Dad Asks If It’s OK To Kick His Daughter Out For Not Paying Rent

As a parent, you raise your children with the expectation that one day, down the line, they'll leave the nest. For many parents, it's expected that the kids will be out of the house not too long after they finish high school.

However, what happens if they don't pack their things and go?

One Dad Took To Reddit For Some Advice

Reddit logo is seen displayed on a smartphone
Photo Credit: Rafael Henrique / SOPA Images / LightRocket via Getty Images
Photo Credit: Rafael Henrique / SOPA Images / LightRocket via Getty Images

This father explained that his 24-year-old daughter had moved back in with him and her mother recently.

As a student, she had previously been living on her own since she was 19.

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She's A Graduate Student

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Photo Credit: Unsplash / Element5
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Extenuating circumstances made her terminate her lease and return home while she was still completing a graduate degree at a nearby college.

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She's been very focused over the past while on completing her thesis.

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She Does Work At The University As Well

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Photo Credit: Unsplash / Kryzsztof Maksimiuk
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As a graduate student, she also gets paid to work as a teaching assistant for a course.

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However, despite her being paid hourly based on how much time she devotes to the work, she only gets paid in a lump sum at the end of each semester for her work.

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Her Lack Of Monthly Income Became A Problem For Her Father

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Photo Credit: Unsplash / Josh Appel
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Since she's a fully grown woman, this father believed that it only makes sense for her to pay rent, saying, "I can't have a grown adult woman stay in my house rent-free."

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However, since she's not paid on a monthly basis, she hasn't been able to give him the rent money on time.

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He Confronted Her About It

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Photo Credit: Unsplash / Green Chameleon
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When he did mention that she was late on the rent, she expressed that she was trying her best but she's extremely overwhelmed.

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Between juggling her own academic work and the teaching assistant duties, she's spread pretty thin.

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He Was Less Than Compassionate

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Photo Credit: Unsplash / Magnet Me
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Rather than empathize with her situation, the father said that teaching assistant duties "are not a real job."

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Instead, he suggested that she find other work to help make up the rent on time.

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She Became Visibly Upset

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Photo Credit: Unsplash / Thought Catalog
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His daughter started crying and tried to explain that the lump sum from her work would be enough to cover her rent and student loan payments, but she just didn't have the money yet.

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Her mother also stood by her and said that her husband was being insensitive.

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The Mom Made Some Good Points

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Photo Credit: Unsplash / Abbie Bernet
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In response, the mom pointed out that it's not like she was just wasting time on video games or stupid things—their daughter was working hard.

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Between writing her thesis and all the T.A. work, the mom noticed their daughter was only getting 4–5 hours of sleep nightly and was clearly exhausted. The husband said it couldn't be that clear if he had not noticed it.

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People Were Not On His Side The Comments

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YTA you didn't pick up on it because you an insensitive a-hole who sees his daughter as a money source and not his child, and honestly, if you don’t pull your head from that dark hole it’s in, then you’ll be lucky to even have a daughter or wife
Photo Credit: Reddit / EricaCampbellFan
Photo Credit: Reddit / EricaCampbellFan
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Most people thought that the father was clearly being greedy by demanding her to pay him monthly.

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It's not like she never intended to pay: she just didn't have the means to do it then.

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Others Pointed Out That He Was Being Super Unreasonable

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YTA, sounds like your daughter is working on a stipend and doing something productive. It's pretty common with graduate students. When I was in college, landlords would gladly accept lump payments every 3 months because the money was guaranteed by students grants/loans. Your wife is absolutely right. Why are you worried about collecting a few pennies from a broke college student now when you can allow her to finish her degree and be more financially stable enough not to need you in the future? Or possibly be able to help you out. You are being short-sighted here.
Photo Credit: Reddit / icruiselife
Photo Credit: Reddit / icruiselife
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It seems like this father was so caught up on the idea of what he was owed that he wasn't willing to compromise or take his daughter's particular situation into account.

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Money has a way of poisoning even the healthiest family bonds, and it can get messy quick. We just hope that after Reddit told him he was in the wrong, he sorted himself out and took a more reasonable approach.