Renters of Vancouver: “I’ve been put off roommates for life.”

    1 of 1 2 of 1

      “Renters of Vancouver” takes an intimate look at how the city's millennials are dealing with the housing crisis.

      “Whoever decided to rent to four young guys probably should have seen it coming. Then again, I probably should have as well.

      I always told my roommates that I didn’t want to live in a party house, but they had other ideas. Every time I was gone from home, something terrible would happen.

      Right before Halloween, the girlfriend of one of my roommates had a birthday. Me and a few of my friends were going out that night to catch up. Three hours later I was driving home and I saw about 30 people just sitting on the lawn. I went inside, and there were at least another 80. Everything was out of control.

      I decided I wanted nothing to do with the party, so I went upstairs to my room. I opened the door, and there was a girl that was clearly high and totally incoherent just rolling around in my bed. I asked my roommate what was going on, and he said that there was no other place to put her. Of course there was—he could have offered up his own room, for a start. I was really upset.

      As we were talking, we suddenly heard a huge crash from the back window. Someone had fallen down the stairs and rolled all the way into the glass. I ran down to the bottom, and as soon as I got there I saw a person sprinting at me with bear mace with his hand. I didn’t realize what it was until he started spraying it. I got hit with it, and so did the entire house. I don’t know who called the police and fire department, but they made it to our home pretty quick. Thankfully, that was the end of that.

      That was the final straw for me. I moved back in with my parents, and started slowly taking out all my furniture. The last thing I packed up was my bed, and as I pulled it away from the wall I found a condom and a needle down the side. Someone had obviously dropped them during a party. I ended up having to throw out half my stuff because it had been damaged in some way. I was really sad about that.

      Unfortunately, it gets worse. One of my roommates decided to have a whole lot more ragers after I left, and in a few months he managed to rack up about $5000 worth of damages. Obviously the landlord wanted her money back. The trouble was that my name was co-signed on the lease, so even though I wasn’t there, I still got asked to pay up. The landlord deserved her money back, but I thought it was unfair that she was charging me too even though I had nothing to do with it.

      I told the landlord that I wouldn't give her the money. I had evidence that I had asked my roommates multiple times to stop throwing parties, and that I had unofficially moved out. The landlord knew that too, but she still held me responsible for the repairs. She said that I could try and take my roommate to court myself, but she was already putting me in front of a judge and I couldn’t afford two sets of legal fees. It was really frustrating to me that she wouldn’t just cut out the middle man and only sue the person responsible.

      She was a bit of an asshole about it as well. I understand that she wanted compensation for the damages, but she tried to charge me for a whole load of other things too. She attempted to add on things like the cost of pens she used to write her case, and the money for her photocopying. The judge told her to stop being ridiculous, though.

      Even so, I lost the case. The judge said he was sorry, but there was nothing he could do because my name was on the lease. He made me pay 50% of the price, and the other co-signer also had to pay 50%. That roommate never even showed up to his court date. He just disappeared after he got the notice.

      Now I live in a one-bedroom out towards Surrey, where it's cheap enough for me to afford the rent. I’ve been put off roommates for life. There’s a couple of people that I could potentially move in with because I’ve known them since childhood, but I live alone right now, and that suits me really well. Roommates can be stressful. I have a physical job, so when I come home from work I want to just crash out on the couch, put on the TV, and then maybe worry about making dinner and having a shower. The last thing I want to do is party.”

      Got a story to share? Tweet Kate Wilson here.

      Comments