One of the zaniest police blotter items of the summer comes to us courtesy the NY Post, which reports on a roommate fracas fueled by "festering feline feces." Oleksandr Ilyin, 35, reportedly returned home to his Bath Beach apartment Wednesday evening to find a garbage bag full of kitty litter. Police say that upon seeing the scat he snapped, and dumped the dirty litter all over his two roommates' bedrooms. This is where your average disgruntled roommate would crack open a Tecate and sit down for a night of Metal Gear Solid I, but not our Mr. Ilyin. more ›

Don't listen to your realtor when they say that advertised apartment is really a two bedroom if you just throw up a wall in the middle of the living room. Though the DIY separation could make your rent cheaper, the city is cracking down on a previously widely ignored code about separation walls. Hundreds of walls thrown up without Department of Buildings approval are being taken down, and new renters are being told that if they want to separate rooms, they must use bookshelves or other partitions that don't reach the ceiling. more ›

Today the Times notices a little known and seldom enforced law that prohibits more than three unrelated people from living in an apartment or a house in NYC. Chances are that includes you and pretty much everyone you know, except maybe those ex-roommates who've broken loose and moved in with their significant others. (They'll be back!) So why would a city with such obscenely high rents try to deprive residents of an all-too-common necessity: non-familial cohabitation? more ›

In a move that the Post reports will soon allow Columbia University undergrads "to live in sin — on their parents' dime," students will be permitted to shack up with roommates of the opposite sex in dorm rooms. The so-called "gender-neutral" housing policy could be implemented next fall, allowing sophomores, juniors and seniors to choose roommates of the any gender. more ›

You don't have to browse the Craigslist "Rooms for Rent" section very long before realizing that there are many tenants out there looking for "not just a roommate, but a FRIEND." This weekend's Times Real Estate section follows the journey of one 3BR LES apartment trying to figure out the right balance between being friendly roommies, but not BFFs. One tells them of a horrific summer she had where a roommate was seldom home, “and I got really lonely,” more ›

The Post rounds out more facets of the Saturday afternoon murder of a 63-year-old man in his West 71st Street apartment. While Walter Walker's roommate Frederick Zappulla confessed, the Post reports that the violence was precipitated when Walker "confronted him about smoking crack in the apartment...The two roommates argued in the kitchen, where Zappulla smashed Walker over the head with a frying pan and then reached for a knife and repeatedly stabbed him." Zappulla called his brother to say he killed Walker and then left for the Yonkers Raceway, where "he began blathering to an EMS technician who eventually persuaded him to talk to Yonkers police." Walker, who operated a cleaning service, had rented out the room to Zappulla in February; a former roommate told the Post that Walker suffered from Parkinson's Disease, "I warned Walter [Zappulla] was no good. I thought he would stiff Walter for the rent." Update: The West Side Spirit reports, "Zappulla was Walker’s romantic partner, according to interviews with residents of the West 71st Street building. The two had lived in Walker’s one-bedroom apartment for more than a year." more ›

Like other expensive American cities, New York seems to be home to a higher proportion of post-graduate adult roommates than suburban areas. In NYC, sharing a home with a stranger or friend is seen not so much as a sign of utter incompetence as it is a consequence of the obscene rental market, which has compelled people to share for far longer than they had ever anticipated. Who among us has not inserted earplugs to drown out the sounds of roommate fornication, while dreaming of liberation from cohabitation? However, judging by the increasing numbers of elderly people looking for roommates, that dream may be considerably deferred. According to City Room, a home sharing program run by the New York Foundation for Senior Citizens has been inundated with elderly applicants seeking apartment shares because of lost jobs or rent increases. Of course, the silver lining, should you find yourself trolling Craigslist for shares in your golden years, is that you'll probably be so hard of hearing you won't even notice your roommate's drum and bass marathons. more ›