does the couple pay half or 2/3rds or what? whats the general rule of tum?

4/14/2008 2:03:49 AM

2/3's.

unless you own the house, then it's anything you want.

4/14/2008 2:04:49 AM

2/3rd Dont let the fuckers try to pull that we use one room shit. What about the common areas? Everyone uses those.

4/14/2008 2:07:10 AM

is it a house?
also u have to think about the bills... cause that's two ppl in one room, but both using power/etc

4/14/2008 2:43:00 AM

2/3rds on the utils, and either 2/3rds or some amount very close (a bit less) to it in rent. I wouldn't let this go down if they were paying only half. On a 2 bedroom at about 800 you would be paying 400 while they pay just 200 each, but you would be putting up with an additional person and all the bullshit that two people in a relationship living together brings.

What sucks is many times the second person in the couple isn't on the lease, but has been invited/asked to move in and contribute some or they're practically there enough for you to consider them a household memeber. However, by the lease it's still split 50/50. I have seen this situation work out both ways, (1) the girl goes out of her way to clean, cook, restock the booze and (2) where they drink/eat everything in the house, take the allocated spot for the condo, start fights with the other roommates, try to turn the guy roommate there seeing against the other guys, etc.

best of luck

[Edited on April 14, 2008 at 4:02 AM. Reason : .]

4/14/2008 3:36:47 AM

the real question is: are you the single?

4/14/2008 7:12:36 AM

I was in this situation once

I had my roommate and his gf pay half the rent, and 2/3 of the utilities

however, if we had had to share a bathroom, it'd've been 2/3 of the rent

good luck

4/14/2008 8:18:10 AM

yeah i'd say 1/2 the rent 2/3 util. unless they have the master bedroom then i'd say they must throw in a lil extra

4/14/2008 8:35:34 AM

2/3 rent, 2/3 utilities.

you still have to put up with having another person living in your house

4/14/2008 9:05:53 AM

Other aggravating/mitigating factors:

1) Do they monopolize the living room/TV?
2) Is your roommate's significant other eating your food?
3) Do you have to put up with excessive drama?
4) Do they cook and/or clean for you?
5) Do they hook you up with friends?

Number of bedrooms used is the least of the impact a roommate can have on your lifestyle.

[Edited on April 14, 2008 at 9:07 AM. Reason : .]

4/14/2008 9:06:36 AM

2/5ths rent 2/3rds utilities
sounds good.

4/14/2008 9:12:03 AM

Maybe slightly more than half for the rent and 2/3 of utilities, although I don't know why anyone single would want to live with a couple. That happened unofficially for me my 2nd year of college, where basically both of my roommates had their boyfriends "live" there. They justified it by saying they still had their own apartments, but jeez, maybe they could at least stay there one night a week. They ate all their meals at our apt, took their showers there, slept there every night. Our power bill and water bill doubled when that happened and I always had to hang out in my room because one of their boyfriends hogged the living room watching CMT all day every day.

4/14/2008 9:23:16 AM

i stayed over at my gf's place most days for about a month and her fat roomate was whining that i should pay rent.

if i had moved in maybe, but i consumed 0 extra power cuz i never left her room, had 0 food, and generally kept away from her. she can suck it.

[Edited on April 14, 2008 at 9:35 AM. Reason : stayed only nights usually, wasnt there all day.]

4/14/2008 9:35:18 AM

When I lived with 2 other people, who shared a room, we split rent 40/30/30, which equated to 1/3 of the common areas and 1/2 the bedrooms. It was fair.

Our bedrooms were equal though. If their bedroom was a master however, then it would have probably been split equally.

Utilities of course, were 1/3 each.

