Man Disappointed After His Parents Want Him To Pay $1,300 A Month To Share A Room With His Little Brother

Family matters are delicate issues, similarly, when it comes to splitting finances between family members it can be difficult and without proper communication, things can go awry. 

One person on Reddit found himself stuck in a similar situation with his parents and turned to the “Am I The A**hole” (AITA) subReddit for moral judgment.

ThrowRArentissue asked:

“AITA for moving out of my parents house after they expected me to pay rent for my room?”

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The OP explained:

“I (18M) just graduated and gonna be starting community college in August.”

“Barely started doing full-time hours but that’ll change to part time again once I start my classes.”

“Before my 18th b-day over a month ago, my parents started talking about how they expect me to pay for rent then half the bills if I expect to stay there. That wasn’t the problem. The issue was they were expecting me to pay $1,300 a month for my tiny ass room that I share with my little brother.”

“Not including the half of the bills they expected me to pay.”

“Most apartments in our city are around that range but that’s for a whole ass apartment, not a single bedroom plus sharing space with everyone else. Most of my paycheck would just be going to that then.”

OP shares that he tried negotiating with them and tried to explain his situation here: 

“Like, I asked my parents I don’t got a problem with helping with the bills and paying for my room if they made the rent to be lower.”

“They said that’s how much they agreed on so that’s what I’d have to pay if I wanna keep staying there.”

“So, I said fine and talked to one of my friend’s I already knew had his own place but was looking for a new roommate for the past 3 months. Ended up going with him and he added me to the lease.”

“My own room and bathroom, plus the total for rent and my half of the bills it’s like wayyyy less than the rent by itself that my parents expected me to pay.”

“But the thing is they’re super mad at me for leaving.”

“My mom ignored me when I moved out, my dad kept saying how he’s so disappointed in me. For a while they were hoping to rely on me with helping out with their mortgage payments on the house also with the bills so now that I’ve chosen to leave instead my dad says I’m going to leave them really struggling and he can’t believe I decided to be selfish instead of helping my family out.”

“So that’s sort of why I’m asking if I’m TA.”

“It was super high what they were expecting me to pay (literally whole paycheck would go to just that) but also I left them to struggle when they were hoping for me to help out so idk.”

“AITA?”

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Redditors expressed their opinions on the situation by declaring:

• NTA – Not The A**hole
• YTA – You’re The A**hole
• NAH – No A**holes Here
• ESH – Everyone Sucks Here

The majority voted NTA and made sure to tell OP that his parents are in the wrong here for making their barely adult child pay such price and that too for his childhood room. 

Many were shocked that how can the parents ask their child to pay a huge amount for a tiny bedroom and that too one which is shared with another person. 

“NTA. $1300 for one room would be a ripoff under the best of circumstances. For a parent to try to charge their barely-legally-an-adult son that amount of money for his freaking childhood bedroom is outrageous.”

“Might I suggest they cut back on the avocado toast and get a second job? Holy sh*t, the entitlement.” ~ yesnogoodbye

“Get a third job then. If you can’t afford bootstraps you can’t afford avocado toast!” ~ jott1293reddevil

“But avocado’s on sale this week!”

“Source: I just came back from the grocery store. Bought lots of avocados. And I don’t even pay $1300 for my studio (though that’s not too far off).” ~ O_Solo_Meow

Many pointed out that it is really unfair of parents to take advantage of their children. 

“When I was younger, my parents told me and my sibs that we owed them nothing in repayment for raising us, that our responsibility would be to our children. We have told our kids the same.”

“Our parents have retirement funds but have lived longer than they expected (Dad is 90, Mom is 85) and the fund is a little sparse so we all pitch in a little. We gladly do so in part because they didn’t do what OP’s parents were trying to do, which allowed us all to succeed and be financially sound.” ~ GeeWhiskers

“That’s exactly it. Your parents understand their role as parents, and they’ve raised you and your siblings to be financially secure for your own sake. I’m sure they weren’t even intending for you all to help them, let alone expecting it. Sounds like you all have a really nice family dynamic!”

“I had a less than desirable childhood, moving out of home at 16 etc. I know that it’s inevitable that I will have to contribute financially to my Mum at some point, and it’s incredibly daunting.” ~ abbles1er

“Yeah, if when you are in your 20’s and early 30’s you have to sacrifice your own financial stability for your parents, then after that you have to do the same as they can’t afford to live in retirement, when do you get a chance to live your own life and have your own family?!”

“Why duplicate labour? Likewise if he was doing poorly he would always have had shelter and hot meals at my house, but to basically trap your children in your debt when nothing indicates something happened (such as a major disability or closure of the niche company his mum or dad worked at) sounds like they just expected their children to bail them out…”

“I love the ‘It’s what we decided!’ line… like his mum and dad decided he had to stay at home in a shared room and pay $$$ way over market rate like that is somehow binding on him. They should have tried negotiating, laying out their income and cash flow problem and given him input if HE is supposed to SAVE THEM.” ~ TryToDoGoodTA

They could’ve lowered the price a little bit.

Few people on the other hand supported the parents and shared that this might be the way the parents are preparing their child for the real world ahead and a beginner's lesson at home is not a big deal and is done for the greater good.