Mixing friendship and landlord responsibilities can be a delicate balancing act (and, in hindsight, a terrible idea).

For one renter, that balance was shattered the moment a mysterious stranger settled into their home unannounced, and the night ended with a call to the police and a broken friendship.

You’ll want to read on for this one.

AITA for evicting my friends?

A few months ago, I had gotten a house for myself and invited two of my better friends, a married couple, to rent the other bedroom.

We’ve all known each other for several years and rented a place together some years ago, until the rent increases became too high, and we went our separate ways.

The rent at the apartment they were just living in was only going up and up and was pretty shabby, so I offered them a place in my home.

But these friends weren’t without their flaws.

Now the wife-friend — let’s call her Susan — has always had a bit of a closet drinking problem, but it’s never been outright destructive.

While I’m naming people, let’s call the husband Ken.

One night, the renter came home to quite the surprise.

Tonight, I came home late to Susan drinking with a homeless bag lady in the living room, with Ken there watching TV.

No one bothered to say hello or even introduce the surprise guest to me.

The husband explained situation in a matter-of-factly, making the renter even more furious.

After giving Ken a “let’s talk” head motion and settled my bags down in the kitchen.

Ken came in to inform me that this lady was “staying the night and she’s a stroke victim.”

At this point, I snapped a little and asked, “What the heck is a druggie doing in my living room?”

She says this is a clear violation of the rules she set.

Let me be clear: I am not renting this place, and they are not casual roommates.

I made sure we all understood that they are tenants and I am the landlord in the most civil way I could when we entered this arrangement.

They also agreed to no guests in the tenant agreement.

She tries to piece together how this could have happened.

This guest was an 11 p.m. surprise and was obviously homeless with a drug problem.

My best guess is that Susan had a few drinks, met a “friend,” decided to use the worst judgment possible, and brought her into my home.

Ken loves his wife too much to ever say no.

She repeats her question, and this time, her friends snap.

As soon as I had asked, “What is a druggie doing in my living room?” both Susan and Ken snapped, trying to get in my face and yell at me.

For some reason, in their need to defend this stranger, they went so far as to call me a “drug addict.”

I smoke — we all do — but that’s it.

The insults just kept going, so I went to my room and closed the door just to chill out.

But the fight didn’t end there.

Without missing a beat, Susan opened the door just to start yelling at me in my bedroom.

At that point, I had enough and asked Ken to do something about his wife.

He only gave me a lame shrug, so I went outside to call the police to contain this situation.

The police arrive and it’s looking like curtains for their friendship.

By the end of it, the police had a talk with Susan and warned her they don’t want to come back because of this.

The homeless lady also opted to leave, finally.

It was at this point I decided to evict them both and told them so when I came in.

I kept the paperwork on hand just in case, so they’ve both already been served their 30 days.

Still, she’s left questioning whether she made the right decision.

Now they’re both staying out of my way.

This whole exchange has been so surreal and bizarre that I can’t help but wonder if I’m the AH here or not.

I’m still wondering who the heck the homeless lady was and why they would ever let her inside, much less tell me she’s spending the night.

AITA?

This surreal saga taught an important lesson – at least for the renter.

What did Reddit think?

Even in bizarre situations like these, better communication might have yielded better results.

If this behavior was her friend’s debut, this commenter isn’t sure if she wants to stick around for the finale.

This commenter dissents, stating they don’t trust the author is telling the whole story.

All the other drama aside, they broke one of her core rules – plain and simple.

At the end of the day, she discovered her friends came with more baggage than was worth making space for.

When a line this big is crossed, it’s hard to come back from.

If you liked that post, check out this story about a guy who was forced to sleep on the couch at his wife’s family’s house, so he went to a hotel instead.