AITA for secretly buying a house behind my mom's back after she stole the one I spent years paying for?
For context, my husband and I had a rent-to-own agreement with my mom's husband while they were married. The understanding was that once the house was fully paid off, it would become ours because we were paying the mortgage, taxes, and upkeep.
After their divorce, my mom had nowhere to go, so I let her move in with us while we continued paying for everything tied to the house. Mortgage payments, utilities, repairs, furniture, groceries, basically all household expenses. My mom only covered her phone bill and credit cards.
But when the house was finally paid off, everything changed.
She cried and said she had “nothing to call her own” and that my husband and I were young enough to buy another house someday, so she deserved to keep it. I didn’t want to destroy our relationship, so instead of fighting her, I started looking for another home.
The problem was that every time I mentioned buying a house, she’d immediately discourage me. She’d tell me the economy was terrible, interest rates were too high, and I couldn’t afford it. She was living her best life traveling while I paid all her bills.
My husband and I secretly started the process of buying another home, got approved, closed on a house, and got the keys without her knowing. I finally told her after closing when we already had a move date.
Ironically, when I brought it up casually, she interrupted me with the same speech about how irresponsible buying a house would be. I let her finish and then told her, “Actually, I already bought it. We move this weekend.”
She lost it, accused me of betraying her, and refused to speak to me. We still deep cleaned her old house room by room while moving out because she was out of state visiting family. One evening after cleaning all day, we left and minutes later she sent me a message saying she had “just arrived home” and was disgusted that we left “her house” in shambles. She also refused to let us retrieve some of our belongings from the garage, claiming anything left behind was now hers.
Then she started telling family and friends a completely different story. According to her, she had generously let me “rent” her home cheaply and I repaid her by abandoning her financially and stripping the house of furniture. The furniture she complained about was literally ours.
Months later, she finally visited my new house and criticized everything from the fixtures to the curtains. Then after insulting the place, she looked around and said, “I (her) deserve this house.”
It’s been a couple years and things are calmer now, but she’s currently in major financial trouble and keeps hinting that she should move onto my property in a trailer because she’s getting older. My husband and sons already help maintain her property because she physically struggles to keep up with it. But she wanted the house, right? Be careful what you ask for.
She keeps hinting at selling her house and bringing a trailer to my property but I keep telling her no.
So AITA for any of it?