Some problems don’t hit you until you try to walk away from them.

So, what would you do if you moved out after a blowup with your roommate, only to realize your name is still on the lease and he expects you to keep paying everything?

Would you keep paying? Or would you consider stopping?

In the following story, one young man finds himself in this situation and is unsure what to do.

Here’s what’s going on.

AITA if I stop paying rent on a house I no longer live in?

For roughly two and a half years, I shared a house with a roommate, whom we will call KW.

For the first two years, things went fairly smoothly. 50/50 split on rent and utilities, I got 1/2 the garage, he got 1/2 of the garage.

In the garage, I set up a computer that was not password-protected, where it was logged into my Google account, so I could watch YouTube videos, look up parts, and do things like that.

It turns out that KW was reading his emails.

KW claims he “accidentally” opened my email and “accidentally” read the subject lines of my emails, then started grilling me about how/where I get my money.

I am not proud of this, but my parents have given me significant financial help to make ends meet.

Initially, I started working on making changes to try to make it on my own, but after an impulsive career change to a job that KW considers “not a real job,” that simply was not going to happen.

It turns out that instead of “accidentally” reading just the subject lines of my emails, KW eventually admitted that he read a six email exchange with my dad involving the purchase of a set of tires for my car.

Now, he lives somewhere else.

Following that was a fight that ended in my moving out in early August of this year.

I now have a new place on my own, but the lease on my old house does not expire until April of 2026.

Initially, he wanted me to send him approximately $10,000 up front for the privilege of my moving out, with the claim that it was to cover rent and theoretical future utilities.

He’s been paying, but doesn’t know if he should continue.

I said I am not paying for utilities that aren’t in my name, and I am not using, and I am not fronting more than a 1/2 a year’s worth of rent up front.

The only reason I have paid any rent past my move-out date is that my name is on the lease, and I am under the impression that I cannot do anything until April, when it expires.

So far, he has gotten 4 months’ worth of rent paid for. I am already pretty sure I won’t get my deposit back when the lease expires.

AITA?

Wow! This sounds like a pretty stressful situation.

Let’s see what advice the readers over at Reddit have to offer him.

This reader lays it out for him.

Here’s a great question.

According to this comment, he should see if someone else is living there.

These are good thoughts.

It’s time to call the landlord.

Maybe there’s a cheaper way for him to get out of the lease and move on with his life.

If you thought that was an interesting story, check this one out about a man who created a points system for his inheritance, and a family friend ends up getting almost all of it.