Housemate stealing food, what to do?

Steviemoyne

A friend of mine has a housemate stealing food from their house. They have let the landlord know however is there any other steps that could be taken to report this theif? It's stuff from the fridge as well as cupboards so that can't really be secured.

Victor

Confront the thief.

mockingjay

Victor wrote: »

Confront the thief.

This could cause acrimony in the long run and they will have to live together although it is very annoying when someone helps themselves to your stuff. Maybe get your friend to call a house meeting and go over agreed house rules such as respecting housemates property, cleaning rota etc. Then allocate each person a shelf in both the fridge and the cupboard and suggest that if there are products to share you all chip in otherwise hands off!

Sam Kade

Put stale food in the fridge and cupboards and eat on the go. It will not be long before the stingy housemate starts buying their own food

ElleEm

Seriously? What do you mean by reporting?

Get your friend to say it to the housemate. It could be a case of the housemate just thinking the food is there for anyone's consumption. Some people are a bit more free- giving/ taking with stuff in a houseshare.

If your friend doesn't want to do the "here, stop taking my food!" thing, they can start being passive about it, and naively ask have they seen the bread/ yoghurt etc. that they bought.

Aka Ishur

No!! Dont allocate shelves etc. Here is what you do;

MOD EDIT: This is an Athlone IT forum, not After Hours. Take your jokes elsewhere.


P.s- telling the ones that dont steal food is advisable....

wesf

you had to put up a thread asking what to do?! simple, you confront the fool. they may aswell be taking money out of your friends pocket. it's stealing, sort them out!

vinamax

Some good ideas here, but not all viable.

It shouldn't get to a stage where they have to label their stuff and keep a record of everything they buy. The landlord should deal with it first and foremost, if they won't then keep pestering them until they do. If they imply that your friend is over-reacting then they should present them with a food shopping receipt and simply say "It isn't free, you know..."

As for dealing with the person, passive confrontation is best. I don't mean passive-aggressive bull-plop, just calmly discussing it with them like a grown-up and letting them know that it isn't on.
Or if you want to be silly, your friend should start taking their stuff too... Wait, don't. They'll probably kick up a worse stink about it.

Yedya

Woke up this morning to find out that someone drank all my milk so i coudln't have a bowl of wetabix That is really annoying..

homeless student

hide your food in your room

Merch

vinamax wrote: »

Some good ideas here, but not all viable.

It shouldn't get to a stage where they have to label their stuff and keep a record of everything they buy. The landlord should deal with it first and foremost, if they won't then keep pestering them until they do. If they imply that your friend is over-reacting then they should present them with a food shopping receipt and simply say "It isn't free, you know..."

As for dealing with the person, passive confrontation is best. I don't mean passive-aggressive bull-plop, just calmly discussing it with them like a grown-up and letting them know that it isn't on.
Or if you want to be silly, your friend should start taking their stuff too... Wait, don't. They'll probably kick up a worse stink about it.

You're kidding right?
what has this to do with the landlord, nothing, and they should rightly tell you to cop on and stop bothering them if you pester them with this.
No need for anyone to be passive or aggressive, the people affected need to just confront the person responsible.
While it may not be right, possibly they are stuck for cash and too ashamed to bring it up, either way everyone else may be stuck for cash too.
But really, is this a wind up?

another question

One solution...stick up a sign! 'All housemates are to respect each others property, this includes food, please only eat what you have bought yourself, if you stuck, please ask other housemates if it's ok to borrow something and you will replace it'. That way it's not particularly directed at anyone and the culprit gets the message.

However, in all seriousness, why are you bothering the landlord about this, it's not his/hers problem. What happens when you have a real issue like a broken shower or a leak etc..you don't want to have previously irritated the landlord unnecessarily...