Living with friends can blur boundaries fast.

The following story involves a man who let his best friend live with him and his family.

The condition was simple: that he had to pay a very low rent.

But when rent and grocery contributions quietly stopped, things heated up quickly.

Read the full story below for all the details.

AITA for telling my best friend he could either start paying rent or move out

Around 2020, my best friend (31M) of more than ten years was living with me (28M) and my family in NYC.

We did everything together. I genuinely considered him a brother.

He lived with us under one simple agreement.

There was very low rent. He helped with groceries.

There was no lease. It was just trust.

This man found out his friend hadn’t paid rent for 2 months.

For months, it was fine.

Then, my mom told me it had been two months with no rent.

There was also no grocery money.

I asked him if everything was okay. He said yes.

He told me he was up for a promotion at work.

I congratulated him.

Money was tight…

When I asked about the missed payments, he said money was tight.

He said he was waiting on the promotion, so he could catch up.

I passed this message to my mom.

The understanding was that he would start contributing again the following month.

Nothing has changed the following month.

The next month, my mom asked him to contribute again.

He said no. At the same time, nothing else changed.

We were still going out. We were eating out.

We were going to parties.  We were spending money.

He decided to talk to his friend about the matter.

I sat him down. I told him contributing was the only condition for living with us.

I told him that if he was struggling, we could talk about it.

What I could not accept was him saying one thing.

He was refusing to pay while my family covered everything.

He gave him 2 options.

He got defensive.

He said since there was no paperwork, he had no legal obligation to pay anything.

That was when I stopped trusting him.

I had a lawyer draft a lease. I gave him two options.

He could sign it and start paying, or he could move out.

His friend decided to leave.

He said friends do not do this. He said we were brothers.

I told him brothers do not take advantage of each other.

I told him I would not let him take advantage of my family.

He chose to leave.

Now, he’s being accused of kicking his friend out.

After that, he told everyone I kicked him out.

He said I abandoned the friendship. He cut contact completely.

So, AITA for giving my best friend a choice when he stopped contributing?

He said he did not have to pay.

Let’s check out the comments of other people on this story.

This person gives their honest opinion.

This makes a lot of sense.

The trash saw itself out, says this one.

Yes, exactly.

Finally, short and simple.

Brotherhood doesn’t mean taking advantage of one another.

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.