JTE83 said:I live in a 2 bedroom apartment, and my landlord just shoves in another roomate whenever the older one moves out. So far, I'v had a programmer and two doctors as roomates and they 3 have been good experiences. I learned stuff talking to them and they never stole stuff from my open room or my food. Now, my lastest roomate is a nightmare. He doesn't have a car because of bad driving, he said his mom is a Whole Foods Executive, and he lives in Austin Texas. The 1st week he was with me I helped him grocery and thought we'd get along fine. Well the weekend he went home to Austin I noticed a lot of my stuff missing - a Fuji S9000 camera, battery quick charger, 3 computer science books, etc... - stuff worth $1090. I filed a police report and claimed on my renters insurance but only got $336 from State Farm (after $500 deductable). And I really beleive it was an inside job theft and strongly beleive it was my new roomate's fault. Well, now I put all my possesion in my small crowded room and I bought two doors locks to always keep it locked. The only now he can steal is my food - and now he's done that too! I threatened him to pay me $800 or I'll call the cops on him and he said just go ahead. So I will call the cops when he's home because nowadays he's trying to be so scarce.
What else can I do to get my money back?
Have any of you had bad experiences with a roomate? What happened and what did you do?
You need to talk to your landlord. You need to get some of the particulars in the background report that the landlord presumably has on your new roommate ...
There is SOME liability on the part of the landlord regardless of what the lease may say -- "negligence" on the part of the landlord comes to mind; but, you may be opening-a-can-of-worms if you push too hard and/or there is simply the expense of legal action in small claims court which probably won't turn out well for you since you don't have iron-clad proof ...
Contact the consumer reporter at one of your local TV stations and ask her/him how something like this should be handled IF the landlord does not evict the guy ... or, even if he does!
Contact his mother! Go to the Whole Foods (well, there's what SOME might describe as a "sleazy organization"😉 directory to figure out how to contact her. If you can't figure it out, ask their HR department (indicate the son's name to them since she may have a different "professional" name) to relay a message for you to her. Explain what has transpired and ask her if there is anything that she knows about her son's history (e.g., juvenille record) which might make her believe that she should therefore make amends to you if she is an honorable person ...
If he is gainfully employed, contact his employer's HR department ... indicate that you are not trying to cause trouble, but that you want to warn them of a potential problem to watch out for.
If the new roommate is a student, contact his school and do likewise.
Contact the local District Attorney's office + the one in Austin (and/or the Attorney General's office) and ask them if you have any recourse in the Justice system beyond the Police report.
