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    Roommate turns living room into a paid study space, refuses to share the money she made with her roommate: 'I'd become a guest in my own apartment.'

    Author image for Emmy Pratt
    Emmy Pratt • Writer and Editor
    Jul 4, 2026 7:45 AM EDT

    Was she wrong for telling the landlord that her roommate is running a business out of the apartment?

    If you have roommates, it's very important to have a frank conversation about your guest policy up front. If you don't, it can lead to months of resentment and bitterness, making the living situation miserable. 

    Some people are totally okay with their roommate's boyfriend or girlfriend staying over every night, using the shower, and eating the food in the fridge. A lot of people are not okay with that, but they feel uncomfortable verbalizing that discomfort to their roommate, because they want to keep the peace. If they hold their discomfort in long enough, it becomes resentment, which is bad for everyone involved. You should ask your roommate if they're okay with you having guests over, but it's also on them to let you know when they're not cool with the number or frequency of guests. 

    If your roommate is constantly having their partner over, that's more tolerable than having a huge group of friends coming over at all hours to be loud and obnoxious. The roommate in this story is hosting a study group from her apartment, and worse than that, she's paying her classmates for the pleasure.

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    • Cheezburger Image 10644273408
      via Getty Images (Unsplash+)

      A group of friends is attending a study group in the living room of one of their classmates, who hasn't told her roommate that she's charging them to be there.

      Subjects are models

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    • Am I the bad guy for reporting my roommate to our landlord after she turned our living room into a paid study space?

      Me (25F) and my roommate (24F) have been living together in a 2-bedr apartment for about a year. Not really friends, just two people splitting rent who get along fine.
      via u/DependentFamiliar778
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    • It started innocently. She asked if a few classmates could study in the living room sometimes, I said sure, I'm never home in the evenings anyway. But it didn't stay "a few
      via u/DependentFamiliar778
    • classmates." At some point, and I honestly couldn't tell you exactly when, it just became a fixed thing. I'd get home from uni/work and there'd already be people on my couch with
      via u/DependentFamiliar778
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    • their laptops open and bags all over the floor. There were literally moments where I stood outside of my door hesitating before going in, which is kind of insane to
      via u/DependentFamiliar778
    • thinking about now. So I said something to her. Told her it was getting too much, that she needed to check with me first. She said sorry, and actually kept it smaller for about a week.
      via u/DependentFamiliar778
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    • Then it just slid right back to normal like that conversation never happened. Except now people weren't even asking her anymore, they'd just show up, sometimes before she was even home from
      via u/DependentFamiliar778
    • Cheezburger Image 10644273664
      via Getty Images (Unsplash+)

      Study group members sit on the couch and work on homework in the living room before the woman who lives there arrives.

      Represented by actors. 

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    • class herself. Then came the day that really broke it for me. I got home early and walked straight into a full session, like eight people, snacks laid out, someone had a
      via u/DependentFamiliar778
    • speaker blasting. I asked one girl what was going on and she goes, super casual, "oh it's (my roommates name)'s study group, it's five euros for each session." That was the actual first
      via u/DependentFamiliar778
    • time I'd heard anything about money. I confronted her that night and expected her to at least get why I was upset, but nope. Completely
      via u/DependentFamiliar778
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    • unbothered. Said she's not "really" profiting, just covering coffee/printing/snacks and that it helps her rent, and that I barely use the living room during those hours
      via u/DependentFamiliar778
    • 4
      via Yunus Tuğ (Unsplash+)

      A woman hides in her room while her roommate conducts a study group in their living room. 

      The photo is a representation. 

    • anyway so what's the big deal as long as it's not left trashed. But that was never the point. She'd built this whole organized, paid thing in OUR shared space without ever asking me if
      via u/DependentFamiliar778
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    • Did she stop to think for a second that maybe her roommate was always in her room during this time because she was always having random strangers over to the apartment? How could she be so dense as not to connect those things?

    • i'm okay with it, and somehow I'd become a guest in my own apartment. In that same conversation I told her to stop, she agreed and said she would. But
      via u/DependentFamiliar778
    • again. Smaller, but still clearly organized. And then I actually saw people paying her through their phones, right there in our living room. That's when it stopped feeling like a
      via u/DependentFamiliar778
    • misunderstanding. Told her again, full stop, not smaller. She said she'd break it down after the exam season because she'd already told everyone.
      via u/DependentFamiliar778
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    • So I emailed the landlord. I explained everything and that the living room was being used regularly for paid study sessions without my consent. After that it all happened pretty fast, she
      via u/DependentFamiliar778
    • got a breach notice and was out within like two weeks. People have mixed rreactions when I tell them this story. Some say I did the right thing, she had
      via u/DependentFamiliar778
    • three chances and blew all of them. Others say I overreacted, nobody got hurt, it's not like she was throwing big parties, and I wasn't even home most of the time anyway. Still don't
      via u/DependentFamiliar778
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    • know honestly. I want to know your opinions on this one, AITA?
      via u/DependentFamiliar778

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    studying landlord living room charging roommates money apartment
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