Want some advice on a very bad roommate situation

[Akorizina]

So here's the story:
I got a roommate a few months ago, it started off great but has gone to hell, fast.

Here's a small list of things

• Despite us having a "split only the utilities" rule, he drinks all my beer, eats all my food, etc...
• He spends a lot of money on pot, causing his half of the rent/internet/electric to be frequently late
• Often times I'll walk in from work and he'll be sitting there and say "I'm hungry, it's your turn to cook, make me some chicken"

I've already spoken with my Mom and she said I'm free to move back in there if/when this falls through for any various reason.
Now, we're still under least for some time (8 months). I know if we break the lease, I'll shoulder most, or possibly all of the cost (Not even sure what it would cost - it's not in the lease, I've looked), and that's if I can even get my roommate to agree to break it.

As terrible as this sounds, I'm thinking about calling his place of work using a payphone (if I can find one) and request to speak to the manager and try to get a drug test for him, then we'd have reason to leave - I can't possibly afford rent 100% on my own.

And before anyone asks: I've tried talking with him, I've tried being firm and putting my foot down - he just doesn't listen and insists "if it's in the house I can eat/drink/use/etc it"

I don't want to report him to the apartment landlord though as this could be an eviction on my part for association, and I'd hate to have to put that on my next apartment application

Any advice? Please?

[Triggered Fridgekin]

You could try to sublet the room and eat a certain portion of the rent for the duration of the period but that's only if you're allowed to sublet and if the person you sublet to doesn't just book it because of your roomy.

Best bet would be to get in touch with your landlord and try to make some kind of arrangement providing he isn't a super dick. Whether that's looking for a loophole in the lease or tenant laws is up to you to find out but I'd bet the farm that this is not an isolated incident and there are plenty of documents to showcase the eviction of a roommate.

[Mercadi]

I'd say move away from him and cut all ties. I wouldn't confront him - it sounds like the guy's unreasonable and could be unpredictable.

[ZealousBlade]

I don't know how inconvenient it would be for you, but you could try buying food for 1 day at a time. Its what I do and have no problems with my stuff getting eaten / mysteriously vanishing.

[Captain N]

Is your name on the lease? If you get your roommate fired there's a very real possibility that your landlord can still demand the rent owed for the duration of the lease from you. It does sound like you're caught between a rock in a hard place unfortunately.

[Akorizina]

One thing I was thinking - and let me know if you think this would work, is:
I have some unpaid time off remaining at work still, if I take 1 day off for the next 3 weeks, I can show that this drops me below the whole "income must = at least 3x the rent" rule, and have my 3 most recent paystubs to back me up saying I just can't afford it

[Sledfang]

Designate separate shelf's in the fridge and pantry. Zero tolerance for food theft!

[Simmias]

man up and speak to him about it. Stop being such a pathetic whiner.

[Deleted]

Start walking round the place naked and demand roomie-hugs

[--Code--]

It sounds like you need to write up a roomate agreement. Sheldon Cooper knows best.

[kyoloco]

whoop his ass

[Akorizina]

Tried talking, tried the dedicated shelves thing, he just takes from my shelf when I'm at work and can't stop him. Tried confronting him about it and he said "you can have some of my stuff sometime"...but his stuff is like nothing but ramen, soup, easy mac, and other various food items that can be purchased for around $1 or under, while I buy actual food...chicken, ground beef, stuff to make pizza and tacos with.

It's not that he can't afford to buy actual food, it's that he chooses not to.

We've tried the whole roommate agreement thing and he said something like "we have an agreement that everything in the house is free grabs"

[Garnier Fructis]

man up and speak to him about it. Stop being such a pathetic whiner.

From the OP:

And before anyone asks: I've tried talking with him, I've tried being firm and putting my foot down - he just doesn't listen and insists "if it's in the house I can eat/drink/use/etc it"

[Incandio]

How on earth are you financially locked into this place for 8 months? I'd suggest clarifying your legal position before you start coming on this forum. You may find it's actually more flexible than you think.

