Several weeks back, Keith, our room-mate of approx half a year, decides he wants to move out, because he says that his job is likely going to be in danger, and there for his financial stability as well.
No problem, right? Shouldn't be. We should be able to find another room-mate, and swap them out on the lease. We did it before with Travis, and then Paul - so this one should be no different right?
OK, so we start the room-mate search. A couple good leads here and there. Then someone who says that they have a strong interest, comes by and takes a look at the apartment. Her name is Nichola. Nichola, Keith, and myself sit in the living room and discuss her interest in the apartment, and talk for about an hour or so, after she takes a full tour of the place. She says she is very interested, and will let us know very soon whether she will be the one to move in as Keith's replacement. She leaves.
Later that night, Nichola calls me, and says that yes, she will indeed move in, and as an added bonus to her financial stability, her parents said they will pay half of her rent. Sounds good to me. She says she will be ready to move in at the start of the month. I tell Keith that Nichola has informed me that she wants to move in at the start of the month. Alright.
Next day, Alissa, our other room-mate, says she would like to meet Nichola, since she is going to have to live in this apartment with this new person. No problem I say - so I call Nichola and ask her if she can come by to meet Alissa. She says she will be by at 10pm.
Nichola never shows up, so I call her the next day to see whats up. She says she is in Seattle, because her grandmother has become severely ill. Ok, no problem - I ask her if she can come by when she comes back in town, to meet Alissa. She says that will work fine - and says she would call later that night.
Nichola never calls.
So I call her the next day to see whats up. No answer.
Keith then posts on Livejournal, and tells me, that he now has a job through April. I ask him if Nichola falls through, if he wants to stick around. He says Sure.
Later on, I tell Keith and Alissa that I still can't get ahold of Nichola to have her come meet Alissa yet. Now, whether or not Nichola moves in is also up to Alissa, because she is the other room-mate, right? So I can't give Keith a definite yes/no on whether Nichola will be moving in, because Alissa has not had a chance to meet her and give her approval on the matter.
Problem.
I came home tonight to discover all of Keith's things on their way out the door, and Keith. He says he is gone, and will be gone completely by morning. We get in an argument, because Alissa is only willing to pay 1/3rd of the rent, like normal, and therefor if he does not pay his rent next week, then I am going to be out approx $583, which is going to make me an unhappy camper. He blows it off, and says that he is leaving. I tell him that he is destroying friendship and burning bridges.
He tells me that we were never good friends to begin with.
Nice.
He then says that he has talked to the office about the fact that they cant enforce which person on the lease the money comes from, just that it has to be the full sum amount like normal each month for the apartment. Looks like Keith has done his research in deciding to screwing me over.
I go out to my car for some privacy, and call my parents, who tells me that if I did indeed want to go the route of taking Keith to small-claims court to get the rent, that I could do that and most likely succeed, but court costs might be a bit of trouble. I tell them that I'm not going to be able to afford either - the court costs or the $583, whichever it comes to. They express their views on Keith in colorful ways, and offer their sympathies to me, and tell me that they will cover the costs either way.
OK. So I come back to the apartment and tell Keith that I do have the option of taking him to court, and that my parents and I have discussed that possibility with the family lawyer.
However, I give him the other option, since I'm not fond of courts, and would rather just end this. The other option is that he leaves by early this morning, COMPLETELY, and does not return. He says "fine" and says he will be out around 8am completely.
So basically Keith has ended my friendship with him, and caused me and my parents to have to pick up the financial slack that he's left behind, so that we dont get evicted. My parents are nice enough to back me financially for Keith's actions, for which I am thankful - but they are obviously very angry with Keith just as I am.
I'm putting this out as a warning beacon to others - watch who you choose as your room-mate, because they can turn out just like this.
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