Woman urged to end friendship after pal's illegal act while housesitting for her

A woman has been left gobsmacked after returning from holiday to find that her friend who had been housesitting took things too far in her absence - and many have urged her to cut ties with the pal

There has to be a certain level of trust involved when letting someone into your home. One woman had no issues letting her friend and their partner come and stay in her property for three weeks to house-sit and feed the cat while she was on holiday, but since returning, she's regretting her decision.

The unnamed woman, who lives in a three-bedroom house, came back from her trip to find that her friend had 'taken advantage' of her home and even acted illegally while staying there. She's since turned to the internet for some much-needed advice on how to proceed with the friendship and whether she's right to be annoyed.

Taking to Mumsnet, she revealed that she'd never had any problems with her friend staying over before, but this time she realised that the other woman had been using her car - without a driving licence and without being insured on it. Moreover, she'd used up all of the bath bombs she'd been given as a birthday gift, had people over for a get-together, and didn't empty the bins, leaving them to overflow.

She wrote: "I recently went away for a few weeks and a friend of mine and her partner stayed at the house to give my cat his daily medication he needs. Friend always likes to stay over as she lives in a small single-bed flat with her partner and I live in a 3-bed house with garden so she says it's like staying in a nice Airbnb for a while.

"While it's a nice favour that she looks after the cat, I returned to find that my car keys weren't where I left them. I asked her about this and she said she used the car for a friend to give her some driving lessons in. This was never discussed and I also found the tank to be almost empty considering I left it with half a tank.

"I also found out from another friend that she hosted small get-together a with friends. Though nothing was broken or got out of hand, I can't help feel that it's taking the p**s a little. All my bath bombs I got in a set for my birthday were used and she had also forgot to take the recycling out for three weeks and the bin was overflowing, resulting in an awful smell when we came home. Should I say something? Or do I just ask someone else next time and not mention it? Or am I just being fussy and should I just be thankful for the help."

More than 200 people replied to the post, with some urging the woman to end the friendship and others pointing out the friend's behaviour was 'illegal'. One person said: "Is she insured on your car? Is the learner driver insured? If they weren't then she was driving uninsured - isn't that a criminal offense. The other stuff is cheeky f***ery but it appears you know she has form but taking your car to give someone driving lessons is taking it to another level."

Another proclaimed: "That is insane to treat your friend's house that way. I'd let her have it then cut her off." While a third replied: "If someone had been injured when she took your car this could have cost hundreds of thousands of pounds in compensation, potentially even millions. As she is a learner the possibility of an accident was relatively high. Your friend is utterly irresponsible and untrustworthy and has also broken the law. The other stuff is bad but taking the car is next level. I couldn't trust her to house-sit again as she is a liability."

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