Strangers Picked a Side in 7 Houseguest and Roommate Fights. Ohioans, Do You Agree?

A relative asks to move in with you.

Many Ohioans have gotten that request, and many know it can turn into a houseguest or roommate fight.

Some of those fights land on Reddit’s popular AITA forum, where people ask strangers to judge whether they were in the wrong.

Make your call on each story below, then flip the cards near the end to see whether you agree with Reddit.

Note: This is general information, not legal advice. Housing rules are subject to change.

1. Houseguests and a Missing Piano

A 32-year-old widow says her brother and his wife stayed with her for two months after losing their apartment, according to this Reddit post that Newsweek covered.

She says she has played the piano every day since her husband died about six months before she posted.

Her brother and his wife kept complaining about the playing, though she plays only during the day.

They asked her to play only when they were out.

She refused.

While she was out, her brother moved the piano to a friend’s garage, she says.

The couple left, but her brother said he’d return the piano only if she let them move back in.

She told them they had two days to bring it back, or she’d call the police.

She says her mother was pressing her to take the couple back.

Newsweek says it couldn’t verify the details.

If you were in her position, would you have given the couple the same two days?

2. Invitation to His Parents

In a Reddit post that YourTango covered, a man says he invited his parents to live with him in his house.

According to the post, he and his girlfriend, both 34, lived together in his house and had been together somewhere between five and seven months.

They had begun discussing marriage.

His parents agreed when he suggested they move closer.

In his telling, the girlfriend objected, saying the idea left her deeply uncomfortable.

She suggested a senior living center for his parents, he says.

He stood firm, saying it was his house to decide about and that leaving aging parents behind went against his values.

You may side with his wish to look after his parents or with her discomfort, and you may see merit in both.

3. Two Visitors and a Keypad Code

A keypad code sits at the center of this Reddit post, which the Daily Dot covered.

The 29-year-old poster says work takes her away about two weeks a month.

She says she gave her sister, 24, the code so she could water plants and collect mail.

After a Thursday-night flight, she reached the apartment around 11 p.m.

Her sister said the pair had been staying there most weekends, according to the post.

The poster says she told them to leave right away and refused to let them stay until morning.

She’d been traveling since 6 a.m. and wanted to sleep in her bed with clean sheets, the Daily Dot says.

They left by 11:30 p.m.

She changed the keypad code the next morning.

Her sister accused her of humiliating her in front of the boyfriend and, as of the post, hadn’t answered her messages since.

The Daily Dot couldn’t independently verify the events.

If you were the poster, would you have let them stay until morning?

4. Mother-in-Law Staying Through a Renovation

Newsweek covered this Reddit post from a woman who says her husband’s mother moved in with the couple while the mother-in-law’s house was being renovated.

She says she’s on her feet at work from 6 a.m.

The couple gave her mother-in-law a guest room.

She says her mother-in-law took a nap in the couple’s bed one day and has kept napping there, hoping to make it a daily routine.

She told her husband no and refused to negotiate.

Her husband said she was making his mother feel uncomfortable and unwelcome, she says.

He wouldn’t speak to her until she gave in.

You’d have to decide whether her husband’s refusal to speak should change your answer.

5. Roommate Behind a Closed Door

A graduate student in her 30s says she’s sharing a place with a roommate for the first time, according to a Reddit post that In The Know covered.

She says the roommate, 19, keeps her door closed even on weekends.

She says classes keep her away eight to 10 hours a day, and she even spent a Sunday at the library instead of studying at home.

Her question for Reddit is whether she’d be wrong to ask the roommate for some time alone in the apartment.

If you shared that apartment, would you speak up, or would you wait it out?

6. Three Requests for a Summer Guest

A stepfather says his 20-year-old stepson came home from college and asked to host his girlfriend as a summer houseguest, Fox News Digital reported.

The girlfriend was having a hard time at home.

With her there, he says, four adults and two kids would share the house, and his wife struggles to say no to her son.

Then the young couple made three requests.

One was that he drink only in private, away from the kids.

Another was for the girlfriend, who’s vegan, to shop and plan vegan meals for everyone.

The last was that he take his hunting mounts off the walls until school starts again in about six weeks.

He declined all three.

He offered to let her cook a few vegan meals, and he says he’ll cook separate meals for himself if he has to.

If a guest asked you to change how your household eats, drinks and decorates, you’d have to decide how much to bend.

7. Son’s First Home

After living with his parents for most of his life, a 34-year-old says, he had recently bought his first home, as Newsweek reported on his Reddit post.

He says his parents, who are in their late 60s, asked to move in to downsize and save money.

Extended family members told him he should take them in out of respect for his parents, according to the post.

He told his parents no, explaining that it wasn’t personal and that he wanted a space that was finally his.

Instead, he offered to help with rent or to help them find a nicer place.

The conflict left him questioning whether he was being selfish.

Newsweek says it couldn’t verify the details of the case.

If your parents asked to move into the first home you had bought, what would you tell them?

When a Stay Becomes a Rental

Reddit’s verdicts settle nothing legally, but Ohio’s landlord-tenant law can matter once a houseguest stays on.

The legal question for you is whether the stay has turned into a rental.

If you’re weighing a move-in, ask a local attorney how your arrangement would be treated before you say yes.

Ending a Stay in Ohio

Ending a houseguest’s stay gets more complicated once that person counts as a tenant.

If you’re unsure whether a relative counts as a tenant, ask an Ohio attorney or a legal aid office before you change a lock.

Ohio’s landlord-tenant law bars a landlord from forcing a tenant out by locking the door or cutting off utilities.

A landlord who does it can owe the tenant damages plus attorney fees.