Ok, so I’m currently living with two other girls, we’ve been living together for about 3 month and I’m not going to lie, it’s kind of been hell for me. We all knew each other before we moved in, but as it’s their first time living away from their parents they’ve kind of gone insane. I’m talking late nights every night with music blaring and the drinks and drugs pouring. I’ve talked to them but nothing’s worked. We’re stuck in a lease so I can’t leave, my boyfriend is the only reason I haven’t gone completely insane.
So now he wants to move in, he’s already over all the time and my roommates don’t care, mostly because they’re either never there or otherwise intoxicated, so I discussed it with them and we agreed that him and I would split the rent I’m paying. To give you a little insight, I have the master, it’s a bit bigger than the other rooms and has a bathroom with a toilet and sink in it and I pay about $100 more. It’s been established that we pay for the rooms and then share the rest of the place. So now that he’s been approved by our landlady to move in my roommates are saying we need to split the rent 4 ways. I don’t think this is fair because we haven’t been doing that from the beginning, we’ve been paying for the rooms. They say if he doesn’t move in our rents would stay the same, which makes even less sense to me because if we’re going to be splitting it 4 ways if he moves in shouldn’t we be splitting it 3 ways even if he doesn’t? Not to mention that most nights I have to sleep with ear plugs and I had to buy a lock for my bedroom door.
I have no problem splitting utilities 4 ways, we’ve all already agreed on this. Is it really fair to have to split the rent 4 ways when we already established we were paying for the rooms?
Instead of your boyfriend paying rent to live in your “hell hole” why doesn’t he rent his own place that you can stay at most of the time while your lease clicks on?
I can see why you’d be annoyed that they are changing their minds when you’ve already come to an agreement, but IMHO splitting 4-ways is perfectly reasonable and fair. Some people might be willing to accept the previous agreement but that doesn’t mean they have to.
Has your boyfriend already given notice at his old place, or made any other arrangments that can’t be reversed (ie, signed a sublet agreement or something like that). If not I think they are still within their rights to change their mind. I’d also consider that this is better than the alternative, which is they kept their mouths shut and quietly resented you for moving in your boyfriend.
If the roomies want it to be split 4 ways, then do it. My future wife and I were in this position once. We took the master bedroom that was larger and had it’s own bathroom and paid $150 towards the $350 rent while the other two roommates paid $100 each for their rooms. One of them was a college student and she ended up splitting her room with another student but we didn’t charge them any extra, partly because they couldn’t afford it. But in the end it’s all about what everybody is comfortable with.
Why don’t you have him sleep on a sofa in the common area, and make him a common boyfriend? If you do that, you can keep the rents the same.
Either that, or you go 25% each, or the roommates don’t allow him to move in. It seems to me that someone moving into the house has to have the OK of everybody who originally agreed to move in together.
If you are dead set on going on with this idea then yes the rent should be split four ways. There is more to living arrangements than where you sleep. That said him moving in seems like the worst possible idea in your situation.
Seconded. Surely you can see that having an extra person in the house will have an affect on the life of your roommates. An extra person using the kitchen, tying up the washer/dryer, taking up space in the fridge/pantry, using the common rooms, etc. The house will be more crowded, will get dirtier quicker, and will experience more drama for each added housemate, no matter how awesome they are.
The way you want it, your BF moving in is a big plus for you (cuts your rent IN HALF, you get a live-in BF, etc), and a big minus for your housemates (they’ll be inconvenienced in the ways I mentioned, but will still be paying the same rent). You should negotiate a reduction in their rent that leaves everyone equally dissatisfied.
Incidentally, the other issues you’re having with your housemates have no bearing on this. If you’re that miserable you need to either voice your opinions and work out some sort of house rules, or you need to start investigating other living arrangements. As someone else has asked, if you’re so miserable why aren’t you looking for someone to replace you on your lease so you can move in with your boyfriend?
Four people, split the rent four ways if you don’t decide to do as diosabellissima and ladyfoxfyre suggests.
Why should you pay less rent and not them even if they have to deal with other roommate. It makes no sense to me at all.
Yes, he should pay more rent. This is how it should work, for adults in an adult living situation. They’re going to be inconvenienced by having another person in the place. He’s going to be jockeying for shower space and kitchen space and living room space and television time. And maybe phone time too, if you guys have a landline. He’s going to be doing stuff in public spaces, his food’s going to be taking up cabinet and refrigerator space, his towel needs a place to hang in the bathroom, his laundry will reduce the amount of time your roommates have to do their laundry (if you have w/d in the apartment). These are all inconveniences to your existing roommates, so the rent should certainly be split 4 ways.
If you have a problem with your roommates being loud alcoholic druggies and can’t confront them about it like an adult, then call the police anonymously and pretend a neighbor did it. Don’t try to scoot your boyfriend in for next-to-nothing as an act of revenge. Stick out your lease and take this as a lesson learned: good friends don’t necessarily make good roommates.
If you don’t want to split it four ways, then you need to explain to your boyfriend that he cannot use the kitchen, he cannot keep any of his food in the fridge, and (even though he’s paying 1/4 of the utilities), he has to wash up in a bucket in the bedroom (since he won’t be paying for the space in the bathroom).
Also - he can’t keep anything in the hall closet, the drawers, the shelves, the cabinets, the porch, the garage, and he should probably park across the street just to be sure.
I’m curious to know if there are contingencies worked out for two months from now when the boyfriend moves out, or is caught sleeping with another of the roommates. Whose rent goes up, whose rent goes down, and who gets the master bath?
Think of it this way: Let’s say the OP moves into one of the smaller bedrooms and her BF moves into the other. The 2 roommates share the master. Should the 2 roommates pay 30% of the rent each, since they “enjoy the benefits of a master suite”? No, because they’re sharing it. There’s no way that 1 person should pay 30% for half of a room while someone else pays 20% for a room to themselves.
Split 4 ways, then recommend that your two roomies shack up together in the Master while you and BF get to use the other two bedrooms. They might not like that option.
I recommend the following. Split the rent 50/50 into 2 costs, Bedrooms and Common Areas.
You get 1/3rd of the Bedroom cost (after accounting for the $100 bonus for the master)
You get 2/4 the Common Area cost, since you are 2 people out of 4
Example, $1400 rent
$700 is for bedrooms, you pay $300, your roomates each pay $200
$700 is for common areas, you pay $350, your roomates each pay $175.
Total, you pay $650, your roomates each pay $375
Honestly, even with this method, you’re probably not paying much less than 1/2 the total.