Source: Pexels / Reddit

If you’re lucky, you look back on your college roommates with the utmost fondness and wacky memories. But real life has a way of exposing the gaps between compatibility and chemistry once your responsibilities become more than just classes.

How would you handle your college roommates turning out to be less than ideal in a real-life living situation? One person recently shared their disappointing situation like this on Reddit. Here’s what happened.

AITA for breaking the flat contract

After university, my two friends (a couple) and I decided to rent a place together for a year.

We didn’t want to deal with random housemates or difficult landlords, so we stayed in the same location all 10 minutes away from our university, but far from pretty much everything else.

It’s a good idea in theory…

We were on different courses but we knew each other from the first year and after we finished, we got together and thought it’s a great plan.

The problem is that I work in the city centre, so my commute is around 1.5 hours each way, while they both work locally.

I had lived with one of them during university and he was genuinely a great friend and easy to live with, which is why I agreed to this arrangement in the first place.

College roommates don’t always translate as well post-grad.

But once it became just him and his girlfriend, it honestly felt like I was living with completely different people.

Over time, it started feeling less like a shared flat and more like their flat that I happened to pay for.

They took over most of the kitchen and living room space, the washing machine was constantly occupied, dishes piled up for days, and there were often no clean plates or cutlery available.

This is usually the biggest point of contention with roommates.

His girlfriend was also unemployed for around two months, and during that time the heating was on basically 24/7, which obviously affected bills as well.

I’ve always tried to be clean, considerate, and easy to live with, but it never really felt reciprocated.

Honestly, I started feeling like they really wanted to live alone as a couple, but couldn’t afford to, so having me there was just a financial necessity.

Unfortunately, this was probably the truth.

Now, with the new UK tenancy rules, I can leave the contract with two months’ notice.

My tenancy officially ends in September, but I’ve already seen several good places available this summer.

I already told them I wouldn’t be staying for another year, and they’ve started asking friends about replacing me.

Well, it seems like that is that then.

The issue is that if I leave earlier, it speeds everything up by about three months, and there’s a good chance they’ll have to either move out or live with a stranger to keep the flat.

I think I’ve already made up my mind about leaving early because I’m honestly fed up with how ignored and uncomfortable I’ve felt living here.

And they’re entitled to their feelings on that.

But I also know I’m a massive people pleaser, and I feel guilty about causing inconvenience for them.

So I guess I’m asking – WIBTA for leaving early?

Yikes, all is certainly not fair in love and leases here. Let’s see how the Reddit comments weighed in on this.

The readers were all entirely in agreement.

And pointed out the logical reasoning.

Others put the situation in perspective.

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a person who is thinking of alerting the city to their neighbor’s campers being lived-in while parked on the street.

One person dropped some valuable knowledge.

And someone else noted some valid insights.

If only there were terms and agreements in a friendship…