Sometimes it’s not a good idea to live with your friends.

In today’s story, one young woman learned that the hard way, and it didn’t get better after her former friends moved out.

Now, she’s threatening to keep all of their belongings, but she has a very good reason for it.

Let’s see how the story unfolds…

AITA for keeping all my roommates belongings after they moved out, despite them wanting it back?

I (21f) used to live with two roommates (both 21f) in an off-campus student housing apartment.

We used to be friends prior to moving in but ultimately we did not get along as they were disrespectful of my property and our shared space.

They both found housing for next year while I decided to stay in the same apartment unit.

Her former roommates wanted her to do a favor for them.

The apartment staff clearly stated that they were required to clean every apartment before the next tenant arrived thus everything had to be empty before leaving.

However since I renewed my lease, I could keep everything in my room but I had to leave the living room and kitchen completely empty.

The day before my roommates moved out, they asked me if they could keep some of their boxes with me and I said ‘no’.

I was going home for the summer that day and I thought I made it clear that they had to find other arrangements.

Her roommates clearly didn’t listen.

I received an email a week ago stating I was fined $900 for failure to clean my space.

I drove to my student housing apartment the same day to check on my apartment and speak to the housing staff.

When I got to my apartment, I noticed several things still in my living room.

These were my roommates like their T.V., vacuum, water purifier, dish rack, rice cooker, toaster, rug, coach pillows, ottoman, boxes, etc.

She tried to get out of paying the fine.

I spoke to the apartment staff and explained none of these things were mine and instead were my roommates, thus I shouldn’t have been fined.

However, they explained that my roommates were no longer on the lease as of late May, thus any belongings in there would be my responsibility.

In the end, they basically said there was nothing they can do and I had to pay the fine- which was a lot of money, so my summer savings were basically gone in an instant.

She was hoping her roommates would take responsibilty.

When I got home, I messaged my roommates and told them about the situation.

They gave a half a** apology and said they assumed it wouldn’t be an issue since I had the lease and we all collectively used some of the stuff they left, thus was technically my responsibility too.

I asked them to both pay me $450 each to cover the fine. They said ‘no.’

She wasn’t going to let her former roommates get off that easily.

To that I said, “Yeah, we all used those things. But now they’re all mine. I had to pay the fine, I’m gonna keep everything you guys left.”

They began to freak out and spam messaged me about how I’m being an a**h*** for keeping their personal belongings.

I ignored the messages.

Her roommates are telling everyone she’s a “thief.”

After they got on social media and blasted me for being a thief.

I had many of their friends harass me.

Now they’re getting their parents involved, but so am I.

She’s not backing down.

I know whatever they left was probably worth more than the fine, but I’m not going to pay for someone else’s carelessness.

They assumed they could just come over after the summer and retrieve their stuff while bypassing the need to buy a storage unit or find other arrangements to store their stuff.

Am I a jerk for keeping all my roommates belongings after they moved out, despite them wanting it back?

Her former roommates really put her in a bad situation. I would’ve been upset too if I’d had to pay a fine for a problem I didn’t create.

Let’s see if Reddit readers think she should keep everything her roommates left behind.

This person thinks she should keep everything.

Another vote for OP being in the right.

This reader thinks OP needs to see what the law says.

It seems unanimous that OP is making the right decision.

It definitely seems that the former roommates made their choice.

Hopefully she gets better roommates next time!

If you liked that story, check out this post about a group of employees who got together and why working from home was a good financial decision.