Do I pay for this damage?

Split it

This friend is broke. He stayed with me for my mother’s wedding and had $4 for the entire week. He lives in the loft with a friend who has been covering for him a lot lately.

@Macaulay Either cover all of it but make sure to let him know that he owes you half the money once he gets back on his feet or leave the wall as is

Pay half. That’s the right thing to do. You were both a part of why the accident happened, thus you deserve to split the cost of repair.

If you can afford to fix it all, by all means go ahead, but don’t expect him to pay it back, that would be unwise to do (and loaning money to friends often is sticky and unpleasant and changes your relationship, this is one reason why I don’t do business with friends). If you want to be generous, sure, pay to fix it all. I personally think you are obliged to only pay half of it though.

Does anyone know abut how much this would cost? The wall was obviously very thin drywall/sheetrock. The hole is about three feet by two feet.

It shouldn’t cost that much to fix. And you should split it. But if you hadn’t jumped on his back, he wouldn’t have charged you into the wall….

http://www.ehow.com/video_4150_patch-hole-drywall.html

You should pay for it, since, as @autumn43 says, if you hadn’t jumped on his back, he wouldn’t have charged you into the wall.

Also, horsey rides can be quite dangerous.

You are both at fault and both responsible for the repairs. You pay your share and fi you feel bad for your friend that has no money then pay his share. If he has no money he should have been looking for a job not horseing around.

Pay half but give the money to the room mate who “has been covering” for him. If you give it to him it might not get fixed at all and the room mate will get stuck with the entire bill. I would say $100.00 would probably cover half.
(Your friend can be responsible to the landlord or the room mate for the other half.)

If you have the money and he doesn’t, you pay for the accident. I think walls should hold—so it must have been pretty thin, and shouldn’t cost that much to replace. I assume he is a renter? In any case, it would be a nice thing for you to do.

@autumn43 and @Macaulay ; Don’t try to do it yourself umless you are a professional!!! this is your landlord speaking. I have had to charge more to tear out and replace crappy repairs than it would have cost to just do it right the first time.

You could just give him half the money and let him do what he wants with it, and then he can’t complain you didn’t pay. if he spends the money on other stuff that’s his problem.

learn a lesson – no more monkeys jumping on the bed!

And what’s the best way to get this $100 to them/him? They live 3.5 hours away.

mail it in check or money order – that way if there’s ever a controversy you have a receipt that it was paid. and hopefully no hard feelings or lost friendships come of it…..