‘The house is in shambles’: Stepson poorly renovates a home his stepmom fixed up for him, so she gives her bio children bigger homes and refuses to satisfy his request for a better house

Author image for Lana DeGaetano
Lana DeGaetano • "Show me to me please."
Apr 3, 2025 1:00 PM EDT

Imagine your parents bought a house, fixed it up for you (free of charge), and let you live in it while you get your life together. You'd probably feel extremely thankful for having such empathetic, generous parents who try to set you up for the best possible life they can. If they asked you to leave the house alone and not renovate it any further, you'd listen, right? After all, they went through the trouble of fixing it up the correct way, and you have no real right to change what they've done—they own the place.

In this next story, a woman's stepson decides to do some gut renovations after she specifically asked him not to. The woman went through the trouble of renovating the home so it would be livable and in pristine condition, but the stepson's greed got the best of him. The woman has since renovated two other houses for her bio children, and now the stepson insists she give him a bigger, better home. Yeah, not happening. Scroll to see what happens next.

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  • If you have no knowledge of home improvement/renovations, you'd probably leave your home the way it is or, at the very least, hire a professional to do the heavy lifting. The stepson, however, was specifically told that he is not allowed to touch the home in any way regarding renovations. His stepmom is a real fixer-upper, and she fixed up the home perfectly, so it's suitable for one person. Greed has a funny way of taking over, and this is exactly what happens to the stepson…

  • Cheezburger Image 10486416128
    via Karolina Grabowska For Unsplash+

    The image does not depict the actual subjects of the story. Subjects are models.

  • "AITAH for refusing to let my stepson have a nicer house?"

    My dad was a general contractor who specialized in rehabilitating old houses. I work in the medical field but rehab old houses as a hobby.
    via That-Depth3459
  • I don't really try to make money at it. I do make some money, but I just enjoy working with my hands. and making old, derelict houses into happy homes. I feel good
    via That-Depth3459
  • about keeping working class neighborhoods nice and helping people afford nicer houses than they otherwise could.
    via That-Depth3459
  • 6 years ago I started dating my husband. I let his oldest son (who was living in a very old, rented mobile home) move into a house I had just finished. It was smaller
    via That-Depth3459
  • than I normally buy, but I bought it as part of a package deal when a slum lord di d and his family sold his rent houses.
    via That-Depth3459
  • It is like 1000 sf 3 br 1 ba. He immediately started talking about his plans to renovate the house. I told him not to as I had just completely renovated it. New
    via That-Depth3459
  • plumbing, electrical, cabinets, fixtures, appliances, etc. He had a plan to close in the carport, move the kitchen there, remove walls to make 2 bigger bedrooms and add a second bath. I told him
    via That-Depth3459
  • he was a single person living in 1000 square foot house, surely he could make it work and later I'd help him get into something bigger/nicer and he's 1 person. Surely he didn't really need 2 bathrooms.
    via That-Depth3459
  • I told him he absolutely could not do any renovations to my house. Well, he did anyway. Nothing worked out as he planned, because enclosing a carport requires more than framing walls
    via That-Depth3459
  • and moving a kitchen is much more complicated than ripping my brand new cabinets off the wall and putting them in the shoddy, illegal, non-permitted 'addition'.
    via That-Depth3459
  • The house is in shambles. It literally makes me disgusted when I think about it. Since then, I've helped the other kids (my two biological children and my stepdaughter). They each have a 1850 square foot 4 br 2 ba in a nicer neighborhood.
    via That-Depth3459
  • Cheezburger Image 10486423296
    via Zac Gudakov for Unsplash
  • I finished my first house after the long stretch where I was working on houses for our children. My stepson wanted to move into it. I offered to sell it to him for a very good price. He refused and is
    via That-Depth3459
  • angry that I won't just let him live in it for free. My husband thinks I'm being a j because I won't. He says that it isn't fair that the others got bigger, nicer houses and that stepson wouldn't have felt the need to remodel if he had been given a bigger one like the other kids.
    via That-Depth3459
  • So AITAH because I won't let him move into a second house after my stepson ruined the first one, even if it wasn't as nice when he first moved in as what the other kids got?
    via That-Depth3459
  • Edited to add: all the houses are owned by an llc that I set up. | haven't'given' them houses. The three younger kids pay taxes and insurance on their houses and when they save a down payment, I'll sell them the house for a very good price.
    via That-Depth3459
  • Ss moved into my house when I first started dating his dad. I had no intention of giving him the house or even selling it to him. He was supposed to work on his credit, deal with his legal issues and save money to move out.
    via That-Depth3459
  • Didn't have a hard timeline vaguely stated 'about a year'. From a legal standpoint we have a month to month tenature which means I can revoke it at anytime by giving 10 days written notice.
    via That-Depth3459
  • hdgal63 nope, tell him you will help him with the bigger house after he completely restores the first house back to your original condition.
    via hdgal63
  • kindaright-ish He is lucky he wasn't kicked out and sued for damages when he literally done exactly what you told him NOT to do. You had plans to further renovate, and HE screwed them up. He wouldn't get away with doing this to any other landlord, then move into another of their properties, so why should it be any different because its you? NTA.
    via kindaright-ish
  • SailSweet9929 So he's an adult was given a free 3 bedroom house and told NOT TO DO ANYTHING TO IT He did and now is destroyed and wants another one to destroy Tell hubby HE CAN GIVE one to him when he purchases fixes and pays for it you already did more than enough as HE IS NOT YOUR KID an still you gave him a house he destroyed
    via SailSweet9929
  • mooreHart NTA. You literally gave him a free house and he fi g gutted it to the point it's almost unlivable. He can deal.
    via mooreHart

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family drama stepmother blended family stepchild stepmom reddit story family feud parenting entitled people karma entitled family reddit thread Reddit Parenting Fail parents entitled people Parenting FAILS
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