Moving is stressful enough when you’re only responsible for your own belongings. Being left to clean up after someone who has already packed up and disappeared is another story.

One university student says her roommate moved out of their shared apartment several days before her—and apparently decided that meant she was also done with cleaning. Despite previously agreeing to help tackle the common areas, the roommate allegedly left behind full trash and recycling bins, empty boxes, unwanted belongings and even dirty dishes in the sink.

When OP texted her about the mess, her former roommate apologized and generously gave her “permission” to throw everything away herself. Now, with a potential cleaning charge looming, OP says she has little choice but to clean the entire apartment alone.

Roommate moved out, left a bunch of stuff behind, and didn’t clean

I live in university housing, not like a dorm but more like an apartment. My roommate just moved out and I will be moving out too in a couple days.

She left several random things she didn’t want such as trash cans in the common areas and also didn’t help me clean the common areas even though she said she would before she moved.

She filled the trash and recycle and didn’t empty them and left several large empty boxes which I don’t need. She even left a bunch of dirty dishes in the sink.

Gross.

When I texted her about all this later all she did was say I’m sorry and tell me it’s okay to throw her stuff away. Which I don’t understand why she couldn’t have just done that herself.

She wouldn’t clean in general (she wouldn’t even wipe the counter down after she was done cooking).

I was trying to organize a cleaning time with her so I didn’t get stuck cleaning the entire apartment when I moved out a few days after her.

No such luck.

We will get charged if the apartment isn’t deep cleaned and she knows this because they email us and tell us exactly that when we are about to move out. I don’t want to get charged so I have no choice but to clean the apartment by myself.

It is very entitled and inconsiderate on her part. I just needed to vent because I’m really annoyed right now.

AITA?

Commenters overwhelmingly sided with OP, saying NTA and agreeing that her roommate essentially turned her own move-out responsibilities into someone else’s problem.

Readers were especially irritated by the roommate telling OP she could simply throw away the things she’d abandoned. As many pointed out, the issue wasn’t whether OP had permission to toss them—it was that the roommate should have taken care of her own trash and belongings before leaving.

Others encouraged OP to document the condition of the apartment and save their text conversation before cleaning anything, particularly if the university could impose move-out fees. If there’s any way to make housing aware that the mess was left by the roommate, commenters felt OP should create that paper trail rather than silently accepting responsibility for everything.

And while OP may ultimately have to clean the apartment to protect herself from being charged, readers agreed that doesn’t make the situation fair. Her roommate knew an inspection was coming, promised to help and left anyway.

This person has some fun advice.

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a condo owner who replaced a whole a/c unit just to stop the complaints.

This person has empathy for OP.

And this person says just be glad she left first.

Telling your roommate she’s free to throw away the mess you abandoned isn’t helping clean, it’s just outsourcing the chore.