Here’s the deal:
My girlfriend has the roommate from hell.
No. Really. This girl is not just the worst roommate that i’ve heard of, but she’s worse than any possible roommate that i can conceive of short of rooming with Charles Manson, but more on that later.
A situation has finally arisen where my girlfriend has decided that action should be taken (which i wished would have happened a long time ago). The problem is, while i can give her advice on how to deal with people, i know nothing about what sort of legal options are available to my girlfriend, since i have been fortunate enough to have never encountered anything like this before. So onto the story, and what’s transpired so far.
11 months ago, my girlfriend signed a lease for 12 months.
10 months ago, an acquaintance of my girlfriend’s, who my g/f had previously sort of roomed with at a boarding school, was looking for a place to live. My girlfriend being both a good sort and eternally helpful, said “hey I’m looking for a roommate right now actually.” (she’d already paid for the place for the year actually though) At the behest of the girl’s mother, both the girl’s and the mother’s names were placed on the lease. That way her mother had some control over what was going on, and the girl had some security with her name on the lease.
The girl was attending high school in the area for about a month. Having decided that HS was not worth it, she simply stopped going, preferring to sleep in during days, and then go clubbing at night and fuck around on her small but abusive boyfriend with basically random strangers.
But like I said my girlfriend is nice. She’s nice enough that she helped the girl out as much as she could. She’s done laundry for her roommate. When the girl got in a bad situation, and was filing rape charges against a couple of the random strangers she had gone somewhere with, my g/f was making appointments for her, and keeping her on track with things she needed to do to get everything filed. All of the cooking implements in the apartment had been supplied by my g/f. My g/f gave the girl the larger of two bed rooms. My g/f even went out far enough to buy her things that she needed, like sheets for her bed.
At first things weren’t too bad. The girl would borrow things with out asking. Like clothing. My g/f would just see things in the laundry and take them back, or ask if the girl had any of her clothing. She wasn’t terrific at cleaning up after herself. My g/f would end up having to wash all the dishes when she wanted to eat, because they would all be dirty.
Still she was basically following all 3 of the house rules:
- No smoking inside
- No getting pregnant
- Clean up after your self
Things started getting progressively worse. The girl had her boyfriend over pretty regularly, and they’d fight. I mean really go at it, he’d hit her, and she’d flip out and scream at him, and he’d scream at her, she’d try to fight back (though she was horrifically anorexic, she was a good 4 inches taller than he was). When things got really bad my girlfriend would jump between the two, occasionally taking blows from the guy for this girl. A couple times, my g/f went as far as having to kick his ass (which is funny, because my g/f’s only 5’4” and like 125 lbs, but she can kick ass).
Still things were vaguely bearable. And besides, my g/f had already paid for the apartment for the year, so getting out of the lease would be a really big pain in the ass at best.
Things became more torrid. This girl’s nymphomaniacal appetites started getting out of hand. It started as a weekly thing. She started bringing home and fucking a couple guys per week. Then she started fucking multiple guys in one day.
So a minor tangent. Since my g/f and I live quite far apart from each other, we’re on the phone a lot. When we were, the girl would usually just borrow my g/f’s cell phone if she needed to make a quick call. We were courteous, and when she asked, we’d vacate the phone line if she needed it.
This girl is so loud in the sack, that she’s audible through the walls in the next room across the telephone, as If she was shouting at me in the same damn room. Worse yet, since sex was now the only thing on the girl’s agenda, there was no telling when she’d bring random (usually sleazy) males over, and begin the soundworks. My g/f, at this point, was without an income and attending university, adding to the fact that she couldn’t change her living arrangements. She resorted to earplugs whenever she needed to attempt sleep.
Again, my g/f lives a good deal of distance from me. Since my g/f’s schedule was considerably more flexible than mine, she’d come to visit me for sometimes, weeks at a time. At first she assumed that her roommate would just not go in her room. When she got back and it was clear that people had been in her room (my g/f had said that the girl could use my g/f’s computer for school related stuff, but apparently that had been interpreted as an open invitation for use somehow), she asked directly, that people stay out of her room. It didn’t happen. In fact it became clear that in my g/fs absence, her bed was being used as a spare bed for other couples who were friends with the roommate.
Besides the complete lack of respect, or even basic decency for my girlfriend, things started disappearing. My g/f would return to her room to find that her room had actually been searched through for god knows what. Her clothing began disappearing. The real kicker however, was this; after a particular stay with me, my g/f returned home to find that someone had stolen all the jewelry that her mother had left her when her mother died 7 years ago.
That’s not where it ends though. Since there wasn’t any conclusive proof (although she knew which of the roommates friends the thief was) nothing could really be done. My g/f’s brother gave her a video cam rigged to her computer however. The gadget was nifty enough that it could be used to start recording when it started seeing motion, and so was the perfect device for when my g/f was away. My g/f put a clasp on her door, and padlocked it.
Apparently this wasn’t a clear enough indication that my g/f did not want anybody in her room. They actually went to the trouble of taking the door off its hinges to get into my g/fs room. They claim to have been searching for alcohol.
Now, however, we have video evidence of this girl and her friend breaking into her room, and rummaging through her desk.
Her friend… Her friend is also a real piece of work. I shall refer to this girl as the squatter. Earlier in the year before things got really bad, the squatter told my g/f and the roommate that she needed a week or two to find an apartment. Two weeks stretched into three. Three stretched into four. She started mooching from my girlfriend’s food. She refused to buy food, but would flip out that my g/f was eating the squatter’s food supply. At this point she was not paying rent, refusing to buy food, or other basic necessities. She was however buying new clothes, Perrier and a new cell phone. She bought a fish and a small bowl. The fish died soon after. (and just think, the squatter is a lifeguard. Makes you feel safe doesn’t it 
) one month stretched into two, and finally the only thing that got the squatter out, was yet another alleged rape, after which point, the squatter’s parents demanded that she come home, or be cut off completely from her family’s financial support.
So that brings us close to now. My g/f returns home this past week. Apparently her roommate has given her current boy-toy an the squatter keys to the apartment. This violates the terms of the lease.
The question is what can be done legally to this girl?
There have been numerous noise complaints about the apartment, and there are quite a few people who can vouch for what the source of the noise is from phone conversations and simply when my g/f was out of time.
There is video footage of the girl and her friend breaking into her room, and searching through things.
We have at least some evidence of damaged and stolen property, and she’s violated the terms of the lease in several manners.
So imo, this girl has had something coming to her for a damn long time. I just wish I knew what we could get her with. Does anyone have experience or suggestions for what to do?