Mary Killen Mary Killen

Dear Mary | 23 August 2018

issue 25 August 2018

Q. I live in a houseshare with two other people; one of whom I am very fond of and the other, not so much. She lies and cheats and is a terrible friend. She is a social climber extraordinaire who has abandoned her real friends. My other housemate is of the same opinion. The lease is coming up for renewal. We don’t want to move, so how do we get her out? She will not take this lying down.
— Name and address withheld

A. A calm three-step procedure will be necessary. Enlist the help of a monied friend, who has connections to both you and the good housemate. He should pay a visit to the house and declare, in front of the narcissist, that it’s his ideal property. Would you all mind if he contacts the current owner and makes tentative enquiries as to whether it might come on to the market? A week later announce that he is seriously thinking of buying the house.

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