Roommate Hell·
THE NOISE GUEST
A rent-free houseguest clashes with long-suffering hosts after repeatedly hearing intimate nights, forcing a reshuffle or eviction as they weigh fairness, boundaries, and the cost of helping a friend.
Should the guest keep asking, or move out?
Be one of the first to vote.
A free place to stay turned into a complaint about hearing a couple have sex at night, and now the roommate who was being helped may have to move out.
The poster and her boyfriend had opened their home to a friend he had known since childhood. Housing was expensive, her university was nearby, and the arrangement was meant to help her out. She stayed there five days a week and went home on weekends. In exchange, she paid no rent. The couple covered utilities and groceries while she was there.
She also wasn't exactly crammed into a corner. She had her own bathroom and could use the house's shared spaces, including the kitchen, pool, sauna, and other amenities. Her bedroom was not even directly beside the couple's. Between her room and theirs sat a computer and working room, plus her bathroom.
Still, a few months ago, she brought up something awkward: "she could hear us being intimate at night, and it made her uncomfortable."
The couple responded by saying they would be more careful and "we'd try to be quieter when she's around." That seemed to settle things, briefly.
Since then, the complaint kept coming back. More than once, she mentioned hearing them at night. Then, recently, she asked to switch rooms.
That request created a problem of its own. The only rooms available to swap were either the room the poster's seven-year-old sister uses when she sleeps over, or a hobby room. The other rooms in the house were already permanently set up. In other words, accommodating the request would mean rearranging part of the home for a guest who was already staying rent-free.
The poster said they did not want to reshuffle the house for this, especially because the arrangement was supposed to be a favor in the first place.
After the latest complaint, the poster finally drew a line. Calmly but firmly, they told her they had adjusted as much as they thought was fair and that "if this will keep being an issue, maybe this living situation just isn't a good fit, and she might need to find another place to stay."
The friend did not take that well. She said the poster was being unfair.
Now the question is whether a rent-free house guest gets to keep asking for changes to the home, or whether the couple has already done enough.