‘Air bee and bee’: Woman returns from vacation to find her landlord has let 80,000 bees loose in her apartment, and now they won’t move out

Living with roommates has its perks, sure. In most cases, they keep you company and help pay the bills. When your new roomies are a colony of bees, though, things can go downhill quickly.

If you’ve never seen someone share an apartment with such creatures, you’re about to. TikTok user @apollostarr22 shared her story on the platform on July 22, telling us how she came back from Ireland to find bees had completely taken over one of the rooms in her home. According to her, it all started with a text from her landlord, who asked if he could have someone go to her apartment to check for potential nests. With her permission, this person did a heat scan and found out that there were bee colonies in the walls, but instead of helping, he decided to make the situation much worse.

The man smashed a hole in the wall from inside the apartment, allowing 80,000 bees access to the tenant’s second bedroom. How did the man or the landlord fix this problem? It’s simple — they didn’t. The landlord stopped responding to texts or calls from his tenant and the insects have been roaming free since. I guess it’s their home now, seeing as the TikToker had to remove all her belongings and cat from the apartment to accommodate them.

This wild story has been getting traction on social media, with most people expressing shock at how this bee occupation was (mis)handled. “Why… did they make the hole… on the inside…” one TikTok user pointed out, while someone raised an even more important question: “WHAT IF Y’ALL WERE ALLERGIC????!” Meanwhile, others found amusement in the situation (who can blame them?). “Air bee and bee,” one person wrote, as another joked: “That’s where you put guests when they’ve been naughty.”

Humor aside, the landlord’s sudden lack of contact is concerning, as it leaves his tenant to figure out a solution for herself with no idea of when her home will be habitable again. According to an article on Shelterforce, landlords are required to “maintain habitable conditions” in their properties, so the woman may be able to take legal action if the problem persists. That said, the insects can only survive about a week or two trapped indoors, as per the UC Statewide IPM Program, meaning they will likely die soon if nothing is done to remove them.

This isn’t an ideal situation by any means, but at least the tenant can find comfort in knowing that there are far worse roommates out there. Bees are a problem, yes, but humans can be much more difficult to live with.