Sister stole her flatmate’s deposit

[Huhy]

Sister just completed her final year at university in London.

Sister lived with an international student in a one bed flat - they converted living room for 2nd bedroom in Central London. They were friends and course mates prior to living together. Sister had an absolute nightmare with this flatmate but I think it is no excuse. So sister and flatmate got an email saying that only £400 of their deposit was being returned due to the state the flat was left in. Sister left the flat in March, tenancy ended in June. Sister left to come home as she was very stressed with dissertation and exams/sick of flatmate. Before she left she completely cleaned her bedroom. She agreed with flatmate to go halves on an end of tenancy clean.

Landlord came back and said the carpet in her flatmates room and her bed were ruined and therefore needed replacing. Sister texted friend saying well seeing as that is all your stuff, I think I’m entitled to the full remaining deposit. Flatmate said no, we’ll split. My sister was distraught as she took care of her room and the common areas as she knew she needed the deposit for her masters.

When I say my sister lived with a pig I am not exaggerating. Sister sent us pictures of their kitchen after she returned from Easter. The ENTIRE floor in their small kitchen had piled up bags of takeaway bags. It was shocking. Flatmate paid for a cleaner to pick up her shit. The other girl also had difficulty turning off the shower and would just leave it - causing damage to the flat below. Another time my sister picked up a towel that had been on the floor in bathroom for weeks and the other girl replied with “haha I can’t believe you touched that, that was a cum towel”. She would also routinely make my sister go with her to get the morning after pill whilst on her period - always thought she was pregnant. Trust me I know her being a nightmare does not justify theft.

Anyway sister figured out that their deposit had not been secured as she questioned the LL’s ability to unilaterally take whatever amount he wanted. The other girl was happy to walk away from the lost deposit. My sister told landlord to pay both deposits into her account as her flatmate has shut hers down. Well that was a lie.

Sister was immature and rubbed it in her flatmates face that she had her money. The flatmate has gone back to her home country (very well off). I got a message from the girl asking me to help. I’m shocked my sister acted this way, very uncharacteristic. Sister in fact has actually given the money to another friend who was struggling to pay her last month’s rent (I have seen texts and bank statements as evidence of this).

Im at a loss. Pleas tell me what to do!

If the girl only speaks mandarin, “cum towel” was an impressive colloquialism to have picked up.

Or your inability to give the full facts until your 8th post after initially mentioning an irrelevant £400

Stay out of it.

Has she really stolen money? The other girl kept her room in a condition, it required carpet changing, etc.

You do realise that if flatmates parents were rich enough to send her to study in the UK, they're rich enough to pay English speaking lawyers to sort the mess out?
I'm sure the girl speaks English otherwise how did she study here? Did you sister go to some sort of degree mill?
However it would still cost more than the 1.2K.
Tell your parents there's nothing you can do. End of story.

She didn't steal it. The deposit covered damage the other flatmate did to the flat. Your sister is entitled to keep the remainder.

Your sisters a thief
The flatmates a pig
It's none of your business, block the flat mate, never trust your sister with money.

She did steal it. The full deposit was returned. Nothing was kept back for the damage.

I would send flatmate one message- this is nothing to do with me contact my sister, then block. I would tell your parents also, this is nothing to do with me, I have told her she’s in the wrong, there’s nothing more I can do. You don’t have a moral obligation because of someone else’s behaviour. Don’t allow people to triangulate you.

Don’t be silly, a university student in the UK is required to speak English to a certain level, except for language courses, I would assume.

OP, has already posted her sister believes the flatmate is not organised enough to pursue this herself, and it is the PARENTS of said flatmate who speak only Mandarin.

It’s also pretty common for those learning a language to be taught the rudest words first, especially for young students.

The lack of reading comprehension in this thread is one thing, but the rudeness and patronisation from those who barely understand written English themselves, is at once amusing and cringe worthy.

Block her. It’s nothing to do with you.

At the end of the day, no one can make your sister do anything, except a court of law. All you can do is tell her "look sis, I think you did the wrong thing, it's stealing, you should do the right thing and give the money back". Either she takes your advice or she doesn't, but that's your job done. I'm not talking about moral responsibility here, I'm talking about what is physically possible. It is not physically possible to force your sister to do anything, so stop trying. You will have more peace when you do. The same goes for your parents.

To be quite honest, if she was my sister, I think I'd be telling her well done, because morally the money is hers, since her flatmate cost her money from the damage the flatmate caused to the house. But whatever, I realise a lot of people's sense of morality is more tied to the letter of the law, which is fair enough, so my initial point still stands. You can lead a horse to water but you can't make it drink.

The flatmate could take your sister to court. But it sounds like she probably won't. Maybe your sister could defend herself with the fact that the flatmate caused her a financial loss, idk, I'm not a lawyer. But either way, it's her problem to deal with.

No you absolutely don't. This is ALL on your sister. Do not be drawn in.

Drip feed was sister getting 2400 from LL.

Yes she has
She lied to the landlord and told him the girl had shut down her bank account and the landlord transferred both deposits in FULL to OP sister.

@thesummerIturnedtoredbull Nonsense. I'm also foreign with English as a second language and am certainly not being xenophobic. It's the OP who has been very defensive, dismissive, and crying racism just because people are confused about exactly what amount of money she's talking about.

In fact, if anyone is being xenophobic it's the OP. She's contemptuous of the flatmate struggling with the taps, but taps do actually work differently in different countries. I was so confused the first time I came across the two separate hot and cold taps in an English BnB.

I just read all your posts. Your sister is using excuses to feel entitled to all the money. That is wrong.

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/4926411-my-previous-housemate-has-blocked-me-i-have-reason-to-believe-its-because-she-has-my-deposit

Oh FGS.

Your sister took the money, she will have to deal with any consequences that arise.

Tell the flatmate who keeps messaging you that you are not getting involved and it is their problem to sort out. Then ignore ALL messages.

Tell your parents to chill the fuck out. Your sister is not a child and she isn't your responsibility.

And tell yourself this isn't your problem and STAY OUT OF IT.

Job done.

Your sister got the deposit back, the other girl was happy to walk away with nothing. Especially as the place was left a state. What your sister has done wrong is taunt the other party. Block this girl and move on.

So all being well your sister should have had £600 back but actually lost some because of the flatmate - I’m with your sister here. The other girl would have received nothing anyway.

Block away and let her try and sue. Your sister has pictures as evidence. She deserves to keep the money on the basis of the cum towel alone.

Sorry I just read Op's other posts. I posted after read her op and understood Ll only returned 400 which sister kept as there was no mention of 2400.

I agree it is a theft.

.

@Huhy your post is perfectly clear and there’s nothing wrong with your English.I’m sorry the masses can’t read.

Your sister is absolutely in the wrong. However, she is an adult and there is nothing you can do to force her to give it back. I would probably have one strongly worded conversation with your sister telling her she should give the money back because it’s theft, and block the roommate.

The fact that the roommate was a slob, a drama queen, and a foreigner has nothing to do with this. Your sister did something illegal. She was then very stupid to rub it in her friend’s face.

Yes I think we all read it the same. It's theft.
In position of the full facts it is ovious, but in the first post we did not have them.