Moving into your first college apartment is supposed to come with a certain amount of freedom. You get to decorate your space, figure out how to share a kitchen and enjoy living with people your own age.

What you probably don’t expect is for someone’s mother to become your unofficial sixth roommate.

One college student was excited to move into an apartment with four other young women after a less-than-ideal experience living in the dorms.

When she arrived in August, one roommate was already there with her mom. She didn’t think much of it at first. After all, parents often help their children settle into a new place, especially when they’re moving from far away.

But the days turned into weeks, and Mom showed no signs of packing her bags.

Nearly two months later, the student discovered that the woman apparently planned to stay for several more months while her daughter recovered from a medical procedure.

And nobody had mentioned this arrangement before the lease was signed.

Now, after raising concerns and receiving an unexpectedly hostile response from her other roommates, the student is wondering whether she’s unreasonable for wanting the apartment she actually agreed to rent.

Roommate’s mom living with us.

Hey, for context this is my first college apartment after dorming last year, where i did not have a good experience either.

I moved in here, in the beginning of August, and one of my roommates was already here. However, her mom was here as well.

Now I thought, just to help move in since they are not from where I attend school, or anywhere near it.

Seems like the only feasible explanation…

There are 5 of us living here. Her mom makes 6. My one roommate had something done, which recovery IS NOT 4 MONTHS long. It has been almost 2 months since her mom has been here, she isn’t leaving either till a few more months.

This was never said prior to signing lease….or in general. Her mom does NOT have to be here as we are adults. She takes up the refrigerator, the cabinets, and is in the kitchen whenever I want to cook when I pay rent here.

She does pay utilities however…..it’s so WEIRD to be in college and have someones mom live here. She also has her own bedroom, own bathroom, so we are all paying for her to basically live here.

How…uncomfortable!

My other roommate and I did say something yesterday since it had been going on 2 months. The other 3 disagreed with us and saw this as no issue……. I just find it honestly really weird and it just upsets me because we are girls in college, this wasn’t the experience I signed up for.

Her mom also touches the thermostat to make it extremely hot when….she doesn’t even live here. She isn’t leaving anytime soon, my other roommates got mad, but, we did talk.

However they were mocking me behind my back.

Oh boy…

I just find this extremely uncomfortable because i’m paying to be here.

I’m also yet to go to my property manager because i’m unsure of what I would say/or what would happen as I know this is a breach of the lease for all of us.

I also knew 2 of the girls before this, and for them to take advantage of living with people they know is honestly so unfair.

The student’s frustration is understandable, especially because this arrangement was never disclosed before she committed to living there.

There’s nothing inherently wrong with a parent staying temporarily to help an adult child recover from a medical procedure. Depending on the circumstances, that assistance might be genuinely necessary for longer than an outsider expects.

But there’s a significant difference between a short visit and someone occupying a bedroom, using shared facilities and living in an apartment for several months.

The mother contributing toward utilities is considerate, but it doesn’t automatically address the larger issue. The student and her roommates are paying rent with the expectation that five people will share the space, not six.

And when the additional resident is filling cabinets, occupying the kitchen and adjusting the thermostat, her presence has a direct impact on everyone else’s living experience.

The fact that three roommates are comfortable with the arrangement doesn’t necessarily mean the other two have to accept it. A majority vote isn’t a substitute for the terms of a lease or everyone’s agreement to a long-term guest.

That said, the student should verify the actual guest policy before assuming there’s a lease violation. Contacting the property manager to ask about occupancy rules and options would be reasonable, although she should understand that involving management could affect the entire household.

Her roommates may disagree with her concerns, but mocking her for expressing them is hardly productive.

She signed up to share an apartment with fellow college students, and wanting transparency about an additional resident is not an unreasonable expectation.

This person says this is…insane.

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a man who got fed up with all of the cars parking illegally on his vacation land, so he had them all towed.

This person says there are two, and only two, solutions.

And this person makes a solid point.

She thought she was leaving dorm life behind, but apparently her first college apartment came with a live-in parent and a whole new set of house rules.