Room rental question

pclive

I'm currently renting a double room in Drimnagh. My tenant wants his girlfriend to move in with him. I currently charge him €500 per month. He offered to pay more in rent a few weeks ago as he thinks he is getting a good deal. Reckon I could charge €550-€600
Any ideas what a fair rent would be for two sharing the room?

Michael D Not Higgins

Do you charge bills on top?

pclive

Yes bills are extra

wirelessdude01

Do you actually want another person/couple living with you? A couple can and does change the dynamic. Personally I'd want at least an extra €300 ontop of the exist agreement.

As above, I'd want a really significant amount over the current €500, I'm thinking €900 ish.

An extra person will generate much more use on appliances and of course take up space. It will be there home so they are entitled to take up space and use appliances but they should pay for the privilege.

Moonbeam

All bills will be split 3 ways so bills become cheaper.
I wouldn't put up the rent by too much if you are happy with them.

NicoleW85

900 a month for a double room??? Wow... That seems excessive?? How much extra electricity can one more person use?

athtrasna

wirelessdude01 wrote: »

Do you actually want another person/couple living with you? A couple can and does change the dynamic. Personally I'd want at least an extra €300 ontop of the exist agreement.

This. It's so easy for a couple to make you feel like the outsider in your own home. If there's no way to avoid it happening I would want significant compensation

MarkAnthony

Assuming the OP is a grown up and able to make their own decisions on who they want living with them I'll try to answer the question asked which is about €100 more than whatever the market rate in the area is OP. You can have a look at rooms being rented in the area on DAFT to get an idea.

I wouldn't underestimate the effect a couple can have but then if you're the owner you hold the cards in relation to asking them to leave if it doesn't work out.

pauldavis123

Eight ton...

Rachiee

I wouldnt live with a couple, be looking for 800 to be honest one bed appartnents go for around 950-1200 and most accomodation sharing places dont allow couples so min you should charge is 750

The_Conductor

wirelessdude01 wrote: »

Do you actually want another person/couple living with you? A couple can and does change the dynamic. Personally I'd want at least an extra €300 ontop of the exist agreement.

Wirelessdude01- has a very valid point.
Its not so much the increase in rent you'd get from having another person in the house- and indeed a commensurate cut in your share of the bills- its that the entire dynamic in the house will be different. If you haven't shared with a couple before- I wouldn't suggest you can even put a monetary value on it- have you ever had to try and sit in a room with a couple after they've had a fight- or try to interpret various mindgames that just tend to happen........

Seriously- I would not encourage this at all- at any price whatsoever.

SteM

OP, about 15 years ago I was sharing a place with someone. My then girlfriend moved over from London and I asked if she could move in with us. We paid one third of the rent each and one third of all the bills - seemed like a good deal for him at the time and he jumped at it. My friend moved out of the apartment after 4 months. Without noticing at the time we took over that apartment as a couple. It's something I still think about from time to time and still regret.

By all means try it if you want to but make sure you're well paid for it and consider that if it doesn't work out you'll probably loose your current tenant because he'll move on with his girlfriend.

Michael D Not Higgins

One thing the OP hasn't mentioned is if they're living with a partner themselves. If they are, then a second couple could be fine if they think the place is big enough. If not, then heed the warnings of the other posters here.

Id be very slow to move in a couple myself but another thing to consider is how big is your house/how many common areas.

For example if your kitchen and living room is one then it would be a definite no, if you have a separate living room and kitchen it's a bit better and if you have a big house with two living rooms and a kitchen (or even a kitchen and living room in one and a separate living room) then I'd be considering it much more as you can allocate them one living room and you have the other to yourself. That said I'd still be slow to do it.

Also remember to keep the rent + bills under 12k for rent a room relief.

PhoenixParker

If we say for arguments sake that your room is equivalent to his, therefore the total rent if you were both paying rent would be E1000.
Divided three ways that would be E333 for you and E667 for them, except obviously they're both sharing one bedroom. The roughly right amount is somewhere between E500 and E667 but you've got the inconvenience of living with a couple which I personally wouldn't want especially in a home I owed myself.

I'd go about the E600 mark, but you might prefer to split the difference and go for more like E580.

There are various fancy online calculators that will offer suggestions too.

PhoenixParker

PhoenixParker wrote: »

If we say for arguments sake that your room is equivalent to his, therefore the total rent if you were both paying rent would be E1000.
Divided three ways that would be E333 for you and E667 for them, except obviously they're both sharing one bedroom. The roughly right amount is somewhere between E500 and E667 but you've got the inconvenience of living with a couple which I personally wouldn't want especially in a home I owed myself.

I'd go about the E600 mark, but you might prefer to split the difference and go for more like E580.

There are various fancy online calculators that will offer suggestions too.

If he decides to do it he should ask at least 750 initially and then can argue down from that a bit if the couple look to pay less. Always better to ask more than you expect.

Also as its the ops house I wouldn't really be using house share calculations to work out what's fair. Its his home and he should be compensated significantly for sharing with a couple.

Rachiee

If your an owner occupier you'd be mad to charge half mortgage or split mortgage three ways. Charge market rate. Difficult to work out as most places don't accept couples. Hence Price should be the split difference between the going rate for a bed sit and the going rate for a one bed apartment.