UPDATE: My [22F] roommate [21F] is trying to sublease her room to someone I have a restraining order against. Please help!

A Redditor (22F) shares an update on the tense situation with her roommate (21F), Shelly, who attempted to sublease her room to someone with whom the Redditor has a restraining order.

The saga involved police intervention, an unexpected confrontation, and some shocking revelations about Shelly’s disregard for the restraining order. While the Redditor navigates this troubling ordeal, she finds solace in her separate lease, which means she won’t be liable for Shelly’s actions. Keep reading for the full story.

‘ UPDATE: My [22F] roommate [21F] is trying to sublease her room to someone I have a restraining order against. Please help!’

Hi everyone! Thanks for reading this update! I have added some extra details at the beginning to better explain what happened. Things took some M. Night Shyamalan twists.. **Details**

Shelly and I were not close friends. We were simply roommates with our own separate bedrooms and a connecting kitchen/living space. I have only known her since last December when we originally signed our leases. We have hung out, but the only real connection we had is that she likes anime/Japan and I am Asian.

The CraigsList ad that Shelly posted didn’t have a photo. It turns out that she had used a generic photo of the two of us in an ad on our college’s FaceBook page, but Shelly took it down before I got a chance to take a screenshot.. —.

**Actual Update** After I made my Reddit post, Shelly was locked in her room for three hours. I tried to talk to her, but she wouldn’t come out of the room. She left her room to get food, and just walked past me as if I didn’t exist.

Everyone who I called told me that until Pete actually showed up, no crime was being commited so I couldn’t report it until then. I just sat by the door and window watching for Pete’s car. This continued until early Saturday morning when Shelly woke up for her morning jog. I was still on lookout for Pete’s car (I stayed up all night on the couch).

Shelly tried to sneak out past me, but I woke up and blocked the door. I needed an explanation for why I was being forced to stay up all night waiting to call the police on Pete when she knew that I had a restraining order against him.

Shelly’s explanation was that the restraining order doesn’t matter to her, that she has dealt with ‘unreasonable people’ like me before, and that she has never listened to any restraining order before now, so why should she just for me? The more I listened, the sicker I felt. *Shelly basically admitted to me that she is a cunt.*

I told Shelly that she was a real piece of work and that I was going to maintain my watch for Pete and that I would contemplate taking legal action. She told me that whether I liked it or not, she was done looking for subletters and that it was my problem. I told her to get out and go for her jog and she left and came back a bit later and locked herself in her room again.

Sometime around noon, I had accidentally fallen asleep becaue I had been awake 36+ hours at that point. I woke up and saw Pete helping Shelly move her stuff into her car. I didn’t see him in the apartment, but he was helping her in the parking lot. I immediately locked them both out and called the police.

Shelly and Pete came to the door again and when Pete saw it was locked and when he saw me watching from the window, he blew up at Shelly. He started to ask her why I was in the apartment and why Shelly didn’t tell him that I was the roommate.

He demanded his money back and I could hear them screaming at each other through the door. The cops showed up, handcuffed Pete and Shelly. I told them my story and Pete said he had text messages and emails to back himself up.

The cops checked his phone, saw texts from Shelly saying along the lines that her roommate wouldn’t care about x,y,z because *he* was a chill *guy*. Pete had posted his own ad looking for a male roommate. That’s right, Shelly is a liar too.

The cops released Pete because he had proof that he didn’t know it was me (I’m okay with this because I saw the emails/texts too). Shelly was charged with disorderly conduct and her mom came to get her.

Sunday evening, Shelly and her Mom come back to the apartment to finish packing for her study abroad. Shelly made some snide remarks about me ‘definitely going roommate hunting’ to find her a subletter as I said I would. I ignored her. Shelly left for her plane this morning.

You know the good thing about separate leases? I am only liable for my rent, not hers. So I’m going to sit on my b**t for the rest of the summer while she gets evicted for lack of rent payment. :). —

**tl;dr:** Pete had no clue it was me, Shelly got arrested. She thinks I’ll find a subletter, but I’m going to let her get evicted.