If you move back in with your parents for a bit presumably you'll pay less rent? That way you will soon recover the loss, no?

[Crissi]

Tried talking, tried the dedicated shelves thing, he just takes from my shelf when I'm at work and can't stop him. Tried confronting him about it and he said "you can have some of my stuff sometime"...but his stuff is like nothing but ramen, soup, easy mac, and other various food items that can be purchased for around $1 or under, while I buy actual food...chicken, ground beef, stuff to make pizza and tacos with.

It's not that he can't afford to buy actual food, it's that he chooses not to.

We've tried the whole roommate agreement thing and he said something like "we have an agreement that everything in the house is free grabs"

If he is frequently late in payments, in addition to essnetially causing you to buy more food than you would really need to, it would probably be the least financially painful to just break the lease.

[Triggered Fridgekin]

man up and speak to him about it. Stop being such a pathetic whiner.

Try reading more than just the first sentence and I am sure you'll be tasting a lot less foot in your mouth, yeah?

Guys, it's not just about inconveniencing this fella by buying food one day at a time or splitting off the fridge for what is his and calling it a day, it's about having a roommate who just doesn't give a shit about being responsible and that comes back to bite you in the ass when rent is due and all the sudden they're bailing on you to foot the bill because they don't have enough money.

The landlord probably doesn't give a shit if your roomate is stealing your food but he'll care a whole hell of a lot more when he finds out you're late or low on the rent because you're carrying dead weight that would rather spend that money on stupid junk.

Again, lease agreement and tenant laws are your friend if you wish to remain where you are and have him out. The only other way you can break a lease without negative impact is to fall back on health-related issues which you'll need to have documents to show for it which would cause you to move for whatever reason.

[Blueobelisk]

Put your stuff in your room. Or buy a padlock for the cabinets, depending how the handle opens.

This is a difficult situation. It depends on what your name is on.

[Akorizina]

How on earth are you financially locked into this place for 8 months? I'd suggest clarifying your legal position before you start coming on this forum. You may find it's actually more flexible than you think.

If you move back in with your parents for a bit presumably you'll pay less rent? That way you will soon recover the loss, no?

1 year lease, only been 4 months. And yeah, I'd pay far less rent and other bills at home, but there's still the possibility of paying the FULL rent for the duration of the lease, or for a few months, or whatever the lease breaking fee is, it wasn't specified in the lease.

[Blueobelisk]

OP be a dock and eat all of his food and use all of his stuff.

[Tojara]

I had the same situation when I was in university, although it was a bit different.

I moved in with a really good friend that I had known all my life, and his friend that he met at university. Everything started out really great but quickly deteriorated. University is where I learned that people who smoke pot can be perfectly functional people which cause zero problems, and on the flip side I also learned how awful living with someone who does it all the time can be. My second room mate basically filled this criteria. He essentially smoked everyday of the week, and basically couldn't function without it. A stark contrast to my friends I met who did it once and awhile, performed well and weren't scum bags when it came to money.

I stayed in our apartment in the summer before they arrived, so basically all utilities were in my name because I had to set them up. As such I paid the bills. My friend was fairly good about getting his shit together but the other guy slowly started to become late when it came to paying for utilities, etc. We had countless confrontations and my old friend didn't want to get in the middle of it as he didn't want to take sides, which was complete fucking bullshit.

You can't reason with people like that, I tried and it just didn't work out. Despite being late he ended up paying his share until the very last month and to this day he still hasn't paid me back the 500 dollars he owed me. After constant battles I just took it to another level and started jerking off in his shampoo bottle. After a couple weeks he started getting a rash on his scalp and constantly complained about problems with his hair/scalp, good on him.

Honestly though the best thing to do is try to get out of your lease or move out. If your dude is anything like the guy I lived with he's eventually going to make you look bad or stick you with a bill at the very end, it's what happened to me. It's just toxic and it's not a fun living arrangement. You're going to go crazy if you stick it out for 8 more months.