Hello everybody.
I'm in a bit of a dilemma with my current roommate and need some insight.
So I (21M) am sharing a house with one of my friends Chris (also 21M). It's a 2 bedroom house and we've been living here for 2 years. I intend to do a PhD so want to continue living down here. We live in London and this house was a steal to rent with good transport lines to central London as well as being in a good location just outside of the centre.
I would like to say that while we live together and get on amicably, we are not best friends. We both study the same course so thought it would be convenient to rent together. We have definitely grown closer throughout living together. Any issues with living together are swiftly brought up and fixed so this isn't the case of him hiding that he doesn't think we're compatible roommates and wants me to move out.
This is the issue: Chris had assumed I was wanting to leave after my Masters degree, not realising that I had plans for a PhD. I had mentioned this before but not in detail so it's possible it slipped his mind. Because of this, he has asked his girlfriend of 3 years to move into this house and has told me I have to leave so she can move in.
I told him that I'm still planning on doing a PhD and would need to live here at least while I look for a new place - given the housing crisis right now, I'm not sure how long that would take realistically. I also brought up that he should have talked to me about it first because it isn't my fault he assumed I was going to move out. I also have until May because he wants his girlfriend to move in as soon as possible, which is very stressful for me as I am going to have to house-hunt while I am studying for my exams.
Moving home is also not an option for me since my parents have no room in their house (its a 2 bed which is occupied by them and my younger siblings) and they don't live in a major city so PhD prospects would be dire and job prospects (assuming I don't secure a PhD) would be harsh.
I basically refused to what he was asking of me because I asked him why he couldn't move in with his girlfriend (she is living with her girl friend in the city, even closer to the centre than we do) and his reasoning was that his girlfriend's flatmate didn't want to move and they don't have enough time to house-hunt in the current market which is essentially my current situation too.
I would be happy to move if I had more time or if we had discussed it more than 2 months ahead of time but Chris just sprung this on me and assumed I would be happy with it. His girlfriend is also pressuring me. Whenever she comes over, she talks about how to rearrange the house which is grating on me on top of everything. AITA?
