What to do? Roommate's brother unauthorized entry etc.

LedJedi · Post by **LedJedi** » Mon Sep 10, 2007 8:18 am

Not sure if this is the right section. Feel free to move it if needed.

Hmmmm, I have a bit of an odd situation brewing at my house and would like some input on how to handle the situation from the older, wiser and more experienced.

Saturday morning about 3am the wife and are awakened by the roommate coming into the house with a fair amount of noise. He proceeds to his bathroom and there is a ruckus like you wouldnâ€™t believe. It sounded like he was ripping out the sheetrock. I debated on whether I should get up and find out whatâ€™s going on but the next thing I know I'm waking up to sunshine. I had fallen back asleep.

Roommate wasnâ€™t seen Saturday, but turned up Sunday evening. He comes to me and shows me a mop from his bathroom thatâ€™s mangled and toothpaste tube thatâ€™s been squished and says his bathroom has toothpaste all over the walls and asked what was up, why we did that, etc.

The wife and I both denied knowing what he was talking about and the subject of the ruckus on Saturday morning came up. He said he hadnâ€™t been home all weekend.

Well, we eventually got to the bottom of the situation. Apparently his brother who lives across from us entered our apartment using a spare key we have hidden outside and for whatever reason completely trashed the roommateâ€™s bathroom complete with some minor property damage.

The roommate confronted the brother who denied it but you could tell by his reaction that he did it. At that point the roommate layed the brother out to the tune of about 8 stitches needed just above his lip. Not sure if the police were involved, they never showed up to my door anyway. I pretty much stayed out of the whole affair.

Upon some further thought though I'm pretty miffed about the brotherâ€™s unauthorized entry and vandalism. We didnâ€™t actually SEE him and have no actual proof he was there. Had I actually got up to investigate on Saturday I probably would have held him at gunpoint until the police arrived. Heâ€™s a nut job with a felony record for assaulting a police officer.

In the future I will certainly investigate. Looking back now through not-3am-eyes I was very foolish. I should have investigated. I'm pretty disappointed in myself for not stepping up on that. Had I ANY clue it wasnâ€™t the roommate I would have been all over it though.

But, I'm curious now, what LEGAL action can >> I << take against the brother? He was not authorized to be there. We have no proof it was actually him though. Now that I think of it, if I do get the police involved I suppose theyâ€™ll find out about the assault and the roommate will likely go to the pokey.

Man, I'll be glad when we move next year.

barres · Post by **barres** » Mon Sep 10, 2007 8:29 am

Um... Change the locks and don't hide a key outside!

LedJedi · Post by **LedJedi** » Mon Sep 10, 2007 8:31 am

barres wrote:Um... Change the locks and don't hide a key outside!

yeah, in the process of doing that. Figured that was a given.

Lumberjack98 · Post by **Lumberjack98** » Mon Sep 10, 2007 8:36 am

Also consider reinforcing and adding a deadbolt to your bedroom door if you are going to continue to have a roommate.

flintknapper · Post by **flintknapper** » Mon Sep 10, 2007 8:39 am

You've got PM.

HankB · Post by **HankB** » Mon Sep 10, 2007 11:57 am

Grad students - even married ones - are usually pretty poor . . . I know from experience. Is that why you & your wife are sharing an apartment with someone else?

Othewise, a married couple should at least have their own apartment, not something they have to share with a flaky roomate and his nearby wacko relations . . . this has all the indications of something that will end badly.

anygunanywhere · Post by **anygunanywhere** » Mon Sep 10, 2007 1:13 pm

If it was my residence I would have checked it out when I heard the noise.

I would report the entry to the police.

Maybe some hot CSI will come and take fingerprints and swab for DNA.

Then I would have roomie move out to live with his brother.

Ditto on locks and other additional security.

Anygun

LedJedi · Post by **LedJedi** » Mon Sep 10, 2007 1:23 pm

yep, i believe the roommie is moving out. We may end up getting evicted over the situation too because the roommate assaulted the brother on the property but i can't say i'm all broke up over getting kicked out. This place is a real dive. They've got people like me living here for instance :)

Roommate is strictly for $$ reasons. We're saving up to buy a house and get some bills paid off.

Found out what was up on the entry this morning. The roommate showed his brother where we hide the spare key outside. That's how he got in so i'm not entirely sure we can really even report the entry. Would like some information on that before calling up the po-po.