EXCLUSIVEJust like Gogglebox's Daniel Lustig, we lived with our exes - but NEVER again: People share why they didn't move out straight away and the nightmare ordeals that ensued

Stephen and Daniel are still close and run two hair salons together - while Stephen is appearing on Celebs Go Dating, Daniel said he isn't quite ready to meet someone else but he is getting there 

'It caused a lot more harm than good for me'

Hannah* had been living with a partner for months when he broke up with her.

Hannah said: 'An ex partner of mine came home unexpectedly on his lunch break one day and within minutes he broke up with me and left. We had been living together for months, so I was blindsided. 

'I had quit my job a month prior (with his blessing) and was freelancing while I looked for a new role, so in that moment I realised that I didn't have the means to find my own place to live and move out. 

'Luckily the breakup didn't happen because of any animosity or big issues, so my ex was fine with my living there until I was ready to move out.

'Although it was uncomfortable for the first few nights, continuing to live together became routine and it almost felt like we were continuing our relationship. 

'We would go on dates, we continued to be physically intimate, and we would run errands and do the usual household chores together. 

'This routine was almost comforting to me while I grieved about the relationship and I couldn't complain about the financial safety net it provided while I made plans to move out. 

'The main problem arose when I realised he was sleeping with other people. This led to a lot of resentment and pain on my end, because I felt like it was a slap in the face considering that we shared the same bed every night and that he knew I was stuck in that situation.

'The first few weeks of living with my ex were fun and felt like a slower transition out of the relationship, which I thought would be helpful for me, but in the end that period of time caused a lot more harm than good for me. 

'I harboured anger toward him for the pain he caused and the fact that he strung me along even after breaking up with me himself. 

'While there were some good memories from that time period, I would never recommend for anyone to live with an ex after a breakup and I definitely don't foresee myself doing it again.'

'I couldn't carry on my new life while he was still there' 

Sarah* continued living with her ex-husband after the break down of their marriage because she had two young children at the time and nowhere else to go.

'When my marriage broke down I had to unfortunately carry on living with my soon to be ex husband. 

'I had to continue to live at the property as I had two young children at the time and had nowhere else I could go to. He would not move out, stating he had nowhere to go and it was his home. 

'The situation was very fraught as we also worked together, but I had to leave due to his behaviour in the workplace as well as at home.

'It was a very difficult situation to be in as he felt like he still had the right to know all of my whereabouts and movements and to control my life, even though we were no longer in the relationship. 

'I couldn't speak to friends on the phone about the situation as I was aware he would be listening, even if my bedroom door was shut, he would sit outside all night.

He came and went as he pleased, going on holiday etc but I was not able to carry on my new life while he was still there. I tried to keep the situation as normal as possible for the children so it wouldn't affect them too much.

I don't think I could ever be in the same position again as it took around a year for him to finally leave, and I was able to carry on with my life once again. 

'Unfortunately for me the situation included domestic violence, perhaps if he had been more amicable it would have been easier to let him stay there until he found another place.'

'It was nothing short of an incredibly awkward few months' 

Louise* had to continue living with her ex after parting ways during the last year of university.

'I spent the last few months of my third and final year at university living with my ex-boyfriend. After having doubts about our relationship for a while I decided to call it quits, despite having a semester left of the year. 

'While I have no doubt we could have got on amicably in the shared house of eight as he was a decent guy, I didn't help matters by almost immediately starting to date someone else. This obviously didn't go down well and weeks of tension and avoidance in the house ensued. 

'There was even an occasion I ran into a new girl he was dating in the living room as they tried to make a hasty exit from the house. 

'It was nothing short of an incredibly awkward few months, and I wouldn't recommend to a friend!'

'I think it made the whole process of moving on more difficult' 

Maria* lived with an ex during the final year of university.

Maria said: 'We were flatmates throughout uni but had lived with a few other people during the first two years. 

'When our final year started, we had been together for almost two years so we decided to get a two-bedroom flat to share for the year. 

'Our relationship ended about four months into living just the two of us and we ended on pretty good terms which actually made the whole situation more confusing and harder to get over. 

'We would still play games and watch TV together for about a month after the breakup and there was no clarity in terms of boundaries. We had no romantic relationship after the breakup but it sometimes felt like we were still in a relationship.

'I think it made the whole process of moving on more difficult as I was constantly seeing him and even the thought of having someone else over in the flat felt wrong. 

'It also made me uncomfortable when I would go on dates with people and they asked me where I lived. I found myself hiding the fact that my ex still lived with me as I felt like I'd be judged. 

'Thankfully, he would be in and out of the flat as he had work placement, and even though we ended on good terms and I had no regrets about the breakup, it was difficult having to see him every now and then when I was actively trying to get out and date again.'

'In the end, one of my best friends had to come and drag him out' 

Noah* dated his ex partner for just under a year, and they lived together for three months of that.

Noah said: 'We ended up breaking up but he had nowhere to go and unfortunately, I was left with the burden of him living with me.

'We lived together for over a month, and we were sharing the same bed. It was my house in London that we were living in, and he didn't have a job.

'Sometimes we would have tantrum sex, where we'd have sex just because we were sharing a bed. My house has other bedrooms which he could've slept in but he chose not to because he still wanted to sleep in my bed.

'We probably didn't play it the best, we probably could've handled the situation better.

