A 30-year-old millennial man being evicted by the parents he doesn't speak to explains why their stance is 'nonsense'
- Mike Rotondo's parents tried to evict their son after eight years of living under the same roof in upstate New York.
- Rotondo argued that he be allowed up to six months to leave, but a judge has ordered him to vacate.
- His parents first talked about kicking him out in October, stopped feeding him in November, and sent him a note about potential legal action in February.
- Rotondo believes that his parent's actions are retaliatory because he lost visitation rights to his child.
A millennial man is trying to delay an eviction from his parents' house, even though he doesn't talk to them.
Mark and Christina Rotondo have asked their son to leave their Camillus, New York, house and have taken legal action. Michael Rotondo - who goes by Mike - is a 30-year-old, self-described "liberal millennial" who has lived with his parents for the last eight years.
Syracuse.com reported that State Supreme Court Justice Donald Greenwood ordered Rotondo vacate his parents' house sooner, although no timeline has been specified in court. The judge also ordered an investigation by adult protective services.
He received a letter from his parents on February 2. The notification said "we have decided that you must leave this house immediately. You have 14 days to vacate." Rotondo told Business Insider that this letter was "nonsense" and was "a retaliatory action" for losing visitation custody of his child two days earlier. Rotondo said that he stopped talking to his parents when he received the first letter.
"I wouldn't characterize them as being very good parents," Rotondo told Business Insider during a phone call.
Rotondo told Business Insider that he hasn't had the financial means to move out because he has been focusing on his child. "I've been a father for the last few years. That's what I've been doing. I really haven't pursued a career," he said. "That's why I'm living with my parents still."
Rotondo's child has never lived with him. His relationship with his child's mother "used to be really, really good where we would exchange gifts and have each other over for holidays and then it went real bad, real fast."
"I was an excellent father," Rotondo said. "I would forgo buying clothes for myself so that I could take [my child] skiing." He then said that "I had an issue with [the child's mother] and in a similar way, I lost all my visitation."
Rotondo contested that he was not given enough time to leave his parents' house. " I was expecting to have the ability to leave my parents' house from six months from that February 2nd notice," he said.
"I went to court for, and made the case, that I needed to be provided a six-month notice," Rotondo continued. "I didn't want to be there anymore. I didn't want to be there in the long [term]."
The parents' second letter to their son was dated February 13 and said that "a legal enforcement procedure will be instituted immediately if you do not leave by March 15, 2018." The third letter came with an offer of $1,100 and advice on how to move out. The fourth letter reminded Rotondo that he had 11 days before legal action was taken and "so far we have seen no indication that you are preparing to leave."
Mike said his parents started threatening to throw him out of their house in October, adding "I don't like living with my parents."
Rotondo said he's getting the impression people think he brought the case to court because he wants to keep living with his parents indefinitely, but that isn't the case. "I was trying to get more time," he said. He did not want it to "seem as though that the notice I was provided on February 2 initiated or considered to be a six-month notice."
According to Rotondo, his parents stopped feeding him in November 2017. The Daily Mail reported that Rotondo had a case thrown out in family court last November. "My mother had cut off my health insurance before she was required to," saying he has not had health insurance for the past five years.
The Daily Mail also reported that Rotondo filed a discrimination lawsuit against Best Buy in 2017 because he was fired for being unable to work on Sundays because of his court visitation schedule. Rotondo declined to comment on any of his previous employment history to Business Insider.