Woman Refuses to Keep Utility Bill in Her Name After Moving Out From ‘Dirty’ Roommates

To avoid paying a $230 security deposit, two roommates asked a 25-year-old to keep a utility account in her name indefinitely after she moved out. The thread on r/AmIOverreacting questioned if she was overreacting by declining.

The Redditor had spent nearly a year sharing an apartment with two younger roommates, both under 20. She described the living situation as ‘hell.’ She alleged the roommates were dirty, disrespectful, and consistently dismissed repeated requests about household responsibilities.

She said that she will continue to pay rent and energy bills until the end of her lease in July, even though she intends to stay with her parents until her new apartment is ready.

Her former roommate transferred the utility account into her name when she moved out, so it has been in her name ever since. If the account were to be transferred to one of the remaining roommates, a $230 deposit would need to be paid. Three workarounds were suggested by her housemates, none of which required the roommates to pay upfront.

Option one: she keeps the account in her name after leaving, indefinitely. Option two: she pays the $230 deposit herself as the outgoing party, which is not how account transfers work, since the new holder must call in with their own information.

The third option was for her to cancel the account, which would result in a $50 fine that would be divided among the three of them. The remaining roommates would then open a new account and pay the deposit anyway.

Responding to the cancellation idea, one commenter pointed out the obvious flaw. "The deposit won't go away just because it's cancelled, they'll just have to pay two fees," they wrote.

Another commenter suspected the root cause. "They likely have sh*t credit and are going to have to pay a huge deposit," they wrote, noting that poor credit history can push energy deposits past $500.

A third commenter wrote: "The girl WANTS it to be OP's fault so she can later victimize herself AND not pay so much upfront."

The original poster revised the post later on. Since her new apartment uses the same utility provider, she would have suffered a loss if the account had been closed.

Keeping it active and transferring it when she moves means the account follows her to the new address. Her roommates will have to open a fresh account and pay the deposit regardless.

She also updated prior statements that implied she and a third, unproblematic roommate intended to cease paying the energy bill before July.

Her actual position: both would keep paying through the lease, they just would not be physically present.

She retains ownership of the account, while her roommates continue to be responsible for the money.