If you agreed to let a family member live with you in exchange for rent, it would be safe to assume that there would be some wear and tear on the room where they were living.

For example, maybe the furniture and carpet would be a little bit more worn than if nobody had been living there.

In today’s story, the big question is if the person who rented the room should be stuck with the bill for replacing the worn down carpet.

Let’s read all the details to decide.

AITA for expecting my mother in law to pay for new carpet?

My mother in law (wife’s mom) initiated a divorce from her 2nd husband late in 2022.

NC law requires couples to live separately for a year before divorce proceedings can occur.

She asked to move into our house, which gave her our bonus room.

This room is a 12×24 room, with carpet, a closet, full bathroom for herself attached to the room.

She moved into our house on 12/31/22 and began paying rent ($500 per month for the first year, then she volunteered an extra $100 per month for the 2nd year to cover Netflix access and increases in HOA dues and utilities).

They want new carpet.

She just moved out last month into her new home.

My wife and I knew we needed our flooring downstairs replaced, and we wanted to go ahead and do our stairs, main hallway, primary bedroom.

The bonus room we had decided to also get done, since the carpet had been lived on 24/7 for 2 years.

My mother in law worked from home so she essentially spent her time in that room working, relaxing, or sleeping.

She also had a dog with her.

They previously asked her to pay for LVP flooring.

We felt it wasn’t right to charge her the cost of the upgraded flooring we wanted, so we asked the flooring estimator to send us a separate price for similar carpet in the bonus room so that we could present that price to her.

We were told the LVP option was $2500, the carpet option was $1400.

We advised her of the $1400 in November, and told her it wasn’t expected up front, nor would we ask for it after she closed on her new home.

We were willing to work with her on it.

The mother-in-law doesn’t want to pay for new carpet.

Flash forward a month and she’s moved out, and she asks to speak with us about the carpet payment.

She isn’t sure why she’s being asked to pay $1400 when she thought it was our plan all along to change the flooring anyways.

Mind you, this carpet was new and used as a toddler playroom for about an hour each day prior to her arrival.

Let the negotiations begin!

She and I decided to agree to reduce it to $500 because she felt she should have been able to at least get the carpets cleaned, which would have cost $500.

We denied this request initially because we knew that carpet cleaning wasn’t going to remove the wear and tear of her existence.

Well, once we agree on $500, she asks about the $100 I had agreed to refund her for some car work I had done.

I agreed to it and figured we were done.

Wait, the negotiations aren’t done yet.

Next, my wife finds out about this agreement and immediately calls her mom to discuss in frustration.

Her mom decides to “oblige” to $1400 but then begins to say how she incurred extra costs from her car repairs because I wasn’t able to fix her car, and that it should cover her $1400.

She also mentioned that her extra $100 per month should have covered the cost as well, even though that was never agreed upon.

Of course, since this all happened right before the holidays, we just agreed to accept $400.

We’ve seen each other a few times without issue, but there’s still some bitterness, especially with the comments about how she now had to pay a bigger sum of money for her car repairs.

AITA?

She paid rent. She shouldn’t be expected to pay for new carpets.

If I rented an apartment for 2 years and then was expected to pay to replace the carpet when I moved out, I’d be furious!

Let’s see how Reddit reacted to this story.

If it’s normal wear and tear, she shouldn’t have to pay for it.

Another person thinks they’ll destroy the relationship with the MIL if they make her pay for the carpet.

This person calls him and his wife “opportunists.”

She did offer to clean the carpet.

Nobody seems to think the MIL should pay for the carpet.

I agree; she should be furious.

They’re asking way too much.

If I were her I would never want to talk to them again.

If you thought that was an interesting story, check this one out about a man who created a points system for his inheritance, and a family friend ends up getting almost all of it.