Getting guilt tripped into staying at your mother’s house and then being charged rent by your younger brother is a situation no one should be forced to deal with, but it’s exactly the situation the poor woman in this story found herself in.

She always wanted to find her own place with her partner, but after her demanding mother guilted her, she decided to make staying in her family’s home work.

But when arguments broke out over who was entitled to each room, the cracks in the arrangement began to show.

And when her sibling started demanding “rent” for staying in his space, she knew she needed to get out.

Keep reading for the full story.

WIBTA for not paying my brother rent?

I currently live in my single mother’s house with my boyfriend.

A year ago we decided to live together, but my family are all very anti-rent. However, I wanted to live with my partner for at least a year before we decided to buy together.

So since her family still wouldn’t let up, she decided to go down another path.

After some brainstorming, and guilt from my mother, we decided that moving into her house would be best temporarily.

I have two older brothers and one younger. Both of my older brothers lived at home until their late twenties with their partners, paying rent to my mum.

We have all moved around and switched rooms multiple times, usually with my older brothers offering me the “better room” because I wanted more space and they wanted more privacy.

She describes the layout of the house.

The rooms in question are: Bedroom A, relatively small, good for one person, and Bedroom B, which is in the loft. It was originally two bedrooms, but when my younger brother moved in, my mum agreed to knock down the dividing wall to create one large bedroom.

It doesn’t have an en-suite bathroom, but there is one right next door in the loft.

This created some problems for her and her boyfriend.

Now for our situation. When my boyfriend and I talked about moving in, we realised Bedroom A wouldn’t work. We both WFH multiple days a week, and there simply wasn’t space.

My younger brother was in Bedroom B but had since gone away to university. He comes back for about 2–3 months throughout the year, but even then he was rarely home, out drinking, staying at friends’ houses, holidays, etc.

But when she tried to negotiate for a better space, it didn’t go over well with her mother.

I spoke to my mother about my younger brother and me swapping rooms so I could continue living at home (like she wanted), and she blew up.

She gave a speech about how it would make my brother feel like he’d been kicked out and that he’d no longer have a place in the house.

The couple soon realized it was time to start pursuing other options.

Defeated, but not surprised, my boyfriend and I started viewing apartments.

After finding one that could actually work, I asked my mother one last time before putting in an offer.

She thought about it and then agreed that I could ask my brother about swapping rooms.

Then things got even more dramatic.

This is where things got uncomfortable. My younger brother started negotiating rent for me to use his room.

My mother agreed this was fair, but when I told my boyfriend he was flabbergasted.

Her brother would just not let this go.

No price was ever formally agreed, but every time my brother came home from university, my mum would ask whether I had sent him the money.

(I hadn’t because he never sent me bank details, and the amount, somewhere between £50–£75 a month, was never actually agreed.)

Today, my brother asked me to send him £100 from the rent. I sent it and said he had £500 remaining.

He argued, saying I owed him more.

Her entire social circle could hardly believe their ears.

I don’t know why, but I got upset. I spoke to my friends, who were perplexed by the dynamic.

They said they regularly switch rooms with siblings and couldn’t understand why my mother was supporting this arrangement, especially considering she was the one who didn’t want me to move out.

WIBTA for not paying my brother rent, or at least not wanting to?

Never Miss a Story

Sign up to get our BEST stories of the week straight to your inbox.

This entire family dynamic sounds seriously dysfunctional.

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a person who abandoned their own D&D campaign when their friends stopped paying attention.

Reddit is sure to get a kick out of this one.

So much for “anti-rent.”

This user lays out their thoughts on the matter.

This commenter can’t believe this situation has gotten so far out of hand.

At this point, renting from an actual landlord is the far superior option.

This woman’s friends were right to be perplexed, because nothing about this arrangement makes sense.

Rooms have been swapped before. Partners have moved in before. Nobody has ever charged a sibling for the privilege of using a bedroom in their mother’s house before. It’s a complete double standard.

Her sibling is acting more like a greedy landlord than a family member — and that behavior needs to stop.

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a stepmom who says stepson isn’t doing enough, despite the fact that he’s working 12-hour shifts to pay for his own college.