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I live in a house with three other roommates, all of whom are strangers to me. There are four utilities we pay for (cable, electricity, gas, water), so the arrangement for the first year that I lived here was that each of us was responsible for one utility, and we periodically settled up between each other. (You might argue that this is a stupid system. I won't disagree, but it was the system I inherited when I moved in.)
Because two previous roommates moved out last year prior to the end of the lease, I came to be responsible for two of the utilities (electricity, gas). Then, come August, two new roommates (who are friends) moved in. For reasons not worth going into (one of them being that I don't talk to people), these two new roommates never took responsibility for paying any of the four utilities. So since August, me and the other legacy roommate have been periodically sending out emails informing the other two roommates what they owe us for utilities.
One of them paid me once a few months ago. One of them has yet to pay me anything. In December, we got an email from our landlord telling us she had gotten a letter from the water company saying we were several months behind on our water bill. (A previous roommate had continued to handle the water bill up until the end of the lease, even though he had moved out earlier. Since I never saw any letters from the water company, I had assumed one of the new roommates had taken over paying the water bill. I was wrong.) Because it had to be paid immediately, I did so then, adding on to what the new roommates owed me.
It's nearing the end of the semester, and people are going their separate ways soon. I suspect that if I don't get the new roommates to pay me what they owe me very soon, I may lose the chance. Another water bill is due at the end of the month. I've sent an email out telling people what they owe me, and also telling them that one of them should pay the water bill since I handled the last one. I've yet to hear a response, which is typical.
So, what am I supposed to do here? How do I get these two schmucks to pay me what they owe me? It's not a huge amount (~$700 between the two of them), but for a poor jobless bum like me, it's more than I'd like to see simply disappear.
Because two previous roommates moved out last year prior to the end of the lease, I came to be responsible for two of the utilities (electricity, gas). Then, come August, two new roommates (who are friends) moved in. For reasons not worth going into (one of them being that I don't talk to people), these two new roommates never took responsibility for paying any of the four utilities. So since August, me and the other legacy roommate have been periodically sending out emails informing the other two roommates what they owe us for utilities.
One of them paid me once a few months ago. One of them has yet to pay me anything. In December, we got an email from our landlord telling us she had gotten a letter from the water company saying we were several months behind on our water bill. (A previous roommate had continued to handle the water bill up until the end of the lease, even though he had moved out earlier. Since I never saw any letters from the water company, I had assumed one of the new roommates had taken over paying the water bill. I was wrong.) Because it had to be paid immediately, I did so then, adding on to what the new roommates owed me.
It's nearing the end of the semester, and people are going their separate ways soon. I suspect that if I don't get the new roommates to pay me what they owe me very soon, I may lose the chance. Another water bill is due at the end of the month. I've sent an email out telling people what they owe me, and also telling them that one of them should pay the water bill since I handled the last one. I've yet to hear a response, which is typical.
So, what am I supposed to do here? How do I get these two schmucks to pay me what they owe me? It's not a huge amount (~$700 between the two of them), but for a poor jobless bum like me, it's more than I'd like to see simply disappear.
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