Mum left furious as adult son refuses to pay rent when he's on holiday

How much to pay in lodgings can be a touchy subject for many parents, as they decide on what price to ask their grown-up children to pay.

Maybe they’ll let them stay under the roof for free, or maybe they’ll ask for contribution to food, or maybe they’ll even set up a simple little tenancy agreement.

And this mother seemed to have come to an arrangement with her son, with him paying towards living in the home.

However, he seems to have a differing view on when this payment actually applies, leaving her furious and asking for advice on Mumsnet.

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Taking to the parenting forum, the woman explained the current situation with her son.

She says that he has family in another part of the country and ‘just announced he’s going to visit his other parent for the week’.

The son normally pays a weekly contribution to his mum, and she says: “At this current time money is pretty tight so we need him to contribute.”

She also adds that she and her partner also have two young children who have to share a room while the older lad lives with them.

“He’s suddenly sprung this on us and as he now won’t expect to pay his contribution next week that’s money we will now have to find,” she says.

Shocked by his decision, she believes that he is being unreasonable to expect to not have to pay at such short notice.

Fed up with the situation, the mum asks if she is being unreasonable: “To think that as we don’t have that bedroom free for our other children who share and I’ll still have his washing to do and the fact he has known about this visit for weeks but didn’t think he needed to tell us his plans which has now left us short he should still pay his contribution?”

And many fellow parents were on the woman's side.

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Many said that he shouldn't skip out on paying his contribution, as another said: “Of course he should still pay. I don’t stop paying my rent or mortgage when I go on holiday.”

One suggested she could instead do a ‘small reduction if you can afford it perhaps’.

And one even wrote: “Late 20s and doing this! Time to ask him to move out perhaps?”

However, one person was quick to remind the woman that her home isn’t a ‘hotel’ so 'he can't pay per night', adding: "Maybe a little discount if you pay for his food."

The mum then posted in the comments thanking everyone for their advice, saying: "I will speak to him and ask that he still gives us something as we were expecting to have it.

"I don't feel so mean now."

Topics: Parenting, Money, Mumsnet

Jess Battison

Jess is an Entertainment Journalist with a love of all things pop culture. Her main interests include keeping up with the Twitter girlies, waiting for a new series of The Traitors and losing her voice at a Beyoncé concert. She graduated with a first in Journalism from City, University of London in 2021 and has previously worked at MyLondon.

@jessbattison_