sandyclaus
Senior Member
What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? California
When I moved into a room in this house, I agreed to pay for a share of my roommate's utility bills (since she said they were all under her name). I come to find out that she has the water & power bill under someone else's name - her friend, who does not live at the house anymore (and had not for almost a year prior).
A few months later, when the water & power bill came in, the amount that I was being asked to pay was quite high (almost $300). I felt that this was far too much, considering that I rent just a room, and it's my roommate who is very liberal with her usage. She never turns off lights, TVs on when she's not even home, leaves water running everywhere, and yells at me if I go behind and turn things off that are in use when no one's around. So I asked to see the bill itself - and she refuses to show it to me, demanding that I pay my share and shut up about it. I told her I wouldn't pay until she showed me the bill, to make sure that I was paying the share we had agreed upon and no more.
When the mail came last night, I saw that the most recent DWP was in the outgoing mail. It had been opened, and marked "DOES NOT LIVE HERE ANYMORE". I grabbed it, looked at it, and saw an almost $900 closing bill with 1/2 of it as outstanding charges from the previous billing cycle. Apparently, she had not been paying her share of the bill either, decided it was just too much for her, and had it turned off and re-connected under someone else's name who could establish low-income Lifeline service
instead.
She is now threatening to sue me in small claims for my unpaid share of that past bill. Can she do that, since it was never her bill (again, it was under her friend & former roommate's name), and she never paid anything on that last bill herself (returning the bill unpaid, saying that the account holder no longer lived here)? Does she have standing to sue me, or would it have to be the account holder who did? Since I never had an agreement with the account holder to pay those utilities, can THEY even come after me for not paying a share?
When I moved into a room in this house, I agreed to pay for a share of my roommate's utility bills (since she said they were all under her name). I come to find out that she has the water & power bill under someone else's name - her friend, who does not live at the house anymore (and had not for almost a year prior).
A few months later, when the water & power bill came in, the amount that I was being asked to pay was quite high (almost $300). I felt that this was far too much, considering that I rent just a room, and it's my roommate who is very liberal with her usage. She never turns off lights, TVs on when she's not even home, leaves water running everywhere, and yells at me if I go behind and turn things off that are in use when no one's around. So I asked to see the bill itself - and she refuses to show it to me, demanding that I pay my share and shut up about it. I told her I wouldn't pay until she showed me the bill, to make sure that I was paying the share we had agreed upon and no more.
When the mail came last night, I saw that the most recent DWP was in the outgoing mail. It had been opened, and marked "DOES NOT LIVE HERE ANYMORE". I grabbed it, looked at it, and saw an almost $900 closing bill with 1/2 of it as outstanding charges from the previous billing cycle. Apparently, she had not been paying her share of the bill either, decided it was just too much for her, and had it turned off and re-connected under someone else's name who could establish low-income Lifeline service
instead.
She is now threatening to sue me in small claims for my unpaid share of that past bill. Can she do that, since it was never her bill (again, it was under her friend & former roommate's name), and she never paid anything on that last bill herself (returning the bill unpaid, saying that the account holder no longer lived here)? Does she have standing to sue me, or would it have to be the account holder who did? Since I never had an agreement with the account holder to pay those utilities, can THEY even come after me for not paying a share?