Dealing with roommates on a lease can be hard enough, let alone unwanted ones.

How would you handle your family member overstaying their welcome and trying to make themselves a little too at home? One person recently shared their experience of this on Reddit to much alarm.

Here are the details.

AITA for telling my cousin to stop rearranging my apartment after she moved in?

I (23) live alone in a small apartment.

Last week, my cousin Mara (26) needed a place to crash after her roommate moved out.

She said it would only be for a few days, so I agreed.

Super generous of her to share a space that small.

Everything was fine at first.

She helped with groceries and tidying up, then things started changing.

After four days, I noticed she was rearranging my things.

Now that’s just being a bad houseguest.

Not just cleaning, moving things.

My bathroom cabinet, my spice rack, even the books on my shelf.

Books on the shelf is a wild choice.

I didn’t mind too much at first, but yesterday when I came back home from work, I walked into my entire living room being changed around.

She’d moved my couch, my desk, even put some of my decorations away because she thought they made the space look too cluttered.

When she pays rent, she can help decide how it looks!

She seemed so proud of it, like she had done me a big favor.

I tried to stay calm and just said: “Oh, you moved stuff around”, and she immediately got defensive, saying she thought I’d appreciate her helping me make the place look more put together.

Expecting a thank you is a cherry on top.

I told her I actually preferred things the way they were and that I would’ve appreciated it if she’d asked first.

Now she’s been quiet and petty, staying in her room with the door half shut.

Sounds like the original poster set a pretty fair boundary.

I’ve spent the evening putting my place back together because it doesn’t even feel like my apartment anymore.

I’m wondering if I overreacted.

I get that she’s under stress, but it’s my space.

And it sounds like she communicated rationally.

Is it unreasonable to expect someone to respect that?

Or am I just being too sensitive?

Yikes. Family matters like these are never fun. Let’s see what Reddit had to say.

Most comments immediately called out the cousin’s intent.

Others shared the original poster’s sentiment.

One person encouraged the original poster not to let her guard down.

And another gave her some tangible advice.

After 3 days, fish and guests start to stink.

If you thought that was an interesting story, check out what happened when a family gave their in-laws a free place to stay in exchange for babysitting, but things changed when they don’t hold up their end of the bargain.