Thanks!

All the other people in the house hated her with a passion. It all began with her leaving long-winded rants on A4 sheets of paper on the kitchen table if somebody didn’t clean up after cooking food. I’m not a dirty person, nor were the rest of the household, but in a college house plates can get left around from time to time – that’s just the way it is.

This girl literally couldn’t handle it if a plate was left around for 10 minutes without being cleaned. She’d leave her ‘Dear John, Please Clean Up’ letters on the table for all to see anyway, but the thing is then she’d walk into the room being all nice to you and not mention the letter what so ever!

The woman had serious communication issues.. very strange altogether. So weeks went by and we had gathered a fair few of these notes and were keeping them to show them to people and have a good chuckle at them every now and then !

When it started to get boring we started to scrutinise these letters and come to the realisation she hapoor grammar. We began to correct her grammatical errors in red biro, and graded all of them.. Needless to say she never got higher than a C- and had a “can do better” comment included at the bottom. They stopped shortly after that.

It may sound like we were ganging up on her but seriously, we were always nice to her but she rarely gave anything back except complaints. Someone told me I should make a box with “Suggestions/Complaints” written on it and put it on the table for her, but I never bothered, should have though!

Senor Beezlebub, Irlanda

At this time of year many school leavers are brimful of excitement about moving out of home and into accommodation close to their university or college. There’s also that nervousness about finding a place to live that’s nice and within mum and dad’s budget or that a student grant will cover. For many people, the dream house or flat will only be perfect with the addition of a friend or schoolmate from home to make the move less lonely. However, as one contributor found, moving in with a close friend did not make for a warm and friendly home…

“I moved in with a friend of mine – we were fairly close friends and never had any arguments. But from day one of moving in she stopped talking to me or inviting me out for social events on weekends.

“She would barely speak to me when I tried to engage in conversation and permanently kept her door shut, only emerging out for brief periods of maybe 5 minutes tops to microwave dinner or use the bathroom. If I tried to talk to her she would only respond in a rude tone with a one or two word answer. This went on for months and I couldn’t figure out what her problem was – we had never gotten into a fight…

“I ended up feeling like a loner in my own house, and it re-triggered my diagnosed manic deppression. I felt unwanted, alone and hurt. Being a fairly sensitive, non confrontational person I could never find the words to ask why she started to hate me overnight.”

- Lil, UK

Have you any advice for Lil or anyone in her situation? What’s the best way to deal with coldness from a flatmate or a friend you share your home with? Have you ever been that cold, unfriendly person? Why did you act that way? We’d love you to share. Please comment below.

But the Housemates from Hell site, Facebook page and Twitter feed will all be back up and running on a regular basis soon. Well they will be IF people start sharing stories.

If we had the resources we’d go out and interview you ourselves but as this blog is run on a volunteer basis we just can’t get around to it. So anyways.

Has something good, bad, funny, crazy, disgusting, shocking, upsetting, in other words, anything at all that makes a good story ever happened to you while sharing accommodation with anyone. Maybe it was in college dorms, university halls, college campus residence, a shared house or flat, a bedsit, your gran’s, you dad’s, whatever, we just want to share entertaining stories.

But we need people to tell their stories to us. Ah go on, go on…. You will, you will…

If you’re a journalist, yes of course we’d love to feature in an article or talk on radio about this, especially in the run up to the teenagers leaving home for the first time to go to college kind of stories or things about people still stuck sharing eventhough house prices have dropped – because they’re too scared to buy just now. The Landlady has media training and will be able to help you out with a nice few quotes/soundbites, whatever you need.

If you’re a corporate sponsor and you just have lashings of money to throw around to pay for the upkeep of such a site, sure get in touch. Of course we’d love to talk to you – contact the nice people over at http://webcontent.ie.

Ta!

Months passed and it was time to move house and do the big clean up before getting our deposit back. A table at the end of my bed obscured much of the carpet on the floor from view. When I moved the table I found what resembled dried-in vomit on the floor. I thought back to the night I thought I had puked but couldn’t find any evidence of it.

I don’t know how I managed it, but I think I must have woken up in the middle of the night, needed to vomit and somehow managed to vomit under the bed.

