Definition: Given a real-life anecdote of a complex ethical situation, generate a suitable title that describes the main event/root cause of the situation. Imagine that the given text is a social media post, and you have to write the title of the post, so the users can decide to read the main text or not.
Input: I’ll try my best to keep this nice &amp; short- but I need honestly here it has been absolutely deceiving me nuts the past two weeks

There’s 4 of us, we live in an off campus apartment complex. It’s not the nicest place ever but it’s a step up from the dorms so that’s nice- plus it’s all students. We all “rent by the room” and share the common areas, meaning we have individual leases. (Which is important later)

I originally rented as a student going to university- but right before the semester started I had a family financial crisis where I was then put in a situation where I was now financially responsible for my own expenses (car loan, student loan payments, rent, utilities, gas, groceries) so I did what I had to do and dropped out of college to support all this in the meantime. Took on two jobs initially for about 3-4 months of living there. 

When this was all going down I had let them know about it all- “this is why I am no longer a student. This is why I have 2 jobs, the rent here is a bit expensive and since I’m no longer a student I’ll be looking to move out” they knew all of this months before I moved out. 

About a month ago I moved out officially, payed a hefty fee with the apartment complex to vacate the place (it was in between semesters, and it’s not really a desirable place to live in so needless to say I couldn’t find anyone to sublet my lease, which is ok. Not upset about that)
Luckily I was able to find a better job with better pay- I can afford the rent of both places comfortably but it’s not like I’m swimming in money or anything. I’m still a 20 year old  here. 
But I no longer have the keys to the place, the complex knows I’ve vacated (since I had to pay nearly $500 to do so) and I haven’t stepped a foot in since. But since I still have my lease I still pay for the room- which is OK. that’s my consequence to this situation. I understand that

About 2 weeks ago I started getting bombarded with texts from the 2 roommates there who handle the utilities. They sent me Venmo requests for the utilities. I initially thought this was a mistake so in our group chat I simply said “hi I no longer live here and no longer use utilities” and man did I get a shit storm response coming my way. Something about how “I agreed verbally to pay, and that they still need to heat the vacant room” ??? I don’t think I need to pay the gas AND electricity bill to heat my room- that’s $20+ of THEIR living expenses- not mine! I understand the heat the room situation though- the apartment complex advised me to close the vent in the room so I did. No heat goes into it, it’s not even close to the thermostat.

I texted the one roommate who handles the electric bill that I’m not paying $20 for the logic that is to “heat my room”. Since the gas &amp; electric bill covers more than that. (Lights, electronics, computers, hot showers, washer and dryer, cooking on the stove) that’s just not the correct math. But I’ll pay the $4 to “heat my room” she never responded. 

Yesterday the gas bill came and same thing, I denied the Venmo and a shit storm of texts came through...about how they “have to pay for the heat in MY room” and how I’m being “childish for not texting them” even though I did. They never responded to me. 

I’m at my wits end here. I’m starting to feel like the crazy one here but everyone I’ve spoken to on this just can’t believe  that they’re trying to make someone who doesn’t live there still pay utilities. 

Am I the asshole here?

My thought process here:
1) payed a fee to vacate the apartment 
2) I still pay the $600 rent there
3) I have my OWN living expenses! Why should I pay theirs now?
4) I don’t even have a key to the place anymore 
5) the one heat vent is closed in the room
6) their parents pay for their rent/utilities..this comes out of my pocket. Me not paying the 1/4 of the utilities means $3-$4 gets added to their bill- that’s not a whole lot

TL;DR: am I an asshole for no longer paying utilities in an apartment I no longer live in?



refusing to pay utilities