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Relationships

Mumsnet has not checked the qualifications of anyone posting here. If you need help urgently or expert advice, please see our domestic violence webguide and/or relationships webguide. Many Mumsnetters experiencing domestic abuse have found this thread helpful: Listen up, everybody

We made our bed with ILs and now we really have to lay in it.

133 replies

mampam · 21/07/2015 16:04

There is such a long backstory to this but I will try to be as brief as possible.

I have been with DH for almost 10 years. Right from the very beginning it was crystal clear that the ILs did not like me, the only reason I could fathom was that I have 2 DC from a previous marriage. DH and I also have 2DC together.

Years ago IL's bought a large house that was separated into 2 dwellings, the lived in one we lived in the other. It did not work as they were absolutely vile to me and it got so unbearable (ending with FIL aggressively shouting at me and calling me names) that I started to look for somewhere else for myself and DC to live when they backed Dh (we weren't married then) into a corner and made him choose between them and me. He chose me.

We moved house and shortly after were married. IL's came to the wedding but caused a horrible atmosphere, FIL would barely stand near me to have a photo taken, MIL would turn on her heels if I went near her and neither of them spoke to me the whole day. All our wedding guests noticed, it was awful.

IL's refused to apologise for any of their behaviour so DH went NC with them for about 2.5 years afterwards during which time DH had a breakdown.
When I became pregnant with our 1st DC together the ILs got in touch and I persuaded DH to give them a second chance (more fool me) and they came to see the baby when she was 2 weeks old.
For a while we built up a good relationship with them (or so we thought) and whilst they never apologised for their behaviour, we put it behind us and they seemed to have changed. So much so we went on holiday with them and ILs helped DH to build his business up. All seemed fine for a couple of years and then they asked us if we would like to move back to our old house and would pay to have an extension built.
It took DH and I 3 months to reach the decision to move back (I know, I know we should have said no).

We have now lived next door to them again for just short of 2 years and things have got progressively worse ending with a row between MIL and myself last week.
I truly think they were putting on an act to lure us back to living next door to them as they seemed to change almost immediately. FIL is controlling and everything has to be his way or the highway. He treats DH as if he is stupid and a little child. In fact he treats everyone as if they are stupid and thinks he is the authority on everything. He even tells DH what load up for his days work as if he is in charge and an expert on what DH does for a living.

If ever they have had to arrange for a tradesman to come to our house for whatever reason he just walks into our house without knocking or even shouting to let us know that he's showing the tradesman around.
They grow plants up the front of our house and won't let us tend to them or to our front patch of grass.
They kindly gave DH a hand at getting his business off the ground, bought machinery to push DH's business in the direction that FIL wanted it to go in but it belongs to them, DH is allowed to use it and now FIL is slowly selling it off.
FIL once detached our hose from the outside tap as we may not remember to turn the tap off.
We weren't allowed to have underfloor heating in our extension as FIL felt we would forget to switch it off.
Last year when I was pregnant and suffering with severe Hyperemesis and was rendered pretty useless not once did ILs help DH. He was working, looking after 4 children, mopping up my sick, cooking, cleaning, washing, doing the shopping and working on the extension. Twice he asked MIL to fetch DD from pre-school and both times he was met with "oh alright then" with a lot of eye rolling and she made it clear she was severely put out.
At every opportunity MIL will come out with snide comments aimed at me.
She comes to the house when DH isn't here to make me feel guilty about how much they spent on the extension, pleads poverty, makes out like they are really poor when in reality they are both in their 50's, FIL is retired and MIL has a part time job.
DH's cousin came to stay with us at Easter and whilst he was here MIL told him that they only tolerate me as they know DH will choose me over them. That I don't do anything, DH does everything and has an unfair workload. I wear the trousers in our house.
They never babysit.
They never offer to help us with anything.
They criticise at every opportunity.
They can see we are run ragged, especially Dh yet still nag him and get him to do things that FIL has all the time in the world to do but won't.

We rent this house from the ILs, we have a tenancy agreement yet they seem to know no boundaries. They don't seem to have any sense of what will really piss people off or not.........or maybe they do I'm not sure.

