AITA
Hi, before I get into the story let me give a little bit of background to the entire situation.
This person is someone I have previously worked with. We got along incredibly well, and they seemed like they were just really struggling with their living situation. Going from being kicked out of their mom’s place, to living with someone who didn’t clean after their pet, then with another person who essentially turned their place into a trap house. Knowing they needed a new place, my partner and I opened up our home to them. Well, we are regretting that decision.
It already started a bit rocky when they were supposed to move in February 1st. They wanted to wait another month since their roommate they were leaving couldn’t pay rent. They felt bad and gave them the money. We tried to be understanding and let our soon to be roommate know that they can live here a month for free bc of it. They were very thankful and it was no extra stress on us.
Since around the end of February things have just kinda gone down hill. I would come home to a mystery sticky substance all over the kitchen or even trash/food on the floor, to the smell of weed, and constant pacing back and forth all night that kept us awake (for context their room is right above ours). We have tried to fix these issues but to no avail, they keep happening. Then one morning, I heard an incredibly loud crash in the house. My partner and I couldn’t find the source of the issue so we went back to sleep. Come to find out, they had somehow ripped the towel holder out of the wall and left a huge hole in the wall… Along with that we found huge red stains on the carpet along with open hot sauce bottles just on the carpet, huge marks on the walls and an odd odor coming from the room. It was our last straw really, as my partner and I just wanted our own lives back without our roommate.
In the lease we had them sign, there is a section that states “Either Landlord or Tenant may terminate this lease at any time by giving the other thirty (30) days written notice prior to the due date.” So, we invoked this as these problems were not going to get any better. The lease officially ends July 31st but we could not wait any longer. We gave them the notice via text yesterday morning, as we have incredibly different schedules we couldn’t catch them to talk. We never got a response from this.
We got home after work yesterday, about an hour after we arrived home they pulled into the front of the house. We waited inside the kitchen for them to come in for about 10 mins. I had to leave since we had prior commitments, but my partner stayed to try and talk to them. My partner gave them a call and it went straight to voicemail. So, my partner went outside and lightly knocked on their door. They shook their head, ignored my partner and peeled off. After that, we haven’t heard anything. It was obvious they got the message and they were not happy. Plan B was to tape a written formal notice to their door and take photos of it for our records. Our roommate came home later that night, ripped the notice off their door, and threw it on the floor. We have not heard anything from them since, and all we want to do is have a conversation. We have also noticed that we are both blocked on everything so we have no way to contact them and we know if we try in person, we will be ignored.
For more context, we are all in our early 20s… I feel this is very childish of them to act. But I would think from someone who had been in rough situations prior, they would’ve respected us and our house more. But as the days go on, it feels like we are living with an immature teenager. Are we the assholes? I understand it’s not a great situation to be in, I would be upset too. But I would at least want to have a conversation and not be given the silent treatment…. It almost feels as though our roommate had the preconceived notion that this was a long term situation when it wasn’t to begin with. I have included a screenshot of the messages sent to them.