Ok, I got a longish story. In 2005 I moved into a really nice three bedroom house in a really nice part of where I live for a really low rent (about £250 below what most other landlords charge). I moved in with my best mate and his work mate.
His work mate was a really good bloke, paid everything on time and kept the place clean, the only problem was he let his girlfriend stay over all the time. She practically lived with us, but did she pay rent? No, plus she got home before the rest of us so got dibs on the TV that we three men paid for! At least she was easy on the eyes. Apart from that he was ok. He moved out with her and was replaced by another work mate of my best mate.
This guy seemed pretty reliable, beside the fact he like to put powder in his nostrils (to each, their own) but we will get on to his best bit later.
My best mate was hell to live with, he was messy, didn't clean up, never helped with much and always managed to be somewhere else when an inspection was due. Now when we first moved in the local council wanted us to fill out a form declaring who we were and what we did for tax purposes. We filled out the form properly but the council made an error and assumed we were students, thus no tax! We got away without paying council tax for 7 months before we heard from a mutual friend that the council will be inspecting properties to make sure no one was cheating the system. We came clean and had to pay the £1100 in a month. I took out a loan and paid it.
The work mate was a student so didn't have to pay anything anyway. My best mate and I agreed that he would pay my council tax for the next year (2006) as I had just paid all the first. When the new housemate came in we worked out his contribution to be £200 for the year (he moved in in September). Come the following March, I'm on holiday and get the bill for the next years (2007) council tax. We were £1000 in debt from £2006. When I contacted the council they said they were looking to prosecute as I had not paid or responded to Court Summons! So my best mate had not only not paid the council tax (and the £600 he owed me) but had gone through my mail and destroyed anything from the local council. I helped him pay the bailiff but couldn't afford the rent because of it so had to leave.
I spent the last week cleaning the place with my family and friends to make sure I got as much deposit back as possible. However, my two housemates hadn't paid their rent for the last 2 months so I lost it anyway!
2 years later, he's STILL paying me back.
Sorry for the essay.