20-year-old son goes no contact with parents after being told he needs to pay $500 per month rent, they question their decision when he accuses them of kicking him out

Author image for Briana Viser
Briana Viser • Writer and Editor
Oct 15, 2025 12:00 PM EDT

In the story below, the narrator is a frustrated mother who only wants understanding and answers. She has a 20-year-old son who lives at home, and she's been trying to teach him some financial literacy. Her and her husband start charging him 500 per month in rent money, but he doesn't pay. He also used their credit card while they were on a vacation and spent thousands of dollars without permission.

All these factors come to a close when she puts an ultimatum on him to pay back his debt. He moves out abruptly, but claims they kicked him out. 
Comment below whether you think the parents are in the right, or if their kid is. To be honest, I think it's wrong and a bit strange for parents to charge their child rent. Isn't the point of having children to support them and make them feel like they're in a safe space? I will never understand the concept of parents charging their kid rent money, but it's a matter of opinion.

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  • 01

    AITA: son moved out but is telling everyone we kicked him out?

    Young man driving away
    via Alex P from Pexels / Canva

    Image is representative only and does not depict the actual subjects of the story.

  • 02
    Son (20M) isn't in college. We told him the fall after high school that we would "charge him rent" of $500/mo. That money would
    via u/No-Wonder5226
  • 03
    be put into a savings account for him, and then when he was ready to move out he would have a nice nest egg to start adulting with.
    via u/No-Wonder5226
  • 04
    Last summer I left him my credit card "for emergencies" while we went away on vacation. He spent
    via u/No-Wonder5226
  • 05
    $3k on clothes, food, etc while we were gone. Obviously none of the purchases were an emergency.
    via u/No-Wonder5226

  • $500 per month in rent is a lot for parents to charge! What kind of lesson are they trying to teach him? Is it about money specifically, is it about responsibility? I'll never understand that a parent would charge their child rent. Just thinking about it makes me go into a panic. 

  • 06
    And no, he didn't have permission.
    via u/No-Wonder5226
  • 07
    We told him he needed to pay us back. He didn't. He also barely ever paid the $500/mo "rent". This April we told him he had
    via u/No-Wonder5226
  • 08
    three months to pay us back half of the money he stole (so $1500) or he had to move out. May comes, he pays nothing. June
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  • 09
    comes, he pays nothing. I said "are you looking for a new apartment? Because your deadline to pay us back is 1
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  • 10
    month away". He started screaming that he was moving out. The next morning he and his gf (she was basically living here
    via u/No-Wonder5226
  • 11
    too) left without a word and haven't been back since (this was July). He stopped by one time to
    via u/No-Wonder5226
  • 12
    pick up some clothes and his PlayStation and he didn't speak to us while here.
    via u/No-Wonder5226
  • 13
    Rent money
    via aliaksandrbarysenka / Canva

    Image is representative only and does not depict the actual subjects of the story.

  • 14
    We are still paying his cell phone bill. We stopped paying his car insurance after he moved out. He barely responds to text messages from me or his dad.
    via u/No-Wonder5226
  • 15
    I found out he is telling everyone that we kicked him out? I honestly didn't think we were being very strict. But the fact that
    via u/No-Wonder5226
  • 16
    he basically won't talk to us now, clearly means he thinks we were Ties? Were we?!
    via u/No-Wonder5226
  • 17
    update I'm new-ish to Reddit, so had no idea there would be this much response. I'm not going through 800+ comments. But to
    via u/No-Wonder5226
  • 18
    answer the questions I saw repeatedly from the responses I did read:
    via u/No-Wonder5226
  • 19
    He has a job, and has since he was 16 (part-time). He doesn't stay in jobs long, 3mo - 1 year is typical for him. He makes
    via u/No-Wonder5226
  • 20
    $15-$22/hr at his jobs. He has only worked full time for a few months, he was regularly working 25-35 hours per week since high school finished.
    via u/No-Wonder5226
  • 21
    We have a family cell phone plan, it would actually cost me more money to cancel his phone than to just keep paying. Plus, he can't get job interviews without a phone.
    via u/No-Wonder5226
  • 22
    We live in a state that doesn't require auto insurance, so he will not be fined if he doesn't provide his own. I signed the car over to him when he left, so my name is no longer on the car.
    via u/No-Wonder5226
  • 23
    Sad parents
    via francescoridolfi.com from Rido / Canva

    Image is representative only and does not depict the actual subjects of the story.

  • 24
    The vacation was a cruise, so often we did not have cell phone reception. I left the credit card for emergencies with the example of
    via u/No-Wonder5226
  • 25
    "if the water heater explodes, use this to pay the plumber”. I also left $100 in cash to be used if food ran out (but also had groceries delivered while we were away).
    via u/No-Wonder5226
  • 26
    I can accept that I did, in fact, kick him out. And that we have enabled him to behave this way. Thanks for everyone's replies!
    via u/No-Wonder5226

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