So I 21f was moving out of my flat after having shared it with two other roommates I met in the first year of uni. I have always paid my rent in advance and never missed any bill payments however I should mention that I fell out with one of my flatmates due to her hypocrisy (Tia). When we moved in me and tia did not have the money for the deposit (mainly due to it being the first time renting as we were 19) so the third flatmate’s parents (lucy) paid the £3000 deposit (they are quite rich) for us which I was extremely grateful for and made sure that if there was any issues with the flat and how I was occupying it especially if it jeopardised the deposit I would fix it as it wasn’t my money.

When we first moved in, tia and lucy, both had boyfriends who would stay around quite often using the kitchen but it wouldn’t bother me as I had a room downstairs and I just minded my own business as it was their place as much as mine. However, by the 2nd year Lucy had broken up with her boyfriend and so tia was the only one in a relationship. I met my boyfriend at the end of our first year there and as he lived near we’d stay at each other’s places. Tia had a problem with this despite her out of the three of us bringing the most people over (people who she’d just met too and her boyfriend around often), I had never bought anyone over up until I met my boyfriend not even friends. I defended myself but she ganged up on me with Lucy (who was a people pleaser and was not big on confrontation and for the most part I could say didn’t really mind my boyfriend being over) and said that because that because Lucy’s parent paid the deposit I didn’t have much say. I defended myself as much as I could but told my boyfriend to not come over and tried to keep the peace with Tia. However from that point onwards as Tia had decided to spark an argument with my partner, make him uncomfortable when he was there previously (asking if he lived there when I would leave the room), would make me uncomfortable if I ever mentioned him around her even in a group setting through her comments as she didn’t like him, would make fun of him in a group setting too and allow her boyfriend to do so too, I decided to end the friendship which completely broke my heart and I was seriously impacted me as we had went through so much together and I never wanted to put a guy between us. Tia continued to bring people over throughout our stay and became much closer with Lucy which ostracised me but I just kept to myself. Lucy would talk to me if Tia wasn’t there but if she was would completely blanked me. It hurt but I had made my decision and so carried on with my life.

I started packing up my things early as the month we were due to move out I was going on holiday and wanted that when I came back I had little left to pack. The day after I returned from holiday, I had a morning shift at work and planned to finish the rest of my packing when I finished at 5. My room was a mess (as it would be when moving out and with a large suitcase full of dirty holiday clothes, boxes stacked and miscellaneous items that I was throwing out or donating) but I planned to deep clean when I had emptied the room despite the fact that we paid for a deep cleaning service (£500). After my shift, I came back to an unnamed hand written letter stating that my room was horrid and that if we lost money in the deposit because of it I would be charged for this behaviour. I texted Lucy as I guessed it might have been her or her mother (who I have not heard much nice things about) as they had been there before I left for my shift and she reply admitting it was her mother. Offended by the lack of confidence in my character, I texted that her message was rude as I have done everything in the flat to make sure to this point that we dont lose the deposit. She reply’s that I didn’t understand what was at stake and I replied why would I pay for the cleaning fee and have packed the majority of my things before my holiday if I didn’t. She replied to take it up with her mother as it wasn’t rude and as her mother had spoken to Tia in person about the end of the tenancy but I know that her mother would not have been rude as she was Lucy’s close friend now and because her mother knew of the relationship between the three of us and probably took a side. I told her that I did not mind directness but the message was rude and could have been sent in a text or even on the paper in a polite manner as of course it was her mother’s money.

What was funny was that, when the deposit repayment was finished we each had to pay for miscellaneous things (missing forks) but Tia had to pay substantially more as she had broken things in her room.