Here’s the comments of Reddit users:

montaron87td −  Seems Shelly got what she deserved and I’m glad Pete didn’t end up wrongfully charged with anything over this. Seems like the best outcome of a s**tty situation.

bexie889 −  I’ve been worried about you all weekend!. Glad to hear it worked out! 🙂

mashuto −  Sounds like a crappy situation all around, but it also sounds like Pete didn’t know, and now that he does, will not be back to bother you. Since you are on separate leases, you should hopefully not have anything to worry about legally or financially.

Let Shelly deal with those issues herself, she brought them on herself. A quick question, if she does fail to pay, could you in any way get kicked out? Or are you pretty much in the clear? Either way, good luck, your roomate is immature and deserves the consequences of whatever happens to her in this situation.

colakoala200 −  You know the good thing about separate leases? I am only liable for my rent, not hers. So I’m going to sit on my b**t for the rest of the summer while she gets evicted for lack of rent payment. :). Wow, you’re lucky you’ve got that.

Still I figure this means your landlord can move in a new roommate once it’s clear Shelly has moved out and isn’t paying anymore. Not your problem to find someone but you might have to accept who your landlord finds.

I’m kinda hoping Shelly gets sued by all three of you: by Pete for defrauding her for the lease money, by your landlord for not paying rent, and by you for harassment. I simply cannot believe that she just happened to defraud the one person in the whole world you have a restraining order against into almost moving into your apartment, other than to intentionally cause you emotional distress. Still, it’s probably not worth your time to sue her.

hyperbolic_pancakes −  I mean, what did she think was gonna happen..? On top of the shameless assholery, Shelly sounds like she’s missing a few marbles.

itsnotgoingtohappen −  I’ve been waiting for this update for days. Not disappointed at all. Yes, roommate is a cunt, and I wish you could charge her with more than disorderly conduct – she put you at very serious risk!! I mean, how does she think she was going to get away with all of the crap she was pulling, even with Pete? It’s a small comfort that he was surprised and unhappy with the situation.

Now the problem of you not looking for a subletter – is there anything in writing stating that you would? Are you in a state that enforces verbal contracts? Can she come back at you and sue for damages? Make sure to cover your ass with both hands there.

Even if a verbal contract can be enforced, you can argue that it was conditional – you’d seek someone else on the condition that she cancel her agreement with Paul AND is unable to find someone else before her departure.

I wonder if Paul could have her charged with fraud, too? She knowingly took his money for a place where he was legally forbidden to live. If she didn’t return his money, theft on top of that (grand theft depending on the amount). Whatever the outcome, I’m glad you’re safe. Thank you for the update.

Noellani −  “…and that she has never listened to any restraining order before now, so why should she just for me?” Um what now? So has she had a restraining order before and didn’t listen? Or have other people had restraining orders against others and she didn’t care (like in your situation)??? What does that even mean? This chick is crazy.

I’m glad it all worked out. From the first post I thought the dude was still trying to stalk you (because the pic was supposedly you two) but I’m glad to know that’s not the case. Dude could’ve gotten into a lot more trouble.

piphyt −  Please take pictures of your room and the common areas when you move out. Hell, go take pictures today, now that Shelly has left, and take pictures again when you move out. I’d bring the landlord over and have them inspect things, but I’m paranoid. I can picture Shelly coming back and sabotaging a lot of things and trying to pin it on you.

terriblehashtags −  I have a really weird reaction to this update.

1. My opinion of Pete is higher because he didn’t know it was you. At least he’s that much less of a creeper than we thought, which is always good.

2. Shelly is a massive…cunt. Yep, I’ll go that far. She was deliberately trying to scam BOTH of you, even knowing about the potential legal repercussions. (2a. Can you possibly talk to the university about possible punishments because of her behavior? Surely she’s broken all kinds of university-student ethics codes from this stunt.)

3. I wish I could see the look on her face when she realizes she’s been evicted for not paying her part of the rent. Good on you for getting on a separate lease than having a shared one! I’m so glad it worked out for you in the end. Great update! I feel like I should’ve been munching popcorn for this episode of Karmic Vengeance.

[Reddit User] −  Woohoo! F**k you, Shelly!

The complexities of living with roommates can sometimes lead to unexpected and unsettling situations. While this Redditor’s experience was fraught with tension and conflict, the outcome was ultimately in her favor. How would you handle such a delicate and emotionally charged situation with a roommate? Should she have taken further legal action against Shelly, or was letting her face the consequences the right call? Share your thoughts in the comments.