Roomies fight over rent with knife and mop

Let’s face it: So many of us are getting priced out of anything decent in this ridiculously expensive and highly competitive Bay Area rental market. So much so that having roommates well after college is an inevitable alternative to the preferred sanctity of adults living alone.

And while sharing a living space with others will always be a give and take, every now and then we hear about situations so seriously out of hand they make us thankful for whatever issues we put up with at home.

Two Hayward men fully exemplified that sort of situation yesterday afternoon when, police said, a 60-year-old man stabbed his 27-year-old roommate in the back with a knife, and the younger man smashed the elder over the head with a mop handle — arguing over rent.

Police came to the home on Rio Vista Street at 5:45 p.m. and learned the men had been exchanging unfriendly words on a walkway outside.

Nobody apparently witnessed the melee, but the elder man told police he was barbecuing outside when his roommate decided to hit him with the mop handle. He told police he then used a knife to stab the younger man in the back in self-defense.

The younger roommate, though, told police he was stabbed first, and that he then struck back in retaliation.

Neither men pressed charges, and both refused medical treatment. But since police are unsure of who started the argument, and since both men were uncooperative during questioning, the incident has been turned over to the district attorney’s office for further review.

Lesson to be learned? Sure there is:

Be a responsible roommate. Pay your rent on time, and be careful who you choose to live with. Or pony up and get yourself an overpriced studio until you can land something better.