Ex-roomate claims i owe her money.

I lived with a friend of mine for 2 months (April 12th-June14th). She bought a house and asked me to move in with her. Before we could move in we had to paint the entire place and she told me rent would not start until June when she had her first mortgage paymnet. We went to costco on April 21st and I paid for the entire bill of $224.00 which we agreed her half would go towards rent during a month when I was low on cash. I paid her $500.00 on May 27th which covered a little more than the previous months bills and Junes rent. Unfortunately I gave her cash, although I have witnesses to attest to the day I gave her the money. On june 7th with absolutely no warning she flipped out on me and told me I had to be out of the house by the end of the night because she didn't like that I was "antisocial". She ended up deciding that she changed her mind and I had until the end of the month to be out. Again on June 10th she told me I had to be out by the end of the day, I told her that wasn't possible but I would be out by the end of the week. This was all conducted over text messages. While I was gone at work on the12th she went into my room and started moving my stuff around without my permission. Then on the 13th while I was trying to move my things out of the house her mother showed up and told me I was not allowed in the house without supervision, even though I had paid rent. Later that evening the girl I lived with threatened me with physical violence and told me to get out without taking my things. Luckily my mother was with me and threatened to call 911 if she didn't calm down and let me take my things. I had everything out of the house by the 14th, although I had not been permitted to stay there since the 11th. This young lady is now claiming I owe her $312.23 for rent and utilities for the month of June and is taking me to small claims court over it. I also have witnesses to attest to the fact that I was told rent would not start until June, and I have a letter of reference from a previous landlord as to the fact that I never missed a payment or was ever late over the year that i lived there. I was wondering what I should do about this? Because it was all verbal do I have any ground to stand on here? - Is this your question? Add additional information
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Answers (1)

Karl E. V. Paananen

Karl E. V. Paananen

Contributor Level 4
Bring your witnesses to small claims court, and make sure you tell the judge that you have brought them. Bring any paperwork you have. The letter from you previous landlord is good, but do you also have the receipt from costco? Any other paperwork?

Make sure that you dress and behave in such a way that the judge can see what a reasonable, rational person you are. The other party may have trouble hiding the fact that she is basically a nut. Let her behave like a nut in front of the judge, don't turn into a nut yourself.

She doesn't have anything in writing either, so she is going to have a hard time proving her case.

It sounds to me like you should win, but there is never any guarantee. If you end up having to pay a couple hundred dollars, chalk it up to experience and make sure in future you get everything in writing.

Karl E. V. Paananen
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