The row between MIL and myself started because the previous day DH had asked FIL if he could nip him over to the local village about 1/2 mile away in his van to pick up a sofa bed that we were buying from someone. FIL agreed but early afternoon he asked DH if he wanted to just borrow the van to go and get it himself so he could "have a drink". DH said no as he is not insured to drive it and we had a car written off 2 months ago in an accident so he is very wary.
FIL took DH to fetch the sofa but DH said that FIL had already been drinking.

At 10.15pm that night our home phone rang. We didn't get to it in time but there was a message from FIL telling us that our shower in our upstairs bathroom had been leaking again. We were quite annoyed at him for calling so late as he woke our 8 month old baby who doesn't sleep very well as it is and frightened the life out of us as my 12 year old DS was away with school at the time and I assumed that if someone was calling that late it must be someone from the school calling to say something was up with DS.

The following morning DH took DD out to wait for the school bus and when he came back in he was absolutely livid. MIL had been waiting for him and launched straight into "can you fix that shower today?", DH snapped "YES!" at her. On the way back from the bus stop FIL hung out of his bedroom window and shouted to DH "Oi, what's your problem?.....You don't speak to your mother like that......" and had basically had a real go at him. DH had been so annoyed at his mother because of the way she collared him when he was in a rush to get to the bus stop and then get to work and that she just launched straight into it without even a hello or sorry for calling so late last night. This sort of thing is a regular occurrence either before or when he has just come home from work, collaring him and nagging about something. To be honest we are both absolutely shattered and this was just the final straw in a long list of things.

I saw MIL as I was getting in the car to go to work a little later so I said to her "Can you tell FIL never to call us at that time again as it's not on and he woke the baby up". She was immediately on the defensive and her reply was "well we had water pissing down our stairs", I then repeated what she had said "water pissing down your stairs?", her reply to that "well somebody was in the fucking shower". So that was it I just let rip. I said I would not have FIL speaking to DH like he was a piece of shit off his shoe, that I was fed up with them nagging and stressing DH out all the time. Oh we had a proper row and yes there was definitely some effing and jeffing from me too, I think almost 10 years of pent up emotion came out as I have never said a word before and have just kept my mouth shut. MIL told me to piss off I don't know how many times.

When I got home from work a couple of hours later DH called to say he'd had an answer phone message left on his mobile from FIL saying that "your missus has just had a bender at MIL, effing and blinding, I'm not having it and I'm not living like this" Hmm

Whilst I was on the phone to DH I was in our (downstairs) bedroom sat on our bed looking out of the window. FIL was strimming, saw me so walked right over to our window and started strimming right outside!! The following day MIL parked her wheelbarrow right on the drive making it difficult for me to reverse. At the weekend FIL must have used every power tool he owns (he does own quite a lot) right outside our garden gate. FIL has also been parking his van right up against one of our downstairs windows instead of where he normally parks. Usually we don't hear them (unless FIL is drunk and we can hear his music over our TV) but we are now hearing doors slamming all the time.
Yesterday DH was left another answerphone message summoning him to their house that afternoon to talk, DH didn't go.

There is no going back from this I know. I want nothing to do with them, I'm done trying, sweeping things they do and snide comments under the carpet. I want to be left alone, I have no fight left. I basically have to put up and shut up. I am miserable.

DH is miserable too, he feels powerless against his parents. I know they won't listen.

Thank you for reading if you have got this far. I don't think I am looking for replies really as we have made our bed and we must lie in it although it feels good to get things off my chest. We have no money to move house.
We are stuck.

If you feel like giving me a sympathy pat on the back I could really do with it right now.

