Guy refuses to help clean apartment, roommate does all the cleaning alone under the promise that she will receive the full security deposit, guy keeps the money anyway: 'Landlord sent me a check for the return of the security deposit, which was $750'

Living with other people is a mixed bag. Sometimes, you might end up living with someone who goes on to be a lifelong friend, and sometimes, you might end up living with someone like this. Someone who is so entitled and self-absorbed that you're battling with them every step of the way every day, just to get by, where the existence is so miserable that it lingers even after you move out. 

Usually, landlords are the ones pulling something like what the roommate has done in this story, taking advantage of every little trick they possibly can to ensure that matters concerning money are always in their favor.

An experience I had with this was in my sophomore year of university when some friends and I rented a place together. We were charged a cleaning fee before we moved in, and when we went to move in, not a single thing had actually been cleaned, and the place was still in the state it was in when the party animals that lived there before us had moved out.

Why were we even the ones being charged the cleaning fee, and it didn't come out of their deposit? Outside of the fact that we, younger students, were easier targets for the landlord to grift, I imagine they knew there was no deposit left for the outgoing group to take back, and they had just decided to walk. Besides, there hadn't been any cleaning done anyway, so the whole thing was just a scam.

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  • Anyways, this is all beside the point. Roommates can be just as opportunistic. It always comes down to money. If it's not about rent directly, then it's about who used the heater and when, or who had their boyfriend/girlfriend stay over too many nights, and did they or did they not take a 40-minute hot shower.

    This roommate didn't care about the money before they moved out, and didn't lift a finger to ensure they got a cent of it back. They can't have something both ways, and if they either care about the money beforehand, then they can't try to keep some of it now.

    In this case, though, why is the landlord simply charging because a place has been lived in for five years? Wear and tear is a normal thing to consider in most places and is legally defined as a condition of renting that is not to be included in security deposits. There is always going to be some damage from general use after something like 5 years, especially given that the place probably wasn't in tip-top shape to begin with.

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    Cheezburger Image 10533786368
    via Blake Cheek

    The image is representative only and does not depict the actual subjects of the story.

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  • 02

    "AITA for not giving my roommate my half of the security deposit?"

    So I was sharing an apartment with another roommate. Our security deposit was $1000, split evenly between us - we each contributed $500. At the end of our lease, we both decided we would be ending it. The last month of our lease, I was super busy, so I decided to just give up the security deposit and let the landlord deal with the apartment, and I'll just eat whatever cleaning cost that they want to deduct from the deposit.
    via foreverhappilysingle
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    My roommate, however, wanted the full security deposit back. So I told her "sure, go ahead and clean. I'll send you the full amount back. If they deduct anything, I'll cover it then." So she cleaned the entire apartment, including the common area (living room, kitchen, bathroom) as well as her own room. The only place she didn't clean was my room, which was fine with me.
    via foreverhappilysingle
  • 04
    After we had moved out for about a month, the landlord sent me a check for the return of the security deposit, which was $750. They had to do some deeper cleaning that my roommate couldn't do in the common areas, as well as my room which I didn't clean. This is something I had expected, since we had lived in that apartment for 5 years, there was no way my roommate could have cleaned it up to professional standards. A $250 loss after 5 years is not bad though in my opinion. So as promised, I sent
    via foreverhappilysingle
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  • 05
    Now my roommate is blowing tf up, saying when I said I would send her the full amount, she thought I meant the entire $750 amount. She argued that because she cleaned and I didn't, that meant she should be entitled to my part of the deposit too. I told her that I never hired or asked her to clean, and I'm not a bank for her money to grow interest - she cleaned to get her full deposit back, not to get more money from me.
    via foreverhappilysingle
  • 06
    She called me an AH and blocked me on social media lol. Our mutual friends are split - some think I'm right, some think I should have given her that extra $250. Am I really the AH in this situation?
    via foreverhappilysingle
  • 07
    OP has offered the following explanation for why they think they might be the ah le: 1. I did not give my roommate my part of the security deposit after we moved out. 2. She cleaned the entire apartment, I didn't. She said because of that she should be entitled to my part of the deposit as well, which I didn't agree
    via foreverhappilysingle
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    Cheezburger Image 10533786624
    via Karolina Grabowska

    The image is representative only and does not depict the actual subjects of the story.

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    Kindly-Lunch-8804 NTA She didn't pay the deposit, it's not hers. The deposit doesn't only cover cleaning. It covers damage to the place. It covers any rent not paid at the end of the lease or early termination. $250 seems a lot to clean one room and do a professional cleaning in public areas. Seriously, hiring a cleaner wouldn't cost that much unless the place is huge and damaged.
    via foreverhappilysingle
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    hsifuevwivd YTA. You lied to her and stole the money she earned. Anyone with a slither of intelligence knew she meant the full $1000 minus deductions because she did all the work and you wanted to give up the deposit completely. It's really pathetic and gross what you did.
    via foreverhappilysingle
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    DankyMcJangles YTA You got $250 back due to their hard work. Why on earth would you feel entitled money that you received through someone else's efforts? You should pay them for the cleaning they did on your behalf. That should be obvious since you did absolutely nothing
    via foreverhappilysingle
  • 12
    LuxTravelGal YTA. You didn't do anything to earn the deposit back, should have given it all to her.
    via foreverhappilysingle
  • 13
    drgrouchy I think YTA. You should pay her for half the time she spent cleaning the common areas. I think a good compromise would have been a 50/50 split of your part of the deposit, so $625 to her and $125 to you. Some people are just As.
    via foreverhappilysingle
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  • 14
    Careless-Ability-748 yta you didn't deserve any money back
    via foreverhappilysingle
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    Any_South9905 Absolutely YTA next question
    via foreverhappilysingle
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    QuestionMaker207 YTA. She cleaned all the common areas. If you had helped with the common areas, I could see you being entitled to the $250, but you did literally nothing. She earned you that $250 while you sat back and did nothing. It also sounds like you didn't clarify what you meant by "full amount" before the roommate started cleaning, so you're the AH for that too. I can easily see how they would think that since you're willing to lose your whole $500 deposit, whatever comes back will be fo
    via foreverhappilysingle
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  • 17
    flowerybutterfly96 She cleaned the common areas, you did nothing. I think she deserves the entire thing. If she had adopted your attitude, would you have gotten anything back?
    via foreverhappilysingle
  • 18
    RedneckDebutante YTA You know well that you promised all of the deposit would be given to your roommate. You stiffed her. There would be exactly zero deposit if she hadn't cleaned.
    via foreverhappilysingle

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