Tenant Says Landlord Demanded She Share Her Dinner With His Pregnant Wife

A simple act of generosity took an uncomfortable turn after a renter’s landlord allegedly decided one shared dinner should not be the last.

The 31-year-old woman had recently moved into a renovated basement unit in a family home, with her own bedroom, bathroom, and living quarters; however, she shared the upstairs kitchen with the landlord’s family.

In a Sept. 5 Reddit post, shared to the r/advice subreddit, the woman said her lease specifically states that the landlord family’s food is off-limits to her and that she is responsible for feeding herself and cleaning up after cooking. The lease itself is not publicly available, and her account could not be independently verified.

On her first night there, the renter made shrimp Alfredo and offered some extra food to the family. They happily accepted. This ended up conjuring a recipe for alleged trouble and murky social norms.

This Time, The Salmon Was Not For Sharing

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My landlord is demanding I feed them, what can I do?
by
u/EcstaticBlackberry72 in
Advice

The renter later prepared two pieces of baked salmon with cilantro-lime rice, intending to eat one for dinner and save the other for lunch the next day. She cleaned the kitchen, took her food downstairs, and began eating.

Then came a “snarky” text from her landlord. “Basically he said that because his wife is pregnant and really likes salmon, I should have shared it with her,” she recounted in her Reddit post.

The landlord pointed out that she had cooked two pieces and said she could have given his wife one. He also reminded the renter that the family had “opened their home” to her and told her to be more considerate next time.

The renter saw things differently. Besides having plans for the second piece of salmon, she said she spends considerable money on fresh ingredients and could not afford to routinely prepare extra food for three additional people.

Her Meal Plan Came With A Price Tag

Commenters suggested she turn the unexpected demand into a business proposition. Since she works in food service and enjoys cooking, the renter offered to prepare one family meal each week if the landlords supplied the ingredients and knocked $50 off her rent per meal, or $200 per month.

That proposal apparently did not go over well. In an update to the original post, she claimed, “You all were right they pretty much laughed in my face about that.”

She has decided to leave when the initial lease ends Oct. 31 and says she has already found a small studio where she can stay month-to-month while continuing to save. In the meantime, she plans to keep buying and cooking food for exactly the person her lease says she is responsible for feeding: herself.

The renter also added locks to her downstairs mini fridge and pantry and set up a Ring camera in her living area.

As for dinner after making that decision, subtlety was apparently no longer on the menu: she said she planned to make herself garlic short ribs and macaroni and cheese because, as she put it, “it turns out I am a bit petty.”