She Moved In to Save Money After a Lease Ended—Only for Her Roommate to Bails, Abandon Furniture, and Demand $300 for It
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When you move out of your parents’ home and into your own place, there are a lot of options at your fingertips. If you can afford it, of course you can live by yourself – and in more rural places or in suburbs this might be an option. But for the majority of folk, especially if they’re going to college or living in a city, the only reasonable option is living with roommates. Whether that’s student accommodation or a private rental, living with other folk in a similar boat can be a great way to afford to live where you want to live, without having to make too many compromises.
So when the woman in this story struggled with some roommates, living in a new place with her childhood friend who also needed a place to live seemed like a no-brainer. They picked a place out and moved in, and things were going well. That is, until a few months down the line, when everything started to change.
Read on to find out why.
AITA for refusing to pay my friend for her furniture after she moved?
My friend and I (both 20, female) have been friends since primary school.
I moved away two years ago to start uni, and after one year in a really bad living situation, we decided she’d move to the city with me so we could get our own place.
Then, not even a month into our first lease, she decided to fast-track her plans and she would be moving out in 5-6 months.
Given my financial situation I got really upset, and I told her with the state of my job that wasn’t enough warning for me to save enough to move again, since I couldn’t keep our current place on my own.
Let’s see how these woman worked this out.
My only option would’ve been to go into student accomodation or a shared house, and given my last living situation I had a lot of trust issues and trauma. She insisted I’d be fine and it was enough time, and wouldn’t listen to me at all.
I spent the next months desperately trying to save, and much like I warned her, I just couldn’t earn enough.
I started having to look for roommates to move into our current place, which she didn’t help me with AT ALL despite being the one moving out.
I finally managed to find a roommate to take over for her room. I told her the new girl couldn’t move in until our first lease was up in a month, and I asked her several times if she would be able to keep paying her rent up until then since she was leaving a few weeks before our lease actually ended. She told me that was fine.
But this ‘friend’ was not a woman of her word.
Literally THREE DAYS LATER, she comes and switches up on me. By this point I’m about to lose my **** after everything I’ve had to deal with, but I’m trying to be the bigger person. I ended up having to get the new girl to move in early so she can cover my friend’s rent.
The main part that upset me was when she moved, she ended up moving in with her sister, so she didn’t need to take any of her furniture with her and she said I could keep it if I paid her back.
I assumed she meant the stuff she’d bought, which was a few chairs, a table, and half of our washing machine (all second hand).
I agreed to pay her back for that stuff, and she made a list of everything she wanted me to pay her back for and what I owed.
And this list was far from what the woman was expecting
In total I apparently ended up owing her $300+ dollars… because she wanted me to pay her for the FREE FURNITURE she’s gotten. Mind you, she’s moving into a fully-furnished home where she only pays half the rent she did here, and she earns almost three times more than me in the mines.
After everything she’d put me through the last few months, especially since I’d been studying full-time and was already stressed out, I lost my **** at her.
I’ve blocked her on everything, and I’ve told her if she wants her stuff, she’ll have to come and get it, because I don’t owe her anything after everything she put me through.
This was about a month ago now and I still think about it a lot… I can’t tell if I was justified or just exhausted. Should I actually pay her for this stuff?
AITA?
It’s really sad when someone you thought was a good friend shows how little you actually mean to them – and that’s exactly what has happened here.
Her ‘friend’ has left her in a precarious financial situation by breaking the lease and not even trying to help her.
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And now she’s expecting to be paid a load of money for the furniture she’s leaving behind?
Let’s see what folks on Reddit had to say about this.
This person thought that the ex-friend should just take the furniture herself or surrender it.
While others thought that the ‘friend’ was the only one in the wrong here.
If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a mom who thinks her daughter should have planned a whole two-week vacation around her needs.
Meanwhile, this Redditor thought that she proved that she was not a friend to this woman.
If there’s one little glimmer of positivity here it’s that the woman found someone to move in and replace her roommate, meaning that at least she didn’t have to move or find some way of covering the rent herself. Hopefully the new roommate is a nice person, and once she’s settled in this woman will be able to relax a little. Because after everything that has happened here, she really doesn’t need any extra drama.
As for the woman who used to be her friend? Good riddance to her. She’s gone now and the majority of her selfishness is gone from this woman’s life, and that is for the best. But as for this woman paying her for the furniture she neither wants nor needs now she’s moved into a fully-furnished place? Nice try. Either collect it or surrender it, but you’re not getting paid for it.
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