hi, i'm in a bad situation thanks to my old roomate. He lost his job and basically just left me with the house we were renting. It's been a few months and he still owes me a decent amount of money. But that's a whole other matter. He still has a few boxes of stuff in the house and I'd like to get rid of them because its taking up space and keeping me from really using that room. How long do i have to wait before i can just throw it out?

Send him a registered letter with a return receipt stating that he has X amount of days (something reasonable, like 30 days) to come and get his things or you are going to dispose of them.


Was this roommate on the lease? You can sue in small claims court for the money you're owed.

he was, but i renewed last month and put it just in my name because i'm staying there. how would i go about proving he didn't pay me that money? wouldn't it be a "my word against his" sort of thing? would i be able to get money for the bills he owes me for as well?

You would both have some burden of proof. You'd have to prove that he was living there and agreed to pay you rent/bills, etc. He'd have to disprove you, and prove that he wasn't living there and/or he never agreed to pay you any rent or utilities. Essentially it would come down to your word against his. Do you have any witnesses to the fact that he did live there after he was taken off the lease?

Yes, you could sue him for the amount of rent AND the utilities for the time that he stayed there as long as the two of you had an agreement that he would pay you for these things.