Sharehousing in your 20s is quite a niche experience … arguments over who’s turn it is to buy toilet paper, someone always eating your food, and four people all sharing one tiny bathroom.

While there’s plenty of good times – the parties are great, there’s always someone around to vent about your day to, and you can make friends for life – there’s also some horrific times that will make you question the whole of humanity.

Canberra Daily has compiled a few ‘horror housemate’ stories for both educational purposes and entertainment.

Disclaimer note: All names in these stories have been changed for privacy.

My housemate’s girlfriend started dating his dad

A young couple, named Alex and Maddy, moved into my six-person sharehouse. Alex couldn’t hold down a job given to him by one of the housemates as kitchenhand in a café – he couldn’t even show up on time. At home, he’s taking calls on loudspeaker inside at 6am, and he’s messy in the kitchen and in the shared bathroom.

Alex’s dad, a 40-something man named Jeff, ends up moving in too. The three of them live like pigs – disgusting smells from bedrooms, using my towels in the shared bathroom, not cleaning up after themselves in kitchen, etc.

We noticed that Jeff starting interfering in his son’s relationship, and then Alex tells us that for the last few nights Maddy had been sleeping in his dad’s room, but he hadn’t put together what was going on. We suspected foul play but had no proof until we saw Jeff kissing Maddy in secret in the vacant block across the street one night. A house meeting is called immediately with a camera discreetly set up in the corner of the room to film it. We told all three they had to get out of the house in a week or fortnight. We told Maddy that we can help her sort out a women’s refuge, which she refuses. Within a week they’re all gone.

Jeff leaves his motorcycle and boxes of his belongings in the garage for months. One day it finally disappears, but Jeff says his stuff has been tampered with and refuses to pay the $2000 of rent owing.

Months later I saw Jeff and Maddy together at the cinema, holding hands.

My ‘friend’ ran off without paying the rent, then threatened to call the police on me

I once worked with this girl named Karly, and we became pretty good friends. She still lived with her parents so we always hung out at my three-person sharehouse and would generally sleepover at least three times a week. She said she was looking for a place to live and one of my housemates happened to be moving out at the same time, so we offered her the room. She moved in basically right away, and everything was fine for a couple of weeks, except she kept making excuses as to why she hadn’t signed the lease forms (which we had printed out for her and left on the kitchen bench). It was always, “I forgot” or “I’ll do it later”, which in hindsight, should have been a major red flag.

Anyway, a few more weeks go by, and everything was fine, until she said she was moving out in a week because she got her dream job in a nearby city. We were happy for her of course and understood her decision. We immediately jumped on flatmates to find a new roommate and found a girl I already knew from uni who was in a really tough spot and needed a room asap. We said she could move in on Sunday afternoon, as that’s when Karly said she was coming to move her stuff out of the room (her bed, mattress, clothes, mirror, etc.) and that’s when she agreed to pay rent to.

Karly had to start her job right away, so she was staying at a friend’s place in the city during the week, so we hadn’t seen her in a few days. Rent day rolled around and she hadn’t sent me her money. I ended up paying her share and tried contacting her for a few days with no luck. Eventually she messaged back and said she wasn’t paying rent, because she wasn’t physically in the room, and therefore didn’t have to. I explained that it didn’t matter if she was physically living in it or not, she was still renting the room until Sunday, the day she said she was moving out, and all of her belongings were still in the room so we couldn’t move the new girl in until it was all gone. She again refused, so I said she couldn’t come pick up her stuff until she paid me the money she owed me. Karly then threatened to charge me with theft and vandalism, and to send the police to my house. I said go for it, but I never stole, nor vandalised anything of hers, and as soon as she sends me a screenshot of the payment, she is more than welcome to come pick up her stuff. She then blocks me on all social media and says she and her boyfriend are coming to get her stuff and the door better be unlocked. I again said her stuff will be used as collateral for not paying the rent, but as soon as she sends me the money, she is more than welcome to come and get her stuff.

They never showed up, and I didn’t hear from her until a year later, when she messaged me that she’s coming to pick up her stuff because she’s back in town. I had moved houses by then and just never replied. Thanks for the cool mirror, Karly!

My ex-roommate would sneak into my room while I was sleeping

I moved in with my ex-housemate who was a stranger, due to a lack of options at the time. I’m a 29-year-old woman. He was very concerned about electricity… so concerned in fact, that he would come into my room while I was sleeping and turn off my lamp and laptop… at least that’s what he said he was doing.

What didn’t this roommate do?

This guy did too many things to count, but a few of the best include:

– Used my salad bowl and ladle to mix concrete.

– Broke every single piece of glassware I own.

– Threw out an unopened Amazon box that contained my Christmas present from my brother.

– Let my indoor cat out on purpose multiple times.

– Dented my car bumper.

– Dropped a pizza box so the pizza landed face down on the ground and then left it there for two days.

– Never apologized for any of the mentioned incidents.

From Guinevertoalson

Are you new to sharehousing? Here’s the top 5 unspoken rules you need to know.

If you didn’t buy it, don’t eat it

Unless you’re given the green light from your housemate, don’t eat their food. Sounds pretty obvious, but you’d be surprised by the amount of people you’ll come across who think it’s a free-for-all.

If you do accidently eat something you thought was yours but turns out it wasn’t, the simple rule is you must replace it by the next day.

Some things are communal, but some things are most definitely not

Here’s a quick cheat sheet of household items so you know whether they’re communal or most definitely not.  

No one in the house is your mother, clean up after yourself

Keeping the shared spaces clean and tidy is a major must in a sharehouse. Make sure you always wash your dishes properly, unpack the dishwasher when you notice it’s finished, and for the love of God, remember to wipe down the bench after cooking.

Don’t be the housemate everyone has to constantly nag to clean properly, it’s genuinely so annoying for all parties involved.

If you have a problem with someone, tell them

No one likes passive aggressive housemates who don’t tell you when they’re annoyed with you, it’s childish and annoying. If someone has accidently woken you up, eaten your last ice-cream, or broken your favourite bowl, just tell them! Nine times out of ten, they’re going to be really sorry and replace whatever it is or will remember to be quieter in the mornings.

Just be an adult and talk it out.

Keep the noise level down in the bedroom

Again, we’re all adults here, but no one needs to hear it. It’s just so awkward for everyone, even for you, because you’ll have to sit down and have the ‘noise level’ conversation the next morning. The golden rule is, if you wouldn’t like to hear them, they don’t want to hear you either.

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