Imagine buying a duplex, living in half of it, and renting out the other half to a family member to help them out. If you were already giving them a really good deal on rent, would you be willing to lower the rent even more if they were in a tough spot financially?

In this story, one couple is in this situation, and they really can’t afford to lower the rent.

Let’s read the whole story.

AITAH For not decreasing rent

So my husband and I have recently bought a duplex (the entire building not just half).

We are all about trying to help family members out and getting a leg up in a world that loves to keep people down.

We spoke with my little sister and her boyfriend as they seemed to be the most in need (living in an expensive city, had just received an eviction notice for her apartment complex). We came to an agreement and we signed a lease with her for $1200.

Now as I said my husband and I are all for helping family; we rented a moving truck for her (over $100), aren’t charging pet rent or any pet affiliated fees, we didnt charge first months rent, we are currently letting them use our wifi and trash services, we let them pay the rent in payments instead of the whole lump sum.

Her sister should’ve at least phrased it as a question instead of a demand.

Due to the current government shut down she is highly stressed about losing her ebt (totally understandable) but basically point blank said to me (not both my husband and I) “If we lose our food stamps we aren’t paying $350 because that’s how much we get.” Didn’t even gently bring it up just said it like that was how its going to be.

I later spoke with my husband because he wasn’t privy to the previous conversation between sister and I and we go over and talk with my sister.

Before the conversation started I said “be calm, we’re all adults, take a deep breath” because I know how emotionally 180° she is.

They are understandably unwilling to lower the rent.

We bring up that we can’t lower the rent because we still have a mortgage to pay and if its missed we’re all homeless (and we also signed a legally binding contract with sister).

She said that we care more about money than we do about them eating.

We said no we care about having a roof over all of our heads, I know its awful but you can spend less on food you can’t spend less on rent. I told her that I knew of absolutely no landlord that would lower someone’s rent because they lost their food stamps.

There are other options for food.

We also brought up that there are food banks and boxes that she could utilize (when she was in the big city I found over 20 locations for her and I dont think she went to a single one).

She said going to food banks wasn’t the point (I’m not really sure what the point was, both my husband and I have gone to food banks for help, its an ego thing she needs to overcome).

We did discuss rent possibilities before signing the lease (like lowering it in major emergencies like getting in an accident/ losing your job/ or even slashed hours) but we never discussed them losing government benefits and changing the rent.

The conversation really didn’t end well.

She said rent is so high because they have their benefits.

And I countered with rent is actually lower than what my husband wanted AND lower than fair market value for a 3bd 2.5bath because I talked him down cause we’re helping family, but we are not in the position to cover an extra $350 grocery bill for another family when we’re already taking care of our own (husband and I, 3 year old and 1 on the way).

Sister got very heated and started storming away and told my husband to “go eff himself” which 3 year old heard and repeated.

Her sister really sounds ungrateful.

Husband and child then left to go make dinner while I stayed over talking to sisters boyfriend.

She came down and said “I’d rather live in my car than live with him.”

To which I said “its a good thing you dont live with him.”

She said “I’d much rather live in my car than give him my money.”

I said “good thing your giving your money to me”.

At least her sister’s boyfriend understands why they can’t lower the rent.

Like if my husband and I didnt step in the would quite literally been living in their car and would’ve had an even harder time finding a place to live as they would’ve had an eviction on their record.

Her boyfriend understands that we can’t move on the rent because this isn’t a warranted emergency that we had previously discussed. We also view the food stamps as supplemental not a forever thing and that sister and her boyfriend arent a charity case which its looking like sister really wants to be one.

I dont think sister fully realizes how much we have actually helped her in the last couple months and now it feels like she’s trying to take advantage and have us front her grocery bill.

So are my husband and I the AH for not lowering her rent? We are looking for all sorts of opinions.

If she doesn’t get food stamps, go to a food bank. They’ll have to find a way to make it work.

Let’s see how Reddit reacted to this story.

Her sister doesn’t appreciate everything she has already done for her.

This is a good point.

Yeah, good luck finding a better deal!

Yeah, it’s ridiculous.

Nobody thinks she should lower the rent.

Her sister doesn’t appreciate how good she already has it.

If you liked that post, check out this one about an employee that got revenge on HR when they refused to reimburse his travel.