Roomate refusing to pay for Utilities

>>18048847
Is there a lease and is he on it? Check its requirements that all bills be paid.

Is he not on the lease? Then he has no rights at all, not even 30 days notice, and you can inform him his tenancy ends when the rent he paid runs out.

And make a written agreement with your next roommate as to who is responsible for what.

>>18048847
if hes not there and not using the utilities why does he have to pay? his stuff is there, his stuff isnt using the utilities. As long as he pays rent I think hes fine. The bills are lower arent they? Now they're for only one person.

>>18050247
Because there are base charges for utilities that if op had another roommate, he could split in half.

Opie, kick his ass out.

I am with the jail bird on this one. He didn't use any utilities. Not a drop of water or even turn on a lamp. It was all you.

It seems like your roommate relationship is fucked anyway since you planned on donating all his shit to charity. He should payed his half of the rent but if I where hi. I would tell you where you could stick your utility bill.

>>18050382
Agreed.

>>18050247
yeah but his stuff is taking up space another person who'd actually pay could use.

>>18048847
>Now he's saying he doesn't have to pay any utilities because he's not using any of them.
>Can I just have some general advise on where to proceed.
You can start by accepting that he's right on this point.

>>18050326
>kick his ass out.
get sued because he paid your rent.
If there was no written agreement where he had to split the utilities with you then you are fucked.

>>18051881
If he can't afford a lawyer to keep him out of jail, he can't afford a lawyer to sue. This reddit tier bullshit isn't real life. If there's no lease in writing, Opie can and should take his shit and drop it off and his mom's house or a friend's, and get another roommate. There's the actual law, and there's the law that applies to you based on your economic and social class, and it sounds like Opie's degenerate roommate isn't the kind of person who can reasonably assert his rights, so fuck him. #privilege

>>18048847
He owes you rent for the space he used, that currently can't be used by another roommate. Utilities are all on you though, since he can't use electricity from jail. You're both being jackasses, honestly

Is the utilities a fixed amount of money regardless of usage or does it begin at 0 and scale with usage? If it's the former, he has to pay regardless of whether he used any, if it's the latter, he obviously shouldn't have to pay anything.

My opinion is also that if you have a contract with someone that entitles you to enjoying thing X (appartment) by doing Y (paying rent) and the state forcefully keeps you from enjoying thing X (by putting you in jail), the state should also have to do Y for you. As in, the state should have to pay your rent.