‘Bad landlords’ defended for evicting 22-year-old tenants from son’s new home

Internet commentators were quick to defend a homeowning family that recently asked their 22-year-old tenant to move out of the family’s second home.

In a viral Reddit post published on r/AmITeA**hole, Redditor u/myacc0unt79 (aka the original poster or OP) said they’ve been planning for decades to give their son the house once he graduates from college concludes revealed how their longtime tenants made this ownership transfer as difficult and humiliating as possible.

Captioned: “[Am I the a**hole] for evicting our 22-year-old tenants?” the post has received nearly 7,500 upvotes and 3,000 comments in the last five hours.

“When [our son] was born, we bought a second home, always with the intention of giving it to him when he grows up,” OP began.

Further explaining that they listed their second home for rent immediately upon purchase, the original poster said a “lovely couple” began renting it and had six children over the course of 22 years.

The original poster also said her tenants were made aware of her plan to gift the house to her son, but seemed to have forgotten the agreement once it came time to look for accommodation elsewhere.

“When they started renting, we told them that this house would ultimately be for our son,” the OP wrote. “Our son graduated from college in June… and we decided that Christmas would be a good time to give him this home.

“At the beginning of September we spoke to our tenants and gave them 2 months [eviction] notice,” OP continued. “They are not happy. They’ve been posting all over social media about what bad people we are, throwing them out, that they can’t afford to rent something big enough for their family.

“Your Facebook posts have been shared in our local community and everyone is commenting on what ‘bad landlords’ we are,” OP added.

With the average home price in the United States being around $350,000, renting is the only option for many individuals, couples, and families with children.

In 2019, data released by the Pew Research Center showed that of the 123.6 million households in the US, more than 44 million are rented.

But while about 35 percent of American households live in homes owned by someone else, a large proportion of renters stay in the same property for a significant amount of time, making rented homes still feel like home.

According to ResidentRated, renters live an average of 27 1/2 months in the same rented apartment.

However, according to Zillow, more than 74 percent of renters have spent more than 12 months in their current property, thereby qualifying for long-term renter status.

Zillow also reports that the average stay for a long-term renter is seven years, which pales in comparison to the 22 years renters spent in the original poster’s second home — a home they knew they would have to leave when OP’s son left left college.

Across the comments section of the viral Reddit post, Redditors were stunned at the notion that the original poster was fake to transfer ownership of their home and called out their tenants for failing to prepare for a time they’d been decades away from had been warned.

“[The f**k] Some titled nonsense going on here where people are calling you a villain?” wrote Redditor u/ThatsATallGlassOfNo in the top comment of the post, which received more than 10,000 upvotes. “All renters know that they are not paying for their own mortgage and they have no claim to your property.”

“[Not the a**hole]said Redditor u/badbreathbandit, receiving almost 5,000 upvotes. “They literally gave them 22 to years to prepare.”

Redditor u/Own_Pianist6338, whose comment received nearly 2,000 upvotes, echoed this sentiment.

“You’re NO WAY a [a**hole]’ they assured. “You had 22 years + 4 years lead time from the arrival of reality.”

“They’ve been renting from you for two decades,” added Redditor u/Acrobatic-Track3750, also receiving nearly 2,000 upvotes. “If they thought you were bad landlords, they wouldn’t have stayed.”

In a separate comment that has received more than 1,200 upvotes, Redditor u/Alibeee64 speculates that social media will soon be the least of the original poster’s concerns.

“I hate to say it but they will likely be quite destructive over the next few months and leave the place in less than ideal condition,” they wrote. “Be careful.”

news week asked u/myacc0unt79 for a comment.