13 Fashion Journal readers tell us their sharehouse horror stories

“The guy loves hot yoga, but can’t wear deodorant to save his life.”

Content warning: Sexual assault.

While the idea may seem novel at the start, living with other people can be a real test of mental willpower. Existing in such close quarters (especially considering the current rental crisis) tends to expose the cracks in your relationships, shining a light on the personality flaws you might’ve been able to brush off before. People can be messy in more ways than one and sometimes, a dysfunctional sharehouse can really take an emotional toll.

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And with the rental market more competitive than ever, the house itself can also present a multitude of issues. Ask any friend with more than two sharehouse experiences and you’ll hear tales of leaking toilets, creepy landlords and forbidden bathroom-floor mushroom growths. Here, 13 Fashion Journal readers tell us their sharehouse horror stories.

Henry*, 30, he/him

We befriended a solo traveller while completing our regional farm work. The guy in question rubbed a lot of people the wrong way but we looked past it and took him under our wing. After nearly 18 months of looking after this guy and treating him like family, he unexpectedly tells us he has to fly home for good. We take him out for a farewell meal and buy him leaving gifts, etc.

A month or so later we find out that he didn’t pay his last two months’ rent to the real estate, leaving us with a $2,000-plus bill to foot. He then blocked us on social media and changed his mobile number. It was devastating that somebody would throw away the friendship we’d built to make a quick buck! If you’re unsure about somebody… go with your gut feeling!

Cherie*, 27, she/her

I was living in the UK and moved into a house share with another couple and the pre-existing tenant of the house. The pre-existing tenant turned out to be a walking red flag. The couple who moved in and I watched as this 28-year-old cis-het man never cooked – he only ate clearance Tesco meals reheated for dinner.

He drank protein powder meal replacement shakes for breakfast and lunch (he didn’t exercise or consume these for any weight loss reasons). He has very unhygienic habits, never cleaned and always left finished food containers in his room under his bed. He would have three Tinder dates over each week.

We all learned the girls’ names as they all came and went each week – he would offer them clearance Tesco meals reheated and five-pound bottles of red wine. One night in the summer he got very drunk and came into my room and tried to get into my bed while I was asleep, thinking it was his bedroom. He never apologised. After that, me and the couple all made plans to move out.

Ada*, 25

It started out as a six-person sharehouse with us all living in rooms above a gallery. The gallery space was one of the living rooms, with two bathrooms and a large kitchen. By my third month there, the landlord had moved in six more people just by putting mattresses down in every nook and cranny (including the bin storage area and the third-story attic with exposed electrical wiring, etc) charging $200 per person.

The final straw was him letting us know we weren’t able to use the downstairs bathroom anymore as he had leased it to a hostel across the road, meaning the hostel just had keys to our house. The landlord didn’t see an issue as the original six housemates had locks on our doors. The landlord also didn’t see an issue with letting himself into my room and waiting on my bed for me to get home… [he] was a white guy with pink dreads… need I say more?

Mel*, 22, she/her

This was my first sharehouse experience. We lived in a townhouse with a connecting backyard to three other townhouses. It was Saturday night and my housemates and I were watching a movie together and casually drinking (sipping on wine or a pint of beer kind of situation). Halfway through the movie, someone knocked on our balcony door that led to the backyard. Three police stood there and asked what we were doing because they got a report complaining of noise.

They could probably tell we weren’t the culprits of this complaint and left after giving us a ‘warning’. The next day, we heard that it was a police report made by someone from a different townhouse, on their own housemate. The person who reported didn’t come to the doorbell when the police came and somehow, they found their way to the backyard and saw us gathering in our living room.

Why didn’t that person want to talk to the police? We shall never know. But my housemates were quite frightened at the sight of three police casually standing on our balcony. We were terrified they were people pretending to be police. Thankfully they weren’t.

Violet*, 32, she/her

The worst was when I lived in a private rental where our landlord had an emotional connection to the house… she’d overstep boundaries by rocking up unannounced and even threatened to convert the front bedroom into an office for her psychology practice.

Not only did we have this unhinged landlord, but also a male housemate who seemed ‘chill’ at first… [turns out] he’d refuse to clean the common areas, was a raging homophobe and misogynist and verbally and sexually assaulted my female housemate.

One night my housemate and I were so afraid of him (he had come home drunk and full of rage) that we locked ourselves in her room until he went to bed. After convincing him to leave, he finally moved out but after he had moved his stuff he tried to hang around to “make amends”. I was so furious I ended up physically removing him myself (that felt good).

