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The original was posted on /r/AmItheAsshole by /u/No_Yogurtcloset_4845 on 2023-08-09 12:11:34.

My mom downsized from an independent house to a flat a few months ago, since my siblings and I all moved out.

For some personal reasons I was living with her for a few months before finally moving out, so I helped her out with matters related to the sale of the old house, the purchase of the new one and the renovations.

The previous owner of the flat used to do some gardening works for the whole building, thus getting a small discount on the apartment expenses. He said that my mom (who is unemployed and lives on a very meager pension) could take over his duties, but this would have to be discussed with the administrator.

On the very same day when she signed the deed to buy the new flat, we talked with the administrator, and he said this would have to be voted on by the assembly, which would be in a couple months.

Skip to a few months later, one of the new neighbours is annoyed by the plants allegedly growing too much, thus blocking the remote control signal to open the gate (in reality the gate was defective).

Without waiting for the assembly’s approval, she convinced the tenant of another apartment to “clean” the garden, although he actually destroyed half of the plants, which subsequently died. The garden was left in shambles.

Comes the day of the assembly, and the issue of the gardening works comes up. This neighbour now claims that not only should the work be entrusted to the guy who cut the plants (who never even discussed this with the administrator), but also that he should be paid for the “work” he had already done.

Many of the other tenants agreed, saying that the garden needed those works.

My mom is not good at standing up for herself, so she asked me to intervene on her behalf. I told everyone in no uncertain terms that there is no way that we would pay for something that 1)was never agreed upon 2) was so poorly done, and that my mom was the only legitimate candidate to do this job, since she went through the administrator.

That neighbour who convinced the tenant to do the work called me “cheap” and said my mom can’t do it anyway because she’s a woman. I called her out on asking the guy to do the work without permission (she claim he did it spontaneous, but that’s obviously BS) and she said it was done already so we need to pay. I replied she’s dishonest for manipulating this guy by making him do what she wants and the trying to pass off the cost to the whole assembly.

Some people gasped and one old man even took out a bill and slammed it on the table to say that he would be paying the guy.

Eventually the administrator decided that he had enough of this mess and just decided that the apartment complex would hire a (costly) gardener to do maintenance in the future.

Now the whole building is pissed at my mom for “stirring up drama” and making them pay for a gardener.

was I the *hole for speaking up for my mom?