Judge Orders 30-Year-Old Man to Move Out of Parents’ Home

May 23, 2018

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Summary: A New York judge ruled that a 30-year-old man needed to move out of his parents’ house, where he had been staying rent-free for eight years.

Michael Rotondo’s failure to launch has become a national joke. The unemployed 30-year-old lived with his parents for eight years, and despite their pleas to get him to move out, he happily lived in their home rent-free until a judge finally told him to get out.

But Michael wasn’t pleased with the judge’s decision, which he later called “ridiculous.”

“I don’t see why they can’t just, you know, wait a little bit for me to leave the house,” Michael said in court.

This week, New York State Supreme Court Justice Donald Greenwood ruled in favor of Michael’s parents, who had tried unsuccessfully to kick out their son from their house for months. According to CNN, Christina and Mark Rotondo had given five notices and offers of money if their 30-year-old squatter would move out, but the millennial refused to budge.

On Tuesday, the judge granted Christina and Mark the right to evict their son, who did not contribute to the family financially and was not working. Michael said that there was never an expectation that he would help out, with chores or with money.

“[Michael] has never been expected to contribute to household expenses, or assisted with chores and the maintenance of the premises, or assisted with chores and the maintenance of the premises, and claims that this is simply a component of his living agreement,” Michael’s court filings stated, according to CNY Central.

The parents served Michael his first official eviction notice on February 2, and they stated that he had 14 days to leave but the millennial refused to give up his free housing. On February 13, Michael was served another notice, this time giving him 30 days to vacate or law enforcement would be contacted. Michael ignored this letter too, so the parents resorted to offering job-hunting tips and $1,100 to find a new home.

But the unemployed 30-year-old ignored this request as well. Not giving up, the parents served notices on March 5 and March 30 before finally taking up legal ejection processes.

Michael argued in court that he deserved six months of notice, but Judge Greenwood disagreed, according to NPR.

“You say you’re entitled to six months, which really seems to be kind of outrageous, that somebody in this day and age could be in somebody else’s home with a six-month notice before they have to leave,” Greenwood said. “I mean, that creates all kind of problems in the era of Airbnb.”

Michael Rotondo said that he plans to appeal the judge’s decision. According to NPR, Michael said that he and his parents had a rift over a custody battle regarding his one-year-old son. Because of this disagreement, he said, they stopped paying for his cell phone and food.