'He started seeing other people which did not go well. I wanted to murder him. It was just a real kick in the teeth.

'He had been struggling at the time and I took him in and was being the best partner at the time, so it was a real kick in the teeth when he started seeing other people, while he was living in my house.

'You'd have thought that he'd have at least waited or pretended to wait a bit of time.

'The break-up was mutual, it just wasn't working and we found out it wasn't working when we decided to start live together because we were constantly on top of each other.

'It didn't work because I work from home and I was on Zoom calls and he was just lounging round the house which would frustrate me.

'He never did anything round the house, it was like living with a nightmare. I was thinking 'shouldn't you be helping out, you're living in my house?'

'There was little things like changing a light bulb that I didn't know how to do but he did and he would never bother to help.

'In the end, one of my best friends had to come and drag him out. At that point, I just said, 'this isn't my problem, I've been as accommodating and nice as I can, it's your time to go'.' We left thing on awful terms. He was young, immature and sponging off me. It was a nightmare.'

'The relationship between me and my ex began to deteriorate after I started bringing my new girlfriend to the house' 

David* was in his second year of university when he ended up living with a former partner for almost a year.

He and his former girlfriend had been dating for a few months before the long university summer arrived. The two were due to move into a house together with five others.

David said: 'I had been dating a girl for about six months when I was in my second year of university. We were due to live together in student house in Sheffield with five other people.

'Over the summer before we moved in, me and my ex drifted apart, and I ended up speaking to someone else. Before we moved into the new place, I ended up calling this off with my ex and we agreed to be friends for the sake of the next year living together.

'Young love has its hiccups and I felt like we weren't really talking or seeing each other. I ended up getting into a new relationship with the girl I'd been speaking to over summer which didn't go so well in the house.

'I also had my doubt over how faithful my ex had really been. There was one day she got back from a night out with loads of hickeys so I'd also lost my trust in her.

'The relationship between me and my ex began to deteriorate after I started bringing my new girlfriend to the house. They both felt awkward and didn't want to be around each other. My ex felt like I was rubbing it in her face.

'She then ended up getting her own boyfriend and everything started to feel like a battle. We could both hear everything through the thin walls which was not ideal.

'As the year went on, things turned to chaos and the house was a tip. The house had sided into two and we were constantly doing things to annoy each other, it felt funny at the time but was pretty awful.

'In the end, we never spoke to each other again, it was unsolvable'

'It just felt like we were stuck in a weird limbo. We were just friends but sharing a bed'

Becky* broke up with her boyfriend of almost three years but they stayed living together for two months after that.

'I was already having doubts about my relationship around Christmas last year but, when I spoke to my friends about it, I said that I'd probably be able to stick out the relationship until our tenancy ended in October 2024.

'It got to the end of January/early February, and I realised that I actually wasn't sure if I could be with him anymore.

'We had met at university during the Covid pandemic and I think I just outgrew him. We had both changed a lot and we're very different people.

'I was more extroverted, he's more introverted, and our lifestyles since moving to London were quite different. I just think I wanted to do a bit more with my life and get out a bit more without feeling as though I was being held back.

'Our living situation was quite unique in that we were living with a friend as well who, before I broke up with my ex, had already said she wanted to move out because she had bought a house.

'It became really difficult because the way the contract was done, we didn't have a break clause.

'We had been under the impression that we could all move out at different points – and our flatmate needed to move out in May – but the property manager said one of us had to stay in the flat until the end of the tenancy, mainly for the sake of paperwork and in case there was any damage to the property.

'It got to point where we were considering doing an early surrender on the tenancy – paying a small fee to end the contract early – but, by the time we got heard back from the letting agent, it was going to be £725 each to do that, which made it impossible.

'We were also told that once the place had been put back on the market, if they didn't get the rent that we had been paying, we would have to pay the shortfall for until October.

'By that time, I was thinking 'I'm not with my ex anymore, I really would like to get out the flat.'

'I spoke to my ex and we came to an agreement and we relised that neither of us would be able to move out in May given our schedules. Neither of us had time to look for other flats at that point.

'We came to an agreement where he said that he would stay until the end of the tenancy agreement because that made more sense for him and I would look to move.

'I did move out in early June but for the two months prior it was all just quite messy to be honest.

'We we were sharing a room and if you're doing that it's hard to detach. We weren't together as a couple, but the dynamic hadn't changed really. We would still occasionally watch TV and he would cook for us both.

'I think he was also living in denial and thought maybe by being around each other he could win me back.

'I was hoping I would get a bit more separation from him after breaking up but it just felt like we were stuck in a weird limbo. We were just friends but also sharing a bed.

'Dating other people wasn't really on the cards. I didn't want to download any apps while I was still living with him because I thought it would be a bit unfair.

'He kept trying to ask me who I was messaging all the time even though none of the messages were to guys I might be interested.

'I think because I'd been debating braking up for so long and had felt trapped, I was already ready to be going out and doing my own thing.

'But, with him living in the house with me, I couldn't exactly be on the phone to my friends talking about a guy I had met. I didn't want to risk him over-hearing and getting upset.

'When we finally got everything sorted, I couldn't wait to move out. I had to downplay the excitement.

'I suggested we cut contact – more for his sake than mine – and since I've been in the new place, we haven't been in touch.

'Having that cut off and being free to do my own thing feels great.'

*names have been changed