How long before you redivide rent?

anon808

Looking for opinions for a friend as he won't listen to me.

His housemate has moved the girlfriend in (or the gf has moved herself in) last weekend and he has no idea how long she'll be there for. She has come over from abroad and initially got work down the country so was working and living there but now shes back and says she's staying in the city but no talk of where she'll be working or living.

I told him if she's still there by next weekend to sit down and discuss a new rent division. (can't really kick her out as she doesn't have anywhere else to go). He says he'll just leave it as he doesn't want to kick up a fuss.

Background: 2Bedroom, 1 Bathroom. 2 tennants, each have their own room. Everything is split 50/50.

How long should she be staying there before he should insist on her paying rent?

D3PO

why wait a week. Forget the discussion about dividing the rent he needs to chat now about what the plan is.

Is she only staying for a week ? ok no hassles.

Is she staying for a while till she sorts out somewhere else ? (time to discuss dividing bills as this could go indefinitely)

Has she no plan same time to chat about dividing.

In my eyes bills should then be split in 3 I don't see why your friends mate should pay 2/3rds of the rent though as shes staying in his room. Perhaps a token amount to acknowledge shes there on top of a three way split of the bills

syklops

Its a tricky one. Been in this situation before.

On the hand I would want her to at least chip in for some of the rent, on the other hand do you want to lose a reliable, rent paying tenant and possibly a friend at the same time?

How easy would it be to get another tenant if your friend moves out?

Tigger

The heat and light etc should be split in three while she's there
But rent should be divided on bedrooms so should t be changed

Tbh this is my opinion and should be decided upon before moving in together not after as this sort of thing always causes issues

anon808

Do people still believe in the whole 2 bedrooms 50/50 no matter how many are in each room thing? Because as far as I'm concerned, he's only getting to use one third of the bathroom, one third of the kitchen and one third of the living room (which is three quarters of the home) now so I would have thought it would at least go to 40/30/30.

And he couldn't have discussed this before hand as he didn't expect this situation to occur.

djimi

If she is there for any length of time that would be deemed longer than a visit (ie a week at most) then she should be paying for a third of the bills for anything that she uses. By the sounds of it she is more than a guest, so if she has a problem with this then tell her to get lost and go find a hotel to stay in.

As for the rent, its a more difficult one to call. The arrangement wrt rooms hasnt changed, so I guess technically the bf could argue that the rent payable shoudnt change, however she is another body using the bathroom, the kitchen, the living room etc, and as such she should be paying something towards the general rent also. Even if its not a straight 1/3 split, just something to acknowledge that there is another tenant using the other parts of the house.

D3PO

anon808 wrote: »

Do people still believe in the whole 2 bedrooms 50/50 no matter how many are in each room thing? Because as far as I'm concerned, he's only getting to use one third of the bathroom, one third of the kitchen and one third of the living room (which is three quarters of the home) now so I would have thought it would at least go to 40/30/30.

And he couldn't have discussed this before hand as he didn't expect this situation to occur.

To suggest hes getting one third use of the living room or kitchen is ludacris. Bathroom he could argue hes losing use of but are you genuinely suggesting hes going to be impacted that badly.

Theres a level of common sense to apply here. Arguing a one third split makes no sense and will jsut lead to an unnecessary argument.

D3PO

djimi wrote: »

If she is there for any length of time that would be deemed longer than a visit (ie a week at most) then she should be paying for a third of the bills for anything that she uses. By the sounds of it she is more than a guest, so if she has a problem with this then tell her to get lost and go find a hotel to stay in.

As for the rent, its a more difficult one to call. The arrangement wrt rooms hasnt changed, so I guess technically the bf could argue that the rent payable shoudnt change, however she is another body using the bathroom, the kitchen, the living room etc, and as such she should be paying something towards the general rent also. Even if its not a straight 1/3 split, just something to acknowledge that there is another tenant using the other parts of the house.

BANG ON. Its called common sense.

anon808

D3PO wrote: »

Arguing a one third split makes no sense and will jsut lead to an unnecessary argument.

Did you see my previous message? I never argued a third split...I said 40/30/30. That way he's paying slightly less than half and they are paying only slightly more than a quarter each.

IMHO living with a couple impacts the kitchen and living area most as you are suddenly battling with an extra person for cooking time, fridge/shelf/freezer space and when watching tv feel like a third wheel or are battling an extra person for programmes etc.

Just my opinion though.

irelandrover

D3PO wrote: »

To suggest hes getting one third use of the living room or kitchen is ludacris. Bathroom he could argue hes losing use of but are you genuinely suggesting hes going to be impacted that badly.

Theres a level of common sense to apply here. Arguing a one third split makes no sense and will jsut lead to an unnecessary argument.

Id argue that he loses even more. My experience is that couples tend to hog the living room more so he starts to feel unwelcome and intrusive in his own house. Honestly i wouldnt live with a couple in this situation.

super_furry

40/30/30 on rent. 33/33/33 on bills. Simples.