In a viral Reddit post, which can be seen here, user Miserable-Hat-6390 explained that, for some time, they had rented out a bedroom in their house to a woman for $700 a month.

Finding their job intolerable, the poster quit and rented out a second room in the house to help pay the mortgage while they looked for work. This didn’t go down well with the original roommate, who didn’t want to share the bathroom.

Robert Edwards, a strategic real estate adviser at Real Estate Bees, told Newsweek “only those with thick skin survive being a landlord” before adding the company had “observed an uptick in anti-landlord sentiment.”

According to real estate firm Ruby Home, as of 2022 nearly 44 million housing units were rented, making up an estimated 34 percent of U.S. households.

In 2021, Ruby Home said that the number of renters was 114.4 million or 35 percent of the U.S. population that year.

The Reddit user continued: “Anyway, my mortgage is $1,500 a month, so right now I’m paying about $100 month plus the rent from both girls and living off of my savings while I look for a job. My roommate noticed I’m not going into work anymore.

“I told her I left that job and [I] am looking for a new one. She said ‘so now you’re a professional homeowner, basically?’ I disagreed with that assessment. She said I’m leeching off of her and the other girl because I don’t want to work.

“I do want to work. It’s just I need to find a new job, and since people need cheap places to stay, renting out these rooms allows me to keep paying my mortgage while I look.

“My roommate says I’m taking advantage of her, but she chose to move in here. I don’t consider myself to be a leech, but she thinks I’m a selfish a******.”

Edwards said the situation was not ideal and that being a roommate as well as a landlord could cause significant problems.

He added: “On a long enough timeline, nearly everyone has a falling out with a roommate. Doubling as a roommate and landlord doesn’t bode well, with double the odds stacked against you.

“I’m curious in this case how long the first roommate had resided under the original two-person arrangement. I can see how they could quickly resent a rather drastic alteration in their living situation, especially since this wasn’t part of the original agreement.”

Edwards added: “Legal considerations, is there a lease term beyond month to month with the roommate? If so this is a significant rule change and very much violates the spirit of their agreement.

“The landlord should give at least 30 days’ notice of this change to her roommate, before bringing in a new third roommate, if they are on a month-to-month agreement.

“In the end, I see why the roommate finds a drastic change in their arrangement irksome, but when it comes down to it, the homeowner has chosen to be a landlord, landlording is a business, not a charity.

“The roommate is free to move out if they don’t like the arrangement, which is why the landlord should give 30 days notice of the change in arrangement provided they are in a month-to-month agreement.”

Since being shared online on October 29, the post managed to amass more than 8,800 upvotes.

While Edwards was somewhat critical of the situation, many online hit out at the roommate with some even calling for her to be evicted.

Reddit user bhartman36_2020, whose comment was upvoted more than 18,100 times, said: “NTA (not the **). A ‘professional homeowner is called a landlord. If you can get people to live in your house and pay your mortgage while you get another job, there’s no shame in that. They’re living in your house that you bought.”

Commenter whatisthis435879 posted: “I would honestly evict her. ‘I didn’t want to “take advantage” of you anymore, so you can go live with someone that won’t.’”

Newsweek has contacted Miserable-Hat-6390 for comment.