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The original was posted on /r/AmItheAsshole by /u/lioneaglegriffin on 2023-10-05 05:27:34.

My mom passed away in April without a will, and I’m currently going through probate to transfer my parents’ properties. I plan to sell the church/house and keep the one where my half-sister is living. I am my mom’s only child, and my half-sister is on my dad’s side, who passed away in 2020.

My half-sister has been living at the second property for almost 20 years, paying rent to my dad and then to my mom/me since my mom let me handle rent collection. A little over a week after my mom’s funeral, she approached me and said, “I’d like to be added to the deed after the mortgage is paid off.” I was stunned by the request and didn’t know what to say, so I told her I would ask the lawyer about it.

I can understand her perspective, as paying rent for 20 years without having property in your name can be frustrating. She might also be worried about me raising the rent. She currently pays $875 in Los Angeles (the mortgage is $500), but the market rate on Zillow is $2k.

However, I have several reasons for not wanting to add her to the deed:

  1. My dad used to complain to me about how she took advantage of his kindness by not paying the rent in full by the first of every month (half on the 1st and half on the 15th), causing him to make up the shortfall himself until the middle of the month. Sometimes she’d skip a month of rent to go on vacation.
  2. While sick with cancer, my dad advised me not to let people take advantage of me, especially if they’re family, as it was one of his biggest regrets.
  3. She lied to me about the reason my dad raised the rent, claiming it was so he would take over repairs because she was doing them herself with the lower rent (I remember accompanying my dad when he made repairs himself as a kid, so this is obviously not true).
  4. Her request to be added to the deed “after the mortgage is paid off” seems unfair, as it implies she wants the benefits of homeownership without the debt involved if I decided to keep the mortgage.