Blair*, 32, she/her

I was living in a private rental owned by a friend and their family, who had veto power over the incoming tenant. When he moved in, Paul* seemed okay. But things escalated quickly. He consumed all my alcohol, non-prescription medication and eventually prescription medication. Then he started hearing messages and visions from the Queen.

He crashed his car into our shared driveway fence and started posting on Instagram using only Wingdings font. Paul was super troubled and needed mental health support but as a young, single female, I didn’t feel comfortable approaching him. I ended up moving out (at a significant cost) and fracturing my relationship with my friend and their family.

E27, they/she

I lived in a sharehouse with my partner. The girl living there was trying to get all new housemates after the last two left (red flag). It turns out she had been horrifically bullying them and they ended up leaving. We found out because she immediately started doing it to us and the other new girl after we had signed the lease. I had enough of her torment pretty quickly… my partner and I moved into our own apartment and never did share houses again.

Sienna, she/her

My housemate’s boyfriend lived overseas and decided to surprise her with a visit, and move in! Over the following weeks, he would eat all of my food, drink my expensive bottles of alcohol, hide beer bottle caps in my indoor plants, spray paint patches of the grass in the backyard and move my furniture into the back shed… he was downright crazy!

Billy*, 23, they/them

My housemate hid their dirty dishes above the fridge and below the sink and left the oven on constantly. They also destroyed my personal belongings and refused to replace or pay me for the damage.

Mischa*, 21, she/her

I had to do a Sydney/Eora stint for work (I’m from Melbourne/Naarm). I could not afford the rent in the city (why is it $500 for a room? So rude). I searched everywhere for a sharehouse and eventually found something on Facebook Marketplace. That should’ve been my first red flag. So I facetimed the fella who was organising it and he did a virtual house tour.

I was so desperate that I… [said yes] because I would be paying $200 a week! I swear, on the Facetime tour the house looked neat and tidy… no. There was a stench. You could see the difference in the air quality when you opened the front door. And then there were these gigantic piles of dust all over the ground. I’m talking about the size of a large man’s head. Then I went into my room and that thing was nasty.

Anyway, I lived there for three months. I never walked around barefoot and bought a mini fridge so I never had to step foot in the kitchen… So yeah, don’t rent off Facebook Marketplace, even if it’s cheap.

Ashley*, 44, she/her

I had a housemate in Carlton when I was 20 (late ’90s). He was a DJ and at first, seemed really cool. It didn’t take long to notice his very odd behaviour… [I realised] he had lied compulsively about his connections in the music industry… He stopped paying his share of rent and bills and when we got our huge phone bill, there were hundreds of one to six-second phone calls every single day to the same number. We called the number to find out it was his mum!

Quinn*, 25, she/her

My housemate adopted two kittens who were not well litter trained and put the litter in the living areas. The whole house constantly smelled like actual shit!

Willa*, 24, she/her

My story is insane. I live with my boyfriend and his friend – once, on a drunken night, I told my housemate that I couldn’t picture him sexually. Since then, he’s taken every avenue to make sure that I’ve seen him sexually. I’m talking masturbating with the door open so I can see, having sex with the door open, leaving used condoms in the bathroom sink, shaving his pubes and leaving them in clumps around the bathroom. He lies about things my boyfriend has done to meddle in our relationship.

When I had COVID, he blew the toilet up with a massive diarrhea shit and didn’t flush, leaving me to clean it up. The worst part? You’d think it would be the semen-filled condom in the sink, but alas, no. It’s his body odour. The guy loves hot yoga, but can’t wear deodorant to save his life. If he’s doing yoga downstairs, I can smell his pits in my room. Foul.

Paige*, she/her

I was freshly 18 and moved to the ‘big city’ to live with my (ex) boyfriend in a sharehouse. Like any young female, I had an emotional support cat that was literally bonded to me… It was us and one other couple. The girlfriend in the other couple really badly wanted a cat but her boyfriend said no (for good reason), [and] he used me having a cat as an excuse.

She poisoned (and killed) my cat so that she could get one instead. It’s fair to say I moved out quickly… my ex didn’t understand why I didn’t want anything to do with them anymore.

August*, she/her

I was asked to leave my last apartment as the girl I was living with felt claustrophobic with me being there. Mind you… I would spend Friday to Sunday morning at my partner’s place. She’d tell me off for cooking (she’d get Uber Eats all the time) because she didn’t like the smell. I couldn’t put things around the home or they’d be moved elsewhere.

If I didn’t take my washing out of the washing machine as soon as it stopped, she’d take it out. Honestly, it felt so incredibly controlling and not at all like my own space… it gives me the ick just thinking about it. I’m now in a beautiful home where I can cook and hang around the house. Happy days.

*Names have been changed.

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