Mystery solved, I decided to leave that section of floor till last to clean – it was going to take a lot of elbow grease to sort out. But as it happens, I got distracted and forgot to clean it before getting deposit back from landlord. I am still embarrassed to this day. I’m sure he thought we were awful tenants leaving puke-soaked carpets. It wasn’t intentional though!

Shared by: Jean, Co Galway, Ireland.

Can you beat Jean’s sick story?

Go straight to: http://housematesfromhell.com/submit/

There was stuff everywhere

We were one short in our house and the person that we moved in needed somewhere to live as their flatmates were a bit psycho.

We would later find out that said person never got on with any of their ex flatmates and would always have some excuse for moving out, which was never their fault.

After about a month I started to notice that our new flatmate never helped with anything such as cleaning, never emptied the bin, generally sat on their backside while myself and my other flatmate did everything.

Raising the issue – kindly

We decided to sit flatmate down and have a friendly chat and it was agreed that we would all pitch in i.e. said flatmate would stop being so lazy and do something. This promise never materialised and whenever we would try to bring the subject up again they would always get defensive, even though we were polite, practically walking on egg shells or they would change the subject. The situation just got worse and worse as time drew on.

Repercussions

Flatmate never ever did anything, never swept the floor, cleaned the bathroom, hoovered, or even put the dishwasher on, ever!!! Or for that matter opened their bedroom window. It got so bad that when they were on holiday once we had to break into their bedroom to open the window as the smell drifted all around the house, it was like gone off cheese. When we entered the bedroom there were paper and plastic bags and dirty washing everywhere, used condoms and the sheets looked like they had not been washed in a year.

“That’ll learn ya”

Anyway the big lessons I have learned from my experience are:

1. Some people just don’t give a toss about general hygiene/cleanliness, they would rather bask in their own filth.

2. If you have a bad feeling about someone that lingers and after talking to them numerous times (politely) about helping with cleaning/tidying and they still don’t give a toss, ask them to move out, because if I had of listened to my gut and not have just ”put up” with them, this person and I would still be friends.

3. As my mother says ”If you want to know me come and live with me”.

Shared by: Derek, Location Unknown

What advice have you for anybody who finds themselves living with someone who just will not pitch in – despite being asked to?

My flatmates A and B and I had lived together in university halls. B is very controlling and A is very passive aggressive, as you will see.

Expensive for a cold shower

A and B decided that A’s boyfriend and my boyfriend would pay £20 for the privilege of using the shower. My boyfriend now will not shower at my place because he can’t afford to. Our bill was £120 each for the gas (hot water etc) and it was pretty steep. I tried to talk to A and B about rationally settling the situation – the argument that ensued left me in tears. Little did I know that this was only the beginning.

Within 30 minutes signs appeared everywhere. “Only use the washing machine once a week!” “Showers: Only 5 minutes long!” “Recycle!”

Actually the recycling one is the worst of the 3. There are signs EVERYWHERE about it and if we don’t, B drags the trash up to our rooms, yells to make us put it downstairs in the right container, and then acts moody all day. This has happened regarding one milk bottle. One.

The list goes on…

Phone
The phone is another point of contention. We must write whom we call, when, how long, etc. Exactly to the letter. If not, B gets insane.
Heating
Heating is nonexistent in our house; my room suffers mould and damp issues. To top this off we are instructed not to use the drier. Ever. I suffer medical stuff that is aggravated by the mould. Yay.
Cleaning
Lastly, cleaning in our house is nonexistent. I have a serious medical complaint with my skin. All housemates are aware of this. But, they insist on using harsh chemicals to clean the bathroom with – and when reminded politely I am completely ignored. This has led to me being in tears and unable to move my hands at times, because of chemical burns. Their response? A shrug.

The Solution?

I’m moving out to live with my boyfriend this year. Anything is better than living in a house where I’m cold, I can’t do laundry, I’m chemically burnt and I’m ignored all the time.

Shared by: I is mad, United Kingdom

What advice would you give to help this person deal with their Uni roomates?