OP posts:
Sweetsecret · 21/07/2015 16:42

I can relate to this to a certain extent, I rent my house from my M, and have no way of leaving she isn't on my doorstep though.
This sounds hiddeous, seriously start saving to leave as soon as you can this type of pressure destroyed my marriage.
My Stbxh was never good enough, they were pleasent enough to his face but behind his back, my M would tell me to put things in place for the day he inevitably leave me, made me so paranoid.
It's only now he has left that I realise why it has happened.
They are toxic and will continue to be until you can get a proper distance from them.
Don't make the same mistake I did, it will eat away at you, there is only so much abuse a person/couple can take.Thanks

shovetheholly · 21/07/2015 16:48

Gosh, what an awful situation. You need to get out. And you need to make sure that you both resolve never, ever to accept any help whatsoever from these people again.

You are renting now, so you could presumably use that same money each month to pay for another place that's very far away from them? If it's just the removal costs and deposit that need to be paid, then I would suggest doing just about ANYTHING to scrape that money together, including working two jobs and eating lentils every day for the summer holidays Grin. It should be a matter of weeks, not months, to get the finances in place that will allow you to hire a van and to put a deposit down. And do not under any circumstances give them your forwarding address! A loooong period of no contact is very much called for.

shovetheholly · 21/07/2015 16:49

Oh, and I would call their bluff on the tenancy agreement. How bad will they look if they pursue you for the money?

PoppyBlossom · 21/07/2015 16:56

To be honest, I don't think they sound that awful. If you want to be subsidesed you've got to put in favours and good will. A water leak is an emergency and a valid reason to call his son/tenant.

They could evict you with two months notice, so fighting talk wouldn't be my suggested approach if you enjoy having a home. It sounds to me like your husband is prepared to take from his parents, expecting them to be on hand for favours and cash, but doesn't seem to have much patience or time for them.

ArseForElbow · 21/07/2015 16:57

How awful for you, is there really no way you could start saving for a deposit to rent elsewhere?

GoooRooo · 21/07/2015 17:00

Put keys in the locks on the inside so they can't open the doors and let themselves in.

Save like mad and move ASAP.

LIZS · 21/07/2015 17:02

Sounds grim and controlling, but you presumably took that risk in P moving back. What is dh's business, does it include plumbing etc? If so a call when a leak occurred isn't out of order.

You do seem to now be over sensitive to their behaviour. I doubt fil was stalking you with his strummer, just single minded in carrying out the task. If you both work what do you do for childcare, are pils involved. Can you focus on becoming independent again ?

FredaMayor · 21/07/2015 17:03

OP, I've had experience of some of what you describe, too. ILs getting old and failing health, thinking DS and DIL will look after them in their dotage and be easy to have/control as neighbours, because although they like the rent income they don't really like to have next door neighbours. Add to that a rather dependent DS and you have a recipe for rows.

Your ILs are behaving in a really nasty way and entrenching themselves all the time. As others are saying, you've got to go, you must. Even if you are broke for a while it'll be like lancing a boil.

lutra3d · 21/07/2015 17:05

I agree with poppyblossom. Phoning at 10.15 about a water leak isn't ideal but is necessary if the water really is pouring into their home.
From what you say dh did snap at MIL this morning also.

The wedding stuff sounds really awful - are you sure that isn't affecting your judgement a bit?

BeautifulLiar · 21/07/2015 17:08

But poppy, the money is a means of control. If a wife was being abused by her husband, would it be ok if he bought her things?

My parents are/were awful to me, but my dad did put my car finance in his name and paid it. Not that awful, then? Except I put £2500 towards that car, meant to pay for it, and he spent it on a garden. Meaning I'm still stuck with the car.

Anyway, move OP! I lived in a damp flat with gross stains in the toilet, but it was paradise compared to living with controlling parents!

PoppyBlossom · 21/07/2015 17:11

Oh I agree the money is a form of control, that's why the op has been foolish to accept. You accept the cash from family, you accept the conditions that come with it. Plus he op and her Dh sound like they expect family help and support, but don't sound that keen on reciprocating.

Move out op, and don't accept any future financial assistance.

mampam · 21/07/2015 17:20

No DH is not a plumber!! The problem was that the tiles needed re-grouting which DH has now done and took him about 5 hours to do. Surely as tenants it is the landlords responsibility?

