Money Moral Dilemma: Who should pay the bill?

tenuissent

p { margin-bottom: 0.21cm; } Sigh.



Could you just forget it's a Mother-in-Law problem?

That is so irrelevant.

You have given key and code to someone, presumably because this person can help you in some way and therefore is given access to your house.

Your alarm system broke down. This person responsibly sorted out the problem of your alarm shrilling out over the whole area for hours, got an engineer in, solved the problem at a cost of £50.

This is your bill. It doesn't matter whether it was your M-in-law or a tradesman, or your cleaner, or your gardener or whatever.

Your alarm system failed. Why does it matter to you SO MUCH that it happened to be your M-in-law? Could have been you, your child, your cleaner, your spouse.

Just sort it out fairly.

VeeW

Aw please def. the mother in law. If she'd driven into a car outside your house would there even be a question? She broke it she should pay to fix it

[Deleted User]

Go round to her house and kick the hell out of her garden gnomes.

mr-tom_2

I think the far more worrying question is why your mother in law has access to your house in the first place.

Surely you don't want her just walking in?

(edit - but yes, you pay. As others say, £50 for marital peace is a small price)

Taffy99

Change the locks and code... Preferably move house, just to be sure.

You should be more worried about the Mother-in-law snooping around your home, than the £50! lol.

MAIA

As a mil myself I would offer to pay for any damage I caused in my childrens' homes However, I do think that money can cause a lot of problems in families and, as so many have suggested, if I was asked to pay I would definitely be offended. It does make a difference when it's a family member who causes extra expense. When it's a family member you should know the financial circumstances on both sides and that should be taken into account. Why have bad feeling over a relatively small amount? She should have called them before going in their house, and before arranging the repair.

If my mil had done this she would have paid and we would have had big problems giving her the money back!

fruits_2

I don't know what sort of relaitionship some if you have with you families but I would not dream of asking her...even if she offered I would not accept...She would most likely be feeling bad enough already...your alarm system your responsibility...

thisuseridistakenagain

hmm, Id hope she would offer. but I would decline anyway. Its my alarm, id be angry if she asked me to pay for breaking her alarm. She wasn't doing anything weird with it, so it could have happened to anybody.

Its interesting the difference between people's opinions on access to their house by the MIL in the first place though!!
My OH would never give his mum the key, but I would give mine one, and he would be happy with that.

She would never come in without a good long knock first. and would make sure nobody was home before going in herself, and only to leave something on the bench or pick something up to do me a favour. Id be quite happy for MIL to do that too, as long as it wasn't very often!!! ROFL.

What is she going to 'snoop' on? my life insn't that interesting!

Oopsadaisy

These MMDs bring out so many fruitcakes that it's truly frightening sometimes.