three main ethnic groups in Nigeria. He said that they tend to stand a lot closer than Europeans do, not with the intention of being physically intimidating, just that their concept of 'personal space' is a little different to ours. Of course, Europeans would tend to be intimidated by that. It's also more common to raise the voice. And "small boy" can be used as an alternative to "young man", although I suspect in your scenario it was meant as a put-down.

Regarding the financial split, I'd favour a 1/3 split on all bills. The house costs the same to heat it, regardless of who is living there. If housemate 3 chooses to disappear for an extended period, that's his decision - why should you or housemate 1 pay more?

Reply 54

ilickbatteries

Well folks, he returned home this evening and I managed to have a conversation with him. He said he has transferred the money.

I'm actually very surprised. We had a discussion about how we don't get on and hopefully have managed to straighten some things out. I'm actually quite shocked, but looking forward to hopefully civil relations between everyone in the house rather than hating each other.

Reply 55

edjunkie

Original post by ilickbatteries

You don't say whether Housemate 3 has paid their share of the bill yet. Whilst you may have a more harmonious relationship with housemate 3, their non payment of their bill will have exactly the same impact on you.

I think the method you used to calculate the share of the bill was inherently flawed. The daily standing charge is payable whether or not you are in the house and regardless of whether you use any gas/electriciy. Unless you read the meter each time someone went away and when they returned, you have no way of knowing whether or not those who remained in the house used anymore gas/electricity. I would be fairly annonyed if I was expected to pay more for gas/electricity after reducing my usage to a minimum when I was the only one in the house.

If you have flexibility on who provides your gas/electricity and you have more than three months left on your rental, I suggest that you change to a utility supplier that does not charge a standing charge or dual tariff (eg first 200 kWh at level X per quarter plus remainder at Y, where Y is significantly less than X). Look at Ebico as a starter, read your meter on weekly basis that way you can accurately reflect the actual usage of gas/electricity and you will not penalise someone for staying in the house where they have paid rent to do so but not used any significant amount of gas/electricity.