Can I Take Legal Action?
I have a roommate that "had no checks or no cash" at the time of the utilities being due last month cuasing me to have to cover for them. i have a very strong feeling she is not planning on paying me back and is also planning on not paying the upcoming two months (our lease ends in two months). i understand there is nothing i can do for the upcoming months but if those two months pass and they have not paided three months worth of utlities is there anything i can do to get my money from them? i was told small claims court but i didn't know if i had other options.
Answers:
Yes, you can take legal action.
Paperwork is what the justice system is built on, if you have the papers, odds are they are going to pay.
Receipts, lease, bills, agreements,. Sorted and arranged neatly. Presentation is key, the easier you make it for the judge to see you are right the more likely he will agree with you.
Since your roommate is not paying she will not have the proof she needs to defend herself and you can take that to the bank.
Small claims court is your option. Just be sure and keep all your receipts, returned checks, etc., so you can prove how much she owes you and that she didn't pay.
take her to small claims or civil court
do you have a written contract? although a verbal agreement will usually hold up if you can prove (or your roommate admits) that you had one. If the apartment and utilities are in your name, you can kick her out. If they are in her name, you can refuse to pay and let the utility companies go after her, although you will end up with no electricity or water.
The other option (although not necessarily the most moral) is to swipe a few things of hers, like CD's or something with a little value, sell it on Ebay until you're even, and make her think she lost the stuff, but you didn't hear that from me. Or you could insist that she does this, that way she has no excuse for not having money but you're not stealing from her.
Other than breaking her knee caps, small claims court is your only option. Try to get as much evidence as possible, like checks that have cleared for the bills. Make sure you know where she'll be moving to since you have to have them served with a subpoena to make them come to court. Be aware that even if you win in court, that doesn't mean that they'll pay, it just means that you'll have a legal claim against them. The court doesn't make them pay right then and there.
Small claims is your options - even with a judgment it is no guarentee she will pay. I would suggest writting a promissary note that states she owes the money - it does not need to be fancy a simple: I roommate A aknowledge that I owe $XX.XX to Roommate B to cover my portion of the utilities for the month of whatever.
Make sure you put the date on it, give her a deadline to pay by, and you keep all records.
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