4/14/2008 10:05:54 AM

Quote :

"I was in this situation once I had my roommate and his gf pay half the rent, and 2/3 of the utilities however, if we had had to share a bathroom, it'd've been 2/3 of the rent"

our apartment is a 3bed/2bath...gf and i have the master (though she does have her own apartment, and stays there some of the time)...i pay half the utilities (so each of the other renters pay 1/4), but i only pay 1/3 rent...i also pay $20 more per month for the master

one of the roommates tried to pull that "you should pay half the rent" shit, but then i told him if that was the case, he could pay to use everything in the apartment, since it was all mine (television, couches, every single kitchen appliance, dishes, etc.)...he shut up after that

4/14/2008 10:06:55 AM

2/3 rent, 2/3 utilities.

you still have to put up with having another person living in your house

4/14/2008 10:15:17 AM

2/3, 2/3. at worst 1/2 rent, 2/3 utilities though.

4/14/2008 10:16:24 AM

My b/f and I lived with another person in a 2 bedroom. We split the rent by room, but split the utilities by the person.

4/14/2008 10:20:05 AM

Quote :

"2/3 rent, 2/3 utilities. you still have to put up with having another person living in your house"

4/14/2008 10:25:42 AM

Quote :

"2/5ths rent 2/3rds utilities sounds good."

4/14/2008 10:30:28 AM

well utilities will be included in the rent and the thing is, the single will prolly have a so stay over sometime so that would make a delimma.

4/14/2008 10:53:21 AM

2/3, rent, 2/3 utilities. The single person probably deserves to pay less than 1/3 for all the lameness that living with a couple brings.

4/14/2008 10:58:48 AM

I lived with a couple for 5 months (until they broke up, go figure ) and we split rent and utilities in even 3rds. They also had the master bedroom.

4/14/2008 11:13:58 AM

i pretty much had an unofficial 3rd roommate (roommate girlfriend) last year. I didn't expect my roommate to pay more rent b.c i figured we each payed for one bed-room and shared the storage/living space. Besides i would expect the same if i had a girl over every night also. However, in hindsight i should have made him pay 2/3 electric and 2/3 cable; espicially since i'd want to watch DVR and the girlfriend would be watching tv even when the boyfriend wasn't home.

4/14/2008 11:16:13 AM

Quote :

"2/5ths rent 2/3rds utilities sounds good."

2/5ths is less then half tard.. unless you mean each then its almost all the rent...

4/14/2008 11:23:18 AM

Yeah, I was kind of wondering that myself.

4/14/2008 11:36:46 AM

math, isn't some peoples strong suit... then again some of these people don't have anything strong

4/14/2008 11:42:33 AM

do yourself a favor, put the lease in your name only and then charge them whatever the fuck you want. Seriously, don't drive yourself crazy over something that could possibly be an inconvenience for you. Over time it will grow on your nerves and you'll just wind up despising the people you live with. If they don't agree to your deal, wish them luck and let them go somewhere else.

I've made the mistake of letting people move in even though I was a little uneasy about them. You'll regret, I promise you.

4/14/2008 11:52:29 AM

one of my gfs roomates started havin her bf stay over every night so i said, hey, if he can i can. so i pretty much move in with the gf. when her roomate broke up with her bf she said i had to leave as well shes a bitch. she also never cleans and never buys anything for the house. i did more cleaning there in a day than she has done the entire time she has lived there

4/14/2008 11:57:17 AM

I've had two sets of roommates pull the "oh shes my gf, we are one person" bullshit.

Make them pay.

I was the nice guy and didn't fuss to much but in reality they should be paying.

4/14/2008 12:07:53 PM

what happens when they break up, do you go back to paying 1/2 the rent?

