Each actor, unilaterally, can decide to end the boarding relationship. Neither actor, unilaterally, can cause the boarding relationship to happen.
If Actor B decides to end the relationship, he must scour the classifieds for a place to rent, and move his things out.
If Actor L decides to end the relationship, he must scour the classifieds for a new boarder, to take the old one’s place.
I don’t see that one is inherently in the catbird seat, and the other just has to suck up whatever “final decision” is made. It’s a negotiation, and the result has a lot to do with the individual dynamic. This is like saying the car dealer sets the price. Yes, the car, and the lot, belong to the dealer, and he can tell me to piss off any time he wants and I go home empty handed, but he doesn’t make the “final decision” on the price, we negotiate fair terms.
Nope. The owner gets two things out of his payments : the opportunity to live in the house and equity. The renter only gets the former. There’s no reason he should pay an equal part of the mortgage. I know some believe believe that the fair price for a rental is the amount paid for the mortgage, but this is ridiculous on the face of it (especially so when you consider that people might take mortgages of various durations, hence with widly different monthly payments). Doesn’t prevent some people from complaining that they can’t rent their appartment for this “fair” price.
And even if they were still mere roomates, the size of the part of the apartment they get to use would matter more than the number of people using it, except for utilities. I won’t get to ask a ten times higher rent if I cram ten people in a single bedroom.
In any case, the cost of a rent is decided by the local housing market and wholly unrelated to how much the mortgage costs. There’s no conceivable way the OP could figure out what a “fair” share would be. Maybe he’s paying way more than his share because he doesn’t get equity in the house. Or maybe much less because the owner has a 30 years mortgage. Or maybe much more because he got the smaller room. Or maybe much less because there are two of them. Or maybe much more because the owner’s girlfriend is there most of the time and doesn’t pay anything. Who knows?
The only “fair” deal is one that satisfies both parties. Which is likely something like about as much as what renting a similar room in the neighborhood would cost, and with similar conditions re having guests and such things. The owner has the extr benefit of sharing the house with people he likes, but presumably so does the OP.
The owner also has to pay insurance, repairs, property taxes etc. Altho he has equity he also has depreciation. 50-50 may or may not be a fair deal for either side. It’s just a reasonable approximation.
I agree with Munch in that the OP ain’t coming back, so this might as well get locked.
This is an essential point. Hopefully the OP will look into local rental costs and thus learn what is a fair price for his rental arrangement.
I’ll note that $700/mo for the right to share a private house would be a good deal in many locations. As compared to a normal apartment rental, you typically get numerous bennies including a full kitchen, living room, yard, parking, etc.
I read all the responses and appreciate the input. I did not intend for any hostility to be conveyed in my original message. My roommate (the home owner) and I are long time friends, and I know he is controlling by nature and that makes this situation a bit more difficult as I’m very easy going and do not want to feel taken advantage of. I was not intending to put him down, it’s simply a fact of his character which I’ve recognized over the duration of our lengthy friendship (10+ years).
I’ve decided to pay the bills as requested as I looked into housing around the area and we’d (my girlfriend and I) basically be looking at either a 1 bedroom apartment or renting a room somewhere else with a stranger. I don’t want to bail on my friend either, as I know he depends on my contribution to his mortgage to afford his home.
I know that I have some clout with which to negotiate terms given our circumstance, and am going to have a conversation with him in the future regarding the situation. However I have decided to just pay the bills as requested as, like I said, the alternatives would either cost me more money or not save me enough to warrant losing the perks of living where I currently do.
Again thank you for the input, I’ve already had a conversation with him regarding claiming my rent contributions as income and he had not considered this. He’s a first time home owner and all of this is new to him, so whoever suggested this aspect I thank you as I don’t want to see him in a situation where the IRS comes after him with audits in the future.
First, call a local real estate agent and get a rental valuation on the property so that you know what a fair rent is in the area. It probably won’t be the mortgage payment.
Around here the traditional rule of thumb is that half the rent is for the bedroom, half for the house (and utilities, which are separate). So if you’ve got a two bedroom place with equal-sized rooms, expect that he’d be paying 1/4 of the rent for his room and you’d be paying 1/4 for yours. Then he’d pay 1/6 for his share of the common spaces and you guys would pay 2/6.
Round it off, and you’d pay about 60% of the rent to his 40%, with the utilities split 1:2 against you.
From that, you’d negotiate on room size and if you’re in a much smaller room you’d probably come to about a 50:50 agreement on the rent and 1:2 on the bills.
So if it’s based on rental rather than mortgage rates, you’re not on too bad a wicket, if that counts for anything. Ultimately, though, you’re comparing against what else you could get for your money and if you’re doing about as well as elsewhere, there’s no need to rock the boat.
Your friend definitely needs to make plans for keeping himself out of tax trouble. My wife and I got our posteriors slightly masticated when we moved and sold our old house under a contract for deed (aka land contract). We stupidly assumed that since their payment was equal to our mortgage payment that they cancelled each other out.
Turned out that even though there was no tax liability on the principal, we were supposed to declare the interest as income. We had to cough up about $500 in back taxes and interest for the first year of the contract, then another 3 or 4 hundred a few months later for the second year. Fortunately, they had refinanced midway through the second year, or we would have had three years of back taxes. We were also fortunate that there was no penalty.
I’ve been a landlord since college. I am a landlord in three states and the district of columbia.
The Op doesn’t sound like a problem tenant and yet you seem ready to throw him out with the bathwater. Getting good tenants can make or break owning rental property.
I think thats enough leverage that the sentiment that its silly to pretend that he OP is in a take it or leave it position.
I was under the impression that the landlord NEEDED the extra money to cover his mortgage. So if the OP leaves, the landlord may have to rent the room to a total stranger. Sounds like leverage to me, at least enough leverage that the landlord sholud be willing to negotiate.
But you make it sound like the landlord couldn’t really give two shits if the OP left. I suspect the landlord needs the OP at least as much as the Op needs the landlord.
Funny, I’ve negotiated dozens of leases, its what landlords do to entice you to rent from them.
If the homeowner doesn’t like the conditions that the OP requires then the landlord is the one that will have to pay the mortgage all by himself, not the boarder. It seems to me there is pressure to reach agreement on both sides.
Otherwise I think I agree with you.
Leases are bilateral contracts. Either party can walk away.
Yeah but I’m pretty sure the landlord wants the OP to live there and I’m pretty sure the Op wants to live there so what is all this “tough shit” talk? There is room for a deal here unless people take an “its my way or the highway” attitude.
The mortgage is none of the renter’s business. Utilities split 3 ways. If the room rent was agreed, it’s fair.
I once rented a room in a house my friend bought. There were 4 of us. One friend bought the house with his GF. Two friends rented rooms. I negotiated my room rent separately from my other friend, and I paid a different amount. I had a room that had to be constructed in the basement, and I paid my rent 12 months in advance in cash.
Once a month, the owner-friend’s soon to be wife gave us each a bill that listed all the utilities paid that month, divided by 4. Pretty simple.
If anything, the OP might be able to argue for not paying any of the water bill, which is excluded in a lot of situations, especially when renting a house where the landlord is responsible for yard maintenance.