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Everyone makes mistakes around the house. Forgetting to take out the trash? Annoying. Leaving a light on overnight? Not ideal. Leaving the stove running while everyone else is asleep and then heading out the door? That’s a considerably bigger problem.

One woman says she already had a difficult relationship with her housemate, whom she describes as inconsiderate and frustrating to live with.

But one late-night incident pushed their living arrangement beyond ordinary roommate disagreements.

At approximately 3 a.m., her housemate left the house while two other people were sleeping inside, along with her two cats. Sometime afterward, she apparently realized she might have forgotten to turn off the stove.

Rather than returning home or calling someone to make sure everything was safe, she sent a text suggesting someone check it.

The problem? Everyone was asleep.

The message went unanswered for hours, and when the woman finally woke up for work, she discovered the stove really had been left on.

What happened next convinced her it was time to find somewhere else to live.

Housemate almost burnt the house down

My previous housemate (female 22 years old) left the stove on at 3am and left the house while she has 2 cats roaming around and me and my other housemate were sleeping in the house.

She sent us a text in the middle of the night asking us to check the stove and “ sorry I know it’s late” “I’m sure it’s nothing”.

Keep in mind we were both sound asleep. It’s 3am and she never followed up with a phone call or even came to check the stove herself.

Wow.

I saw the text several hours later when I woke up to get ready for work that morning. And the stove was on.

I was so angry at to how she handled this situation and willingly put out lives in danger as well as her own cats.

The other housemate didn’t hold her accountable at all and just said “wow that’s crazy let’s all make notes going forward to check things are off”.

REALLY?!

The housemate who was at fault just said “sorry it was my fault won’t happen again” but never gave a reason why she didn’t treat it as an emergency? Why she didn’t call? Why a text was enough?

I also had a very bad history with this person as she is the most narcissistic and inconsiderate person I’ve ever dealt with.

And this situation was the last straw and a week later I gave my notice to move out.

Serves her right.

She was angry that I was moving out and that I gave only a month notice. Even though I told her I don’t feel safe given what happened and she kept saying “it was an accident” when I asked her why she didn’t call us that night the stove was on and didn’t follow up when she didn’t receive an answer from us?. “It was an accident” and no proper excuse.

I was fed up with her selfish behaviour and the e other housemate sucking up to her with no backbone.

What are your opinions on situation like this?

Accidentally leaving the stove on is one thing. Realizing it might still be running and doing little more than sending a casual text at 3 a.m. is another.

The housemate didn’t necessarily intend to endanger anyone, but once she suspected the stove was on, she had a responsibility to make sure someone actually checked it. A phone call, repeated attempts to reach her roommates or returning home herself would have demonstrated that she understood the potential seriousness of the situation.

Instead, she sent a message to people who were almost certainly sleeping and apparently assumed that was sufficient.

The other housemate’s response also seems remarkably casual. Making a collective effort to double-check appliances is sensible, but this wasn’t simply a matter of everyone needing a reminder. One person created the hazard, recognized the possibility and failed to confirm that it had been addressed.

Of course, a stove left on doesn’t automatically mean a fire was imminent. The level of danger depends on the circumstances. Still, it’s understandable that the incident damaged the woman’s trust in her housemate’s judgment.

Giving a month’s notice and moving out because she no longer felt comfortable living there seems like a reasonable response, assuming that notice satisfied their rental obligations.

Accidents happen. But how someone responds after realizing they’ve made a potentially dangerous mistake matters just as much.

This person has been in the same boat.

This person has a solid question…

And this person has a similar story…of what COULD have been,

She remembered the stove might be on, but apparently forgot that a 3 a.m. text isn’t exactly a fire alarm.