Before we moved back IL's made out that whilst we would be paying them a rent each month the house would essentially be ours to do with as we pleased. Things changed once we moved however, the same with the machinery, they made out as if they were buying it for him, he is their only child that's what parents do for their children if they are able to (their words not mine). It was only after it was bought that the rules changed.

We do not accept anything from them anymore as it all comes at a price. All we want is some love and support (not financially) and an occasional pat on the back from what should be loving parents and grandparents. Instead we get constant criticism, negativity, sniping and controlling behaviour.

I guess I am sensitive to their behaviour but it comes after years of putting up with this constant nonsense.

OP posts:
IhateMagic · 21/07/2015 17:51

You have a neighbour from hell situation, that is at the same time a pil from hell situation mixed up with a shit landlord situation. Please, just start getting an exit plan together. Anything op, throw us a bone and we can start there! Can you start saving even a little?

mampam · 21/07/2015 17:51

Well the decision has been taken out of our hands now. DH has received another message on his answerphone from FIL whilst at work and has played it to me.

Basically I have got a serious problem, I've screamed at MIL calling her a fucking bitch (I really did not) and have called them both pissheads. (I did say I thought they'd called so late as they were both pissed out of their heads - they are normally in bed by 9).

They know I've had counselling in the past (I did to help me get over my abusive mother) so they want me to have counselling again and apologise to MIL. Only if I do this canI stay living in this house!

They feel sorry for the children and sorry for DH as I've obviously got some kind of problem. They don't know if it's down to my past or something else and it went on.

OP posts:
IhateMagic · 21/07/2015 17:56
Shock
IhateMagic · 21/07/2015 18:02

Oh my god......this sounds like a book I read called 'the little house'.......
it sounds like they have played a blinder op, you've been singled out, and they are trying to make you the enemy. Thank god your dh is on side, can you imagine if he wasn't!! It makes my blood run cold tbh, if I were you I'd start my own secret exit plan cos they won't stop until dh hates you too.

mampam · 21/07/2015 18:22
Sad
OP posts:
trappedinsuburbia · 21/07/2015 18:22

Your DH should send a written message back saying that if they want to evict you both they will have to start formal proceedings.

TheCraicDealer · 21/07/2015 18:24

I don't know of any lease that states that tenants must have counselling to stay in a house they pay rent on. It might be worth playing along for the sake of an easy life (in the short term anyway), but it sounds like they've been dying to get one over on you since the first occasion when your DH picked you over them. It won't stop here, even with an apology. So in your shoes, I'd see a solicitor or go to CAB and see where I stood re. the lease, whilst also logging any potential harassment with the police and warn them that that's what I intend to do.

TendonQueen · 21/07/2015 18:26

Not wishing to sound blase about it, but this gives you a way out. If they make you homeless the council will have to house you and then you can start afresh. Your DH can tell them that if one of you goes, you all go.

LIZS · 21/07/2015 18:28

I was also wondering if you'd be eligible for social housing . You'd need the section 21 notice to prove you will be homeless.

GoooRooo · 21/07/2015 18:36

This is your way out! Let them evict you. It'll be stressful but worth it in the end then you can cut all contact. Thank goodness your DH is on side.

MyPelvicFloorTrainsItself · 21/07/2015 18:52

If you pay them rent can't you rent somewhere else? Sounds shit Flowers

DonkeysDontRideBicycles · 21/07/2015 18:53

They never apologised for their earlier behaviour and they were nice enough just long enough to lure you back. There's a difference between asking for the odd favour and expecting you or DH to ask "How high?" when they say jump.

You under-estimate your power. Didn't MIL say to the cousin they know if they force him to choose, DH will pick you over them?

Try and keep calm and ignore provocative actions. Encourage DH to get what he's feeling off his chest not bottle it up.

Appreciate it is a financial headache but I agree that your aim should be to move out.

emotionsecho · 21/07/2015 19:00

TheCraicDealer is right get legal advice on the Terms and Conditions of your lease, make notes of all the incidents that have happened - including those you have listed here, keep the messages, etc., and make detailed notes of further incidents to build a case for harassment.

Speak to the Council/Housing Officer let them know what is happening and see if there is any way they can help you.

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