M
MegMcK
Guest
A close friend of my sister called her before Thanksgiving and told her that she was losing her job in North Carolina so she was moving back to New Jersey. She asked if she could live with us (my sister, her baby, and me) because her mother's house was too small for her and her 5 year old child. We agreed to let them live with us. We told her that she would have to pay 1/3 of all the bills and $250.00 for rent. (our rent was $750.00 so it was also 1/3). She agreed and moved in 11/20/00.
We only had a 2 bedroom house so she agreed to sleep in our living room with her daughter on a pull out couch. We informed her that the rent was due the week of Christmas. She said that she knew and she was waiting for her final paycheck to come in from North Carolina. Everything was going fine, there weren't any really big problems, until about 1 week before Christmas she called us and told us that she was going to be staying at her mom's house because she found a job but it was a great distance from our house. We told her that was fine, but she still had to pay us for the bills because she lived with us for almost exactly 1 month. She agreed.
That was the last time we heard from her. I went to her mother's house 2 times. Once I left a note on her car (she didn't answer the door) and also on the front door. Later that day, she called us and left a message on my sister's answering machine saying that she knew she owed us $100.00 for the phone bill (this was before any of the other bills came in) and she was leaving for North Carolina the next day so she would call us when she got back to arrange where she can drop off the money. That was the absolute last time we have heard from her. The second time I went down to her mother's house I spoke with her mother. I explained to her mother that she owes us a lot of money. ($250.00 for rent, $230.00 for the phone bills, and 84.00 for the gas bill.) Her mother said that she was only living with us for a couple of weeks. I told her mother that she was living there from the day before Thanksgiving until 12/19/00. I can prove that by the phone bill. So that is almost exactly one month. Her mother told us that we have to be patient money is tight. That was 2 weeks ago and we haven't heard from her.
It was a verbal agreement we had. Nothing was written down on paper. We don't need her to pay 1/3 of each bill that we had. We only want the money for the rent, the phone bill she rung up, and the gas (she was turining the heat up to 90 degrees each night so that gave us a $254.00 gas bill.)
Do we have a case for small claims court?
Thank You,
Megan
We only had a 2 bedroom house so she agreed to sleep in our living room with her daughter on a pull out couch. We informed her that the rent was due the week of Christmas. She said that she knew and she was waiting for her final paycheck to come in from North Carolina. Everything was going fine, there weren't any really big problems, until about 1 week before Christmas she called us and told us that she was going to be staying at her mom's house because she found a job but it was a great distance from our house. We told her that was fine, but she still had to pay us for the bills because she lived with us for almost exactly 1 month. She agreed.
That was the last time we heard from her. I went to her mother's house 2 times. Once I left a note on her car (she didn't answer the door) and also on the front door. Later that day, she called us and left a message on my sister's answering machine saying that she knew she owed us $100.00 for the phone bill (this was before any of the other bills came in) and she was leaving for North Carolina the next day so she would call us when she got back to arrange where she can drop off the money. That was the absolute last time we have heard from her. The second time I went down to her mother's house I spoke with her mother. I explained to her mother that she owes us a lot of money. ($250.00 for rent, $230.00 for the phone bills, and 84.00 for the gas bill.) Her mother said that she was only living with us for a couple of weeks. I told her mother that she was living there from the day before Thanksgiving until 12/19/00. I can prove that by the phone bill. So that is almost exactly one month. Her mother told us that we have to be patient money is tight. That was 2 weeks ago and we haven't heard from her.
It was a verbal agreement we had. Nothing was written down on paper. We don't need her to pay 1/3 of each bill that we had. We only want the money for the rent, the phone bill she rung up, and the gas (she was turining the heat up to 90 degrees each night so that gave us a $254.00 gas bill.)
Do we have a case for small claims court?
Thank You,
Megan