4/14/2008 12:12:25 PM

Quote :

"When I lived with 2 other people, who shared a room, we split rent 40/30/30, which equated to 1/3 of the common areas and 1/2 the bedrooms. It was fair. Our bedrooms were equal though. If their bedroom was a master however, then it would have probably been split equally. Utilities of course, were 1/3 each"

this is what i did when i briefly lived with a couple for a semester and it worked out well paying wise.........though overall i dont recommend it. it got weird sometimes when they claimed to be in an open relationship and the guy would have other girls over when she was out of town

Quote :

"well utilities will be included in the rent and the thing is, the single will prolly have a so stay over sometime so that would make a delimma."

then i think a just splitting up everything in thirds would be the best

i had a group of friends who shared a house institue the "no one is allowed to shower in this house unless they are on the lease" rule and it worked out pretty well for them. it kept SOs from pretty much living in the house rent/utilities free and also didnt really affect the utilities that much.

[Edited on April 14, 2008 at 12:21 PM. Reason : .]

4/14/2008 12:20:56 PM

had a friend live with my gf and I for a couple months. Our total monthly expenses (not including food since he never ate anything) run between 900 and 1000. He paid a flat rate of 300 a month . . . so less than a third, but my computer and desk were still in the room he slept in so he didn't completely have his own room. I left it in there because I thought it would be a real short term thing initially and then he never expressed that he wanted me to move it.

Then he abruptly moved out after a couple months . . . I don't think he likes us anymore

[Edited on April 14, 2008 at 12:40 PM. Reason : I'm suprised he hasn't posted in here yet ]

4/14/2008 12:39:35 PM

I say it should be split by the room.

Of course one could open a debate about utillities, but a room is a room.

4/14/2008 12:58:32 PM

Another option is stipulate that you only will pay up to a certain amount of utilities, after that, the other parties have to pay


Say 2 people live in a house and the average electric is $100/mo. You say "I will only pay up to $50/mo in utilities, after that it's up to you and your bf/gf to pay. So when the gf is over all the time and the bill goes up to $125, you are still paying the same, they pay $75.

that, of course, is another advantage of having the lease in your name.

[Edited on April 14, 2008 at 1:07 PM. Reason : asdf]

4/14/2008 1:07:12 PM

I want to second whoever said put everything in your name and charge flat rent.

I tried splitting everything and doing that and the flat rent seems to be less stressful. Some months it sucks when the utillities are high as hell (ie all of last summer) but there is something to be said for not having the constant bitching and bickering associated with splittiing utillities.

4/14/2008 1:11:43 PM

flat rent is the easiest to deal with when it comes to roommates.


I tried advertising a flat rent for my place a few times and never got any hits. Our utilities are real high where i live and it basically went from a $450/mo place + utilities to $600/mo everything included. That's what it costs to live here, but people don't want to see the higher number.


It's for the best though, roommates that have a hard time coughing up the cash to pay rent don't deserve to live with you.

Sometimes I can't believe every month there is a new excuse as to why they can't pay rent on the day it's due. It's ridiculous.

4/14/2008 1:23:28 PM

My husband and I did this prior to getting a place just the two of us. We had a bedroom and bathroom and our roommate had a bedroom and bathroom. The bedrooms were just about the same size. We all decided that 1/2 the rent and 2/3 the utilities worked for us. We felt like splitting the rent into 3rds was unfair because 1 person got a room and bathroom and then 2 people had to share a room and bathroom. Imagine if they weren't a couple and had to share a room and bathroom like in a dorm. . .would you still make them pay the same amount as the person in a single? That's how the 3 of us all looked at it.

4/14/2008 1:28:30 PM

I'd say split everything 2/5ths and 3/5ths.

4/14/2008 1:48:43 PM

^^So the apartment didn't have a living room or kitchen?

4/14/2008 2:23:51 PM

2/3rds

general wear and tear of 3 people vs 2 is greater also

4/14/2008 2:46:40 PM

Quote :

"do yourself a favor, put the lease in your name only and then charge them whatever the fuck you want. Seriously, don't drive yourself crazy over something that could possibly be an inconvenience for you."

that's a bad idea. If they end up breaking up, or you have a fall out, you're fucking stuck with an entire rent in your name, and they can just walk off paying nothing.

