Pexels

There’s a special kind of pressure that comes from being both a tenant and a daughter at the same time, especially when your landlord controls both roles without ever putting anything on paper.

A woman renting from her father found herself watching her monthly payment rise from $600 to $700 under a verbal agreement that left her with zero legal standing to push back.

The real gut punch came when her father threatened to raise the rent another $100 if she stopped covering the after-work gap in her younger sister’s babysitting, a responsibility she’d been forced to take on simply because the timing of their work schedules didn’t line up.

She works full time, commutes nearly an hour round trip, and still finds herself with almost no personal time during the weeks she’s on babysitting duty.

Now she’s wondering whether a written lease could actually change the power balance of this arrangement.

Keep reading for the full story.

My dad is my landlord and keeps adding rules and restrictions.

I am 21F, almost 22F. I rent from my dad in PA.

We have a verbal rental agreement which gives my dad all sorts of power because I can’t legally do anything about it.

He’s constantly raising my rent for no reason, or rather his reason being “if a family lived here I’d charge them $1,200 a month, you should be grateful.”

But she already does more than enough to pull her weight.

Mind you, I used to pay $600 rent, now I pay $700, and if I stop watching my younger sister on weeks where he has her, then he’s gonna bump it up another $100.

I work full time between the hours of 8 AM-4:30 PM. I live 30 minutes away from my job (including morning and afternoon traffic, though it’s about a 40-50 min drive), so I don’t get home til 5:10 PM.

My dad works at 4:30 PM, hence why I need to watch her.

Point is, since he goes to work when I get off, there’s a 40-50 min gap where my brother (underage) has to watch her, which my dad isn’t comfortable with.

She’s starting to feel unhappy about the whole arrangement.

I wish he would be more lenient about rent because although I am grateful, he’s making it seem like I’m being unreasonable.

I pay rent on time, and raising my rent when I work full time and barely have any time for fun or even necessities on weeks when he has her, I can’t do anything til the weekend, such as grocery shopping, fix my car, go out to eat.

Would a written lease help me in this situation?

This situation is way too complicated.

If there’s one thing Reddit hates, it’s a landlord, so this should be interesting.

This renter deserves better.

In most other places, a written lease is the bare minimum.

Never Miss a Story

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

But it does come with some important trade-offs.

She may not be paying in rent, but she’s paying in other ways.

Watching rent climb from $600 to $700 with no real justification beyond “you should be grateful” is a pretty clear sign that this arrangement has pretty much run its course.

A written lease wouldn’t erase the family tension, but it would take the guesswork out of what’s actually owed and what’s actually optional.

Right now, the only thing keeping this arrangement running is her willingness to keep saying yes.

Only she can decide how much she’s willing to tolerate.

Add TwistedSifter to your Google News Add us as a preferred source on Google

Author

Benjamin Cottrell

Benjamin Cottrell | Assistant Editor, Internet Culture

Benjamin Cottrell is an Assistant Editor and contributing writer at TwistedSifter, specializing in internet culture, viral social dynamics, and the moral complexities of online communities. He brings a highly analytical, editorial voice to his reporting on workplace conflicts, malicious compliance, and interpersonal drama, with a specific focus on nuanced stories that lack an obvious villain.

As a published author of rhetorical criticism, Benjamin leverages his academic background in human communication to dissect and elevate viral social media threads. Instead of simply summarizing events, he provides readers with balanced, deep-dive commentary into why the internet reacts the way it does. In addition to his cultural reporting, he is an experienced fine art photography essayist and video game reviewer.

When he isn’t analyzing the latest viral debates, Benjamin is usually chipping away at his extensive video game backlog, hunting down the best new restaurants, or out exploring the city with a camera in hand.

Connect with Benjamin on Instagram and read more of his essays on Substack.