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Debt Owed By Former Partner / Roommate

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  • 05-14-2008, 12:02 PM
    Shakey12
    Debt Owed By Former Partner / Roommate
    My question involves a roommate in the State of: New York

    For two years my partner (whom I will call Girl X) and I cohabited in Albany New York before we finally went our separate ways. In our first apartment everything was in my name and she paid when she could. When we first moved in she was still in the military and not with me full time, so it made sense that I be the one to get the apartment and to have the utilities in my name. I rented the apartment and started utilities in August of 2004. In December of 2004 Girl X was discharged from the Army and moved in as a full time resident, but never signed a lease. She was unemployed for about a month, but had received a check from the Army upon her discharge and paid me a bit out of that in addition to buying new furniture for our place. Eventually she did get a job and we had a verbal agreement that she would pay half of all bills; cable, phone (both landline and cellular (which we shared)), and electricity. Most of the time we were there Girl X did not pay any of the utilities, due to her job not paying much, but she did pay half of the rent. In May of 2005 Girl X and I ended our relationship. Since I worked away from home during the summers she signed a sublease saying that she would pay half of the rent and all of the bills while I was away and that upon my returning home she would move out. In July of 2005 we reconciled and decided to continue living together. In February of 2006 we again decided that we no longer wanted to be in a relationship, however we were to remain friends and decided to continue to be roommates (I know...stupidity at its best). In March of 2006 we got a larger apartment on which we both signed a lease and we moved. This time I insisted that Girl X get all of the utilities in her name. I remained in the apartment with her until August of 2006, at which time I discovered that Girl X had not been paying our electricity or gas bill and it was going to be turned off. At that time I was fed up and chose to move. When I moved we had an overdue amount of over $1000.00 from our first apartment's electricity and an overdue amount of $400.00 on from our first apartment's cable. I could not afford to pay a lot of that when we moved because Girl X could not contribute due again to a low paying job, although she could afford to spend almost $16.00 a day on a two pack a day smoking habit. This is why I insisted that Girl X get the utilities in her name when we moved. I was not going to get stuck with another unpaid utility bill in my name. Upon moving from the second apartment I paid what was due on the electricity and secured her a roommate to take over my lease.

    At this time I still have close to $1500.00 of debt from our first apartment, and have since discovered that Girl X wrote bad checks on a joint account we had when we first moved to Albany. I am curious as to what legal route(s) I can take if any. I have proof and witnesses that she lived in the first apartment full time although she is not on the lease, and I also have the sub-lease agreement from the duration that she occupied the first apartment in my absence. The second apartment has no money owed in my name, however I have even gone so far to be nice and offer to split whatever outstanding bills there are for that location, although when I left there I had paid the electricity in full, so that only left the cable/phone.

    Upon first reminder of these debts in December of 2007 Girl X promised that in January of 2008 she would begin making monthly payments to me. She whined that she had just moved into a new apartment and bought a new car so she could not afford to pay, but at the first of the year she would. Having heard nothing from her as of February of 2007 I began to make attempts to contact her.
    I have attempted to contact Girl X several times. Her cell phone seems to be disconnected, she no longer works where she used to, and she does not answer my emails, although they have not come back undeliverable. I have also sent an email to her parents as we were always on good terms, however they have not responded either.

    Please advise...this has been going on long enough. I want to settle it as quickly as possible.
  • 05-16-2008, 06:49 AM
    LawResearcherMissy
    Re: Former Partner/Roommate Debt
    If you can track her down to have papers served you can take her to small claims court.

    Should you prevail, you'll then have to file papers to have her paychecks garnished, since it's obvious she's not going to willingly pay you.
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