Hostile Roommates??

Student Lounge College Life
1

Alright so I’m really confused if I am the one overreacting to this situation or if my roommates really are terrible. I live in a 4 bedroom house with 3 other people, 2 males and 1 other female all of which are graduate level students. I get along very well with one of the guys who is very quiet and easy to be around but the other 2 have ganged up on me and have made their ways the ways of the entire house. I have already moved out and am waiting on my subleaser to move in but the problems aren’t going away even though I removed myself from the situation so I’m at a loss as to what to do.

I moved into this house with my dog, who at the time was 6 months old and was very much a puppy but I trained him myself and worked very hard to do so from the time I got him at 2 months spending at least an hour or two a day working with him. He is a dog who enjoys being around people but is also very high energy. I would take him on a 2 mile walk in the morning to try to keep him quiet during the day and at night we would find other activities such as the dog park, swimming, or runs to tire him out. He has been trusted out of a kennel since he was house trained and I never had problems with him being destructive or causing any trouble when left alone until I moved in to this house. My roommmates demanded that he be locked up in a kennel during the day. They weren’t happy with me but my compromise was that he would stay in my room during the day. My room was very very small and with my bed there wasn’t much room for my dog to move around other than on the bed which I was fine with.

One of my other roommates also brought her dog and cat in the house. I had no problem with this and this and the dogs got along very well but her dog did have a history of being aggressive over toys and food like toys such as bones so I made sure they were always supervised but no problems ever came up when I was watching the dogs. She keeps her dog kenneled a majority of the time so whenever I was home I would let the dog out if mine was out because that is what I thought was happening with my dog. That was not the case and this escalated to my dog was not allowed anywhere in the house other than my room but the other dog and cat were free to roam when everyone was there.

I was usually the last one home because of my schedule and just the hours that I choose to work but I always came home at lunch to let my dog out. On multiple occasions I would come home at lunch or after work to find everyone sitting in the common area which was right outside of my room and the other dog would be out as well as her cat and my dog would still be locked in my room. They came to me and accused my dog of barking too much with all of this going on right outside my door. I keep a shock collar for training purposes. They went in my room, put the collar on my dog and take the remote so they could shock him from the couch every time he barked. I have a lot of issues with this primarily because I was working very hard to train my dog the way that I wanted but even more so since he is young and it happened on more than one occasion. I now have a lot of problems leaving my dog alone and I don’t know if it is something he would have developed regardless of the house but I place a lot of blame on how he was treated when I wasn’t there.

I also had problems with my space and things being routinely deemed as common space and household items rather than my items. I asked the female roommate to tidy her things in the bathroom we shared routinely and it never happened leaving me with no counter space and my soaps and things having to sit outside of the shower because of all of her belongings. Her cats litter box was in the bathroom as well which caused litter to be tracked everywhere and she rarely cleaned it leaving a smell to both the bathroom and my room which was adjacent. Both of the “problem” roommates would go in my room and take pillows, blankets, and even had their guests sleep in my bed on a weekend I was away without ever asking or just simply letting me know.

Now that I have moved out they are now coming after me for money for utilities I did not use because I was not staying there due to the tense environment and hostile actions towards my dog (I witnessed one of them kick, swipe at, and eventually punch my dog in the face). I still have the account for the wifi for the house and no one had paid their part of that bill since we moved in so in my mind I think that I have more than paid my share but will also be shutting that service off very shortly.

So now I ask everyone here, am I overreacting? Did I do the wrong thing by removing myself from this house so that I (and my dog) could live more peacefully?

If you all think I did something wrongly that is fine I just cant talk with the two of them (3rd roommate completely uninvolved in all of this) without them accusing me of things I didn’t do and usually at unrelated points in every conversation.

Your comments are appreciated!

2

How much do they owe you in total for the wifi? How much do you owe them for utilities? I think you should pay utilities until whomever is subleasing from you takes over payments. So subtract from the utility payment and what they should have paid for wifi and pay that (if anything).

It’s fine that you left, sounds like a bad situation.

Not a fan of shock collars.

3

You moved out — I think you owe for utilities until your subcontractor moves in.

4

Agree with the above comment on netting out the wifi with the utilities (you do owe these until the sub-lessor comes in). Is there going to be a security deposit issue? You might want to get ahead of that issue if there is going to be one.