When it comes to flatmates/housemates/roomates most of us probably think of Friends. It’s like we’ve been brainwashed. But there are other shows, right? Other ones that depict people who are not necessarily family or a couple living together. What are they? Housemates. No, I mean what are the shows? What did you like about them? Were they realistic? OTT?

We’d like to do a bit of crowdsourcing and get you to tell us what TV show other than Friends that is a good example of housemates – and look they don’t have to be from hell. They can be as harmonious as possible.

Answers on a postcard – well not really, but you know what I mean – to:

The Landlady,

Housemates from Hell

Web – comment on blog or fill out contact form: Housematesfromhell.com

Facebook: Facebook.com/housematesfromhell

Twitter: Twitter.com/housemates

Email: info@housematesfromhell.com

I have a brand new flatmate who always has her boyfriend here 24/7. That’s cool. But they sometimes have arguments or talk loudly in the next room, which can be annoying. They do not do it often enough to peeve me off, so that’s ok.

When one of the landlords came to check out the heating in my room one morning, I went to put some toast in the kitchen. I knew the girl and her boyfriend where around, because the heating affected her room too, so she had to be there like me. When I went back to the kitchen to get my toast, I noticed it was gone. I thought for a second that maybe I hadn’t actually made toast, but the bread pan was open, but my toast wasn’t in the toaster.

I already suspected her or her boyfriend of taking a pot and a few of my cutleries some weeks back, but I forgot about it since it was so long ago. I am pissed off that a stranger who doesn’t even live with us, would take another person’s toast without even asking. I am pissed off that if it was the boyfriend, she didn’t bother telling him to stop.

We are the only ones who live here, and I doubt it was the landlord who ate my breakfast (she was fixing the heater in my room). So it was either my flatmate or the boyfriend.

Noise to meet you

It is very unfair that she also brings her friends in her room and they talk really loudly. Yet, when my sister came to visit me for the night, my landlord called me to say that the next room had complained that I apparently talked so loudly  and it disturbed their sleep! I was extremely pissed off about that. This girl makes so much noise with whatever the hell she and her boyf does in the next room, and I hardly ever bring my own friends over. The ONE TIME that I do, she thinks that I make a fuss? I, who keep to myself and don’t even put on the music in my room?

Coupled with her extremely annoying accent and banging of doors, it makes living with her very lame.

Shared by: ChiChi, Location Unknown

This girl’s obsession didn’t extend to cleanliness, however, and our flat was a sorry state of affairs.

But if you dared to clean the common areas she would flip and accuse you of moving her stuff.

Once she went mad at me for ‘misplacing a gym bag’. Can I point out at this point that we lived in a three room plus bathroom flat.

Anyway, you would think finding a gym bag, in a 5sq.ft space would be easy. But she insisted she’d looked everywhere.

I told her I hadn’t moved it, hadn’t even laid eyes on it. Eventually, she found it where she had put it on the first day we moved in. She nearly choked on her apology…

Shared by: LeeLie, Dublin, Ireland

The housemate from hell came in the shape of the boyfriend of the Californian girl – he was from Puerto Rico and constantly in and out of jail. He was serving a sentence for stealing cars and assaulting a police officer during the time I moved in. On one of his home releases that I was around for, he and Lola decided to get married, quickly and cheaply.

Their wedding night was spent at home, throwing pots/dishes at each other in the communal kitchen and yelling (they took this fight to the roof as well) while their three-year-old daughter screamed herself sick. I got the hell out of there and spent the night in a friend’s apartment. He went back into jail for breaking parole, so I didn’t have to move out in the end.

Shared by: Rusty, Dublin, Ireland

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ni0PBPeyHDc

We’re here to share the good as well as the bad, so here’s a reminder of THAT Carlsberg flatmates ad. If you’ve any good/funny flatmate stories to share, we’d love to here ‘em on Housematesfromhell.com http://bit.ly/aHN52S

This was not appealing at all and he became more and more painful and used to take hours in the bathroom (there was only one bathroom). We got so annoyed that one of us emptied out his aftershave that he used to boast about and one of the lads replaced it with another yellowish liquid – as  he p**d into it. Mr Highlights continued to pour aftershave on night after night for a while and could never understand why the laughter! He did not appear to be annoyed when we did this!

