In relationships, fairness should be a two-way street.

So, what would you do if your partner expected you to invest countless hours into their business without any compensation while making it clear you’d have no stake in it?

Would you agree to help out for the sake of the relationship?

Or would you demand hourly pay to protect your time and effort?

In the following story, one woman finds herself in this exact situation with her boyfriend.

Here’s what’s going on.

AITA for not agreeing to work for free on my partner’s rental property business?

My partner and I have been together for three years.

During this time, I have helped him on remodeling some of his rental properties and other property management tasks.

He helped me repair my home after a major flood incident.

I would say that up until this point, our work-for-work exchange has been fairly equal to slightly tipping the scale in his favor.

He recently decided to completely gut and remodel one of the rental homes.

This project is expected to take 6 months or more.

We anticipate remodeling several of the properties over the next few years.

This is going to be a significant time and labor investment.

They are considering marriage.

We have talked about marriage and what a prenup might look like.

He has been clear that he wants to keep his rental properties separate if we get married.

He has even gone as far as to say that he would want the rental properties even separate from me in his estate planning/will and that everything would go to his siblings.

This has been alarming to me and quite hurtful.

I understand he doesn’t want to lose assets in the event we divorce, but I truly don’t understand the estate side of things.

This detail makes a difference because we have a 13-year age gap, and he would likely pass before me.

Here’s where she drew the line.

I told him that if he wants to keep the rental business separate, that’s fine, but I will no longer be volunteering my time for his business.

Basically, I won’t be his free labor girl to enrich him and his family.

If he wants me to come work on remodeling the properties he will need to pay me as if I am an employee.

I told him my pay rate would be $20 an hour.

I have also suggested he call on his family to come help him. I am firm on this boundary right now.

He is becoming resentful of my position on this.

He believes that me helping him benefits both of us. I have asked him how it benefits both of us, and he really can’t quantify how it benefits me in any way.

We have totally separate finances.

I am on board to be a partner and teammate, but what he expects doesn’t really look like a partnership to me.

AITA?

Wow! Seeing both sides of this is easy, but it does sound pretty unfair.

Let’s see what the fine folks at Reddit have to say about her situation.

As this person points out, she could invest in her own side hustle.

Here’s someone who thinks her boundaries are needed.

This person sees why she doesn’t want to waste her time.

Exactly! If he had kids, that would be more understandable than what he’s saying.

She needs to reevaluate her life. He sounds like something else, so for her sake, it may be time to move on.

Who knows?

Maybe it’ll make him change his mind.

If you liked that post, check out this story about a guy who was forced to sleep on the couch at his wife’s family’s house, so he went to a hotel instead.