5

I agree that you are responsible for the bills until your sub-lettor is in place. I also think you are right to have moved out. They were way out of bounds with putting the shock collar on your dog without your consent.

6

This is not the living situation for you and your dog. You were right to move out. You do still owe bills and they do as well. Get that settled as well as the security deposit and be free from them. They should not be shocking your dog. Unfortunately, you are gone a lot and cannot oversee the dog’s care and freedom in that situation. Trust you have found a better place to live with more caring roommates. You are not overreacting. Roommate situations are difficult. Add dogs and cats to the mix of four personalities and small spaces and troubles sometimes follow. Good luck

7

While I am not a big fan of dogs and college, you did what you had to. Time to move on. What are the chances you can come to an amicable financial resolution with them? Will you owe more than your security deposit? Do some math - then decide. You can ignore the utility money you “owe.” Cancel the wifi. Chances are you security deposit is gone anyway. Let them sue you. They wont. Good luck.

8

Thanks everyone, in total the house owe me almost $200 for the wifi that they have been using (bills go to the house and I have sent multiple messages asking for payment). I do not know how much they are saying I owe because I never saw any utility bills or heard what my share was for any of the electric, trash, or gas bills. I just recently received some very threatening text messaged from one of the roommates accusing me of stealing things that were mine when we moved in and said that she would make sure my portion of the deposit was used to to replace “her” stolen items. I did not respond to this message because I felt as though having that conversation at all was not going to benefit anyone involved and most especially not doing it over text. I had already given up the dream of getting my deposit back way before this but the hostility when I haven’t been near her in almost 2 months was a little upsetting.

9

Cancel the WiFi asap! Send them in writing that you have paid in full for utilities etc. once you have settled the amt. subtracted from WiFi bill. Also put in there that you were forced to move due to harrassment of you and your dog (specifically mention shock collar). Say you took only your OWN items when you moved out, items YOU brought to the apt. Then say “Please do not contact me further on this matter.”

10

Cancel the wifi immediately.

As for the utilities - you should ask them to tell you what you owe in utilities. Then yes, as others said, you subtract what they owe for the wifi from the utilities, then pay what’s left over. Document everything, and keep receipts.

Or… you could tell them to take the utilities out of your security deposit. You aren’t getting that deposit back no matter what.

11

^Good advice. I’d add that if you decide to compute your share of the utilities you should ask for copies of the bills instead of just a tally so they can’t jack up the total.

ETA: Shocking a dog without training is AWFUL and can lead to serious behavioral issues like fear aggression. They were totally out of line. I’d consider that abuse of my dog. You are doing the right thing in getting out.

12

Ok everyone, an unfortunate update

Since I have been moved out my ex roommates have now chased off 2 potential subleasers and I now have no way to keep up with rent on the place that I am currently living as well as that house that I moved out of 4 months ago. I have talked to them about having the house clean so I can take people to see it and each time there one or two significant messes somewhere completely visible and doors within the house have been locked making it impossible for me to get in to spaces that I need to show including the room that I am still paying for. One of the roommates dog has grown increasingly aggressive making it understandably difficult for people to want to be living in a house with a dog who bares its teeth at the sight of a new person. I have my own opinion about how dogs should act (especially if you are living with non family members) but since the pet contract has a statement about aggressive tendencies this worries me.

The lease is written as a joint and several lease meaning that the four people on the lease are treated as one person. I take this as they either need to help me find a subleaser (or at the very minimum be open to who I find) and if theyre not willing to do that then they either get no say in who the person or they can start paying my portion of the rent. I am at the end of my rope with these people and am getting no help from the leasing company on dealing with them so legally is there anyway that any of you know for me to place the responsibility on them for either my portion of the rent or at least for help with a subleaser? They continue to fight me more and more and I am running out of options

13

It would seem that each of you is responsible for the whole of the rent? Did all four of you sign the lease? Is subletting okay under the lease? If so, I would suggest that you write a letter to the landlord, cc’ing your roommates, explaining that you were constructively evicted from the apartment because your roommates trespassed into your room and abused your dog. You tried to find people to sub the room, but their actions (describe in letter) have made that impossible. The landlord should accordingly hold the remaining roommates responsible for the totality of the rent. The landlord could presumably sue you for your portion, if you signed, but it is more likely that he would try to extract that money from the remaining roommates or let it go. You could add that he could apply whatever is left from your share of the security deposit towards the remainder of your rent.