Shared by: The Tall One, Cork, Ireland

The other housemate

The housemate I had not met turned out to be stuck up and very unfriendly to the point of being rude. On one occasion I took a magazine from the bathroom and she left a post-it to tell me not to remove magazines from the bathroom. That was the extent of our communication – her leaving post-its to let me know she was not happy! She seemed to have great difficulty exchanging pleasantries and made it her business to be as unfriendly and curt as possible.

It’s not my fault

I found the whole experience very difficult at the time and made an unsuccessful attempt to point out that her unfriendly behaviour and method of communication was a bit odd. She had her boyfriend sharing a room with her (rent free). He wasn’t as bad as at least he would respond when I said hello. I was young at the time and took the whole thing to heart as if her lack of social skills had something to do with me.

In hindsight

Thankfully now I am able to detach from others behaviour much better and realise it’s just their stuff, and as a consequence I tend to meet friendly interesting people mostly in my day to day. I now share my own place with my fiancé and albeit that he is a bit messy at times (as am I) I am glad to be out of that whole houseshare with strangers scenario!

Shared by: WC, Waterford, Ireland

So, we want to hear these stories. If you’ve got a story to share, don’t be scared – we will never name you publicly (or privately) and if you don’t name the people you’re writing about and keep details vague enough, it won’t come back to bite you!

We’re discreet because we know it’s the only way to get difficulties of living with others out in the open.

We’ve designed up a really easy form for you to share your story of some crazy thing that happened in a house share, if that’s too difficult, just email us directly at info@housematesfromhell.com.

Keep up to date with our news feeds of things of interest in the world of the living, competitions and more, by becoming a fan of Housemates from Hell on Facebook, following housemates on Twitter or subscribing to our RSS feed.

Enjoy!

Thanks to: http://www.wordle.net/.

The following morning the news broke about the Law Reform Commission’s recommendation that a new law should be introduced in respect of burglaries or attacks on our homes.

Self defence, it recommends, should be renamed legitimate defence and that in certain cases a person who murders an intruder to their home could be acquitted of murder.

As we’re in recession now, many people are concerned about their safety in their own homes. Reports The Landlady has heard point at burglars breaking into houses through patio doors and looking for cash and gold. Houses have been ransacked with trousers pulled out of wardrobes, with the pockets visibly turned inside out as thieves have searched for any cash.

So anyway, back to the party, we also talked about locking of downstairs doors, so that a burglar breaking in to the kitchen for example, would be confined to that room. We also heard different views on  whether or not to leave the house and car keys downstairs. Leave them downstairs so the burglar can just take the car and go. Leave them upstairs so the burglar can’t get out of your house easily, or into your house easily. Get a decoy house alarm, said another person.

Nobody mentioned sleeping with a kitchen knife or a hammer under their bed whether or not they locked their bedroom doors. If we’d heard about the Law Reform Commission’s plans, conversation would have definitely gotten more interesting. Would you kill a man?

We all want to have a sense of security in our homes. I’m not sure if the threat of a kitchen knife under a 24-year-old woman’s pillow is going to turn a burly, hungry for cash former inmate with a history of assault, theft and a drug habit off getting enough cash for his next fix.

But it’s an acknowledgement of how important it is for everybody to feel safe in their homes and not to have to deal with the post traumatic stress of having your house invaded, ransacked and the living daylights frightened out of you. Sure, if we want to be scared in our skins at home every night we’d just go watch horror films like Paranormal Activity every other day.

Here at HousematesfromHell.com we want to hear your stories. We understand that sometimes there’s no one to turn to that can give you a straight answer about your rights as a tenant or homeowner.

You can turn to our advice section to hear what professionals have to say about the legalities of leases, paying bills and what to do with a difficult landlord, tenant, lodger

Spill the beans here. Submit a story you’ve been dying to get off your chest to us and we’ll upload it for all to enjoy. Got a problem and just can’t put up with it anymore? The fights, the loud music, the silence, the smells, their voice, accent, mannerisms, their cleaning habits, uncleanliess, hygiene issues, friends, ringtone. Share and get some suggestions about how to deal with it. This is HousematesfromHell.com. Your voice, your forum, your advice.