4/14/2008 2:56:32 PM

Quote :

"I'd say split everything 2/5ths and 3/5ths."

4/14/2008 3:04:03 PM

^^
not at all. If you are renting a place, this is the way to go.


have a seperate lease that they have to sign to you. Require deposit, credit check, and a bail out clause so if they do break the lease they pay a penalty.


If they break up but are bound to the lease, why would you want their names on the lease anyways if they are shitty to deal with? It's much easier to just kick them out and find somebody else then be tortured with it until the lease ends.

[Edited on April 14, 2008 at 3:08 PM. Reason : ..]

4/14/2008 3:06:40 PM

Quote :

"that's a bad idea. If they end up breaking up, or you have a fall out, you're fucking stuck with an entire rent in your name, and they can just walk off paying nothing."

See that is a flawed school of thought. Once you decide that it totally blows to live with someone the last thing you want in the way of getting them out of your residence is a lease that you are both on together...If one of you is not on the lease then its pretty clear who stays and who goes, its also pretty clear that ASAP is when they go.

If you are both on the lease the landlord has the both of you by the balls and will have to be satisfied before he is gonna let one of you out of the lease that you signed together.

4/14/2008 3:08:20 PM

^

exactly.


Another thing, from my experience, if two people are on the lease and one dude bails/leaves, the first thing the landlord will do is try to squeeze the rent outta whoever is left there before he tries to go find the other guy or go to court or anything.

I've seen apartment complexes take kids to court to make them pay their roommates rent when they signed INDIVIDUAL leases for their rooms. It obviously didn't hold up in court, but it's fucking ridiculous that it went there in the first place. They don't care about the people, it's about getting their money.

4/14/2008 3:12:11 PM

I had one roommate that her boyfriend moved in after a couple months. Didn't want to sign a new lease since they'd both be moving out of state in a couple months. I still paid the same in rent and utilities, but he kept the place clean (worked in a lab and the money ran out, so he had a part time night job until moving). Worked out well, no drama.

Honestly, the MOST drama I have had is always from bitter vegetarian females. Sorry, you can't be my roommate unless you like eating animals now.

4/14/2008 4:18:33 PM

Quote :

"See that is a flawed school of thought. Once you decide that it totally blows to live with someone the last thing you want in the way of getting them out of your residence is a lease that you are both on together...If one of you is not on the lease then its pretty clear who stays and who goes, its also pretty clear that ASAP is when they go. If you are both on the lease the landlord has the both of you by the balls and will have to be satisfied before he is gonna let one of you out of the lease that you signed together."

Yup, get a place one of you can afford without the other person, and then one sign the lease. Much easier that way!

4/14/2008 4:20:15 PM

fractions:
gf: 1/2 br1, 1/2bath1 + 1/3common areas (lets say 3 rooms) and not 1br2 and 1bath2. = 2parts/7rooms
bf: same as above = 2/7
third: 1br2 and 1bath2 + 1/3common areas (3 rooms) and not br1 or bath1 = 3/7

imo that's how it should be.

[Edited on April 16, 2008 at 2:38 PM. Reason : 1]

4/16/2008 2:38:02 PM

I was actually the gf that moved in once. My bf had two roomates so they split the rent 1/3-1/3-1/3 and the same with the utilities. One of his roomates had a gf that lived there too. The roomates all agreed that the other girl and I could stay for free. However, I wasn't there that much..mainly I was there to sleep and occasionally my bf and I would cook a meal, which we would pay for and usually share with everyone else. I usually cleaned the house too and always cleaned the kitchen. I never bathed here because at the time, I still technically had a dorm room which I didn't use (except for storage) but had already paid for for the rest of the semester (had a fight with my dorm roomate...long story). So, I would get up early for class and run by there and take a shower.

However, if both of the members of the couple are there full time, I really think there should be something worked out where they may more than one half, especially on utilities. Water will especially go up if both are taking showers.

4/16/2008 4:12:06 PM