The Daily Observer London Desk: Reporter- Sarah Marshal
Moving in with a significant other can make or break a relationship. The situation can become even more complicated when one of the partners coincidentally owns the building they’re living in.
In a recent Reddit post shared to the popular “Am I The A**hole?” subreddit, one woman explained that when she was 18, her father gifted her a two-story house, where she now rents out the bottom half and lives in the top half.
Recently, her boyfriend of six months moved in with her, and he only splits the grocery bill without paying for rent or utilities. “I have not brought up that I own the building as it is not something I tell many people, if people ask me I of course tell them that I own it, but if they just assume I am a renter then they can believe that,” she wrote. “The topic of a landlord, the renter downstairs or the owner of the building has not been something we have talked about.”
However, according to the Reddit user, a tenant recently came to her apartment because her freezer wasn’t working anymore and her boyfriend overheard the two of them talking. The woman agreed to let the tenant buy a new freezer and reimburse her for the cost.
“When I went upstairs my boyfriend asked if it could be fixed, I told him no, but she was going to buy a new one and I would pay for it,” the Reddit poster wrote. “He looked at me like I was crazy and asked me why the hell I would pay for her freezer, I told him that because I am her landlord and the freezer was there when she started renting, I would stand for the cost.”
This caused her boyfriend to lash out and begin insulting landlords as a whole, saying “all of us just use people for money and that the only thing ‘we people’ care about is money and would rather have people be homeless than offering affordable rent”.
“He demanded that I give him 50 per cent of the money I make from rent or else I was just as bad as he thought,” the woman wrote.
She ended the post by mentioning that she has apologised and attempted to reconcile with her boyfriend, but he hasn’t answered her.
Since being posted, many people took to the comments section to defend her actions and call out her boyfriend’s selfishness for demanding some of the rent money. “Let me get this straight. He must not have offered to pay half of the rent, because then it would have come up and you would have told him, right?” one comment began. “He is living with you rent-free. Up to now, he thought you were paying the entire rent. On what planet does he deserve half of the tenant’s rent money? Please reconsider this relationship.”
Another person agreed, writing: “This dude was happy to exploit you for free lodging, and now that he finds out you’ve got income he wasn’t aware of he wants half of it just cause or else you’re a big meanie? You do not owe him an apology. You owe him a kick in the rear.”
Even a fellow landlord chimed in. They wrote: “Your BF is making a money grab. You’ve been letting him live there rent-free and he never questioned it. That’s bizarre. Now he wants you to give him cash or you’re ‘evil’. What happens when taxes are due? The place needs a new roof? A pipe bursts? Does he want to sign an agreement that he’s responsible for 50 per cent of the cost? Since he took money you should be saving for things just like that?”
They continued: “This guy has told you who he is. Believe him. Now be very careful evicting him. Like, talk to an attorney first so it’s all legal … You need him gone.”
