Paying the rent and bills with friend dilemma

richard001

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not_tonight_josephine_2

a very rough guestimate - £125pcm for council tax, £50 for gas/electric, £10 for water? would make your half of the bills about £90-£100-ish so sounds like a fair compromise to me and saves all the hassle of splitting bills each month.

You can check exactly how much your council tax is on your local authority website

namakemono

I'd rather do the rent and have a written copy of the difference in your rents, what if your friend turns round and says you're using too much electricity/water/internet or whatever?

richard001

not_tonight_josephine wrote: »

a very rough guestimate - £125pcm for council tax, £50 for gas/electric, £10 for water?

You can check exactly how much your council tax is on your local authority website

I know council tax is 20 per week, water 9, no idea what the gas and elec will be

richard001

namakemono wrote: »

I'd rather do the rent and have a written copy of the difference in your rents, what if your friend turns round and says you're using too much electricity/water/internet or whatever?

Thats what I'm thinking. Or turns around in a few months and says you've got to pay some bills....I'd have no choice and be stuck paying 200 per week on top.

Is that standard that the landlord gives 2 separate contracts to 2 people sharing? With a written copy of the difference in rents?

tbs624

richard001 wrote: »

Thats what I'm thinking. Or turns around in a few months and says you've got to pay some bills....I'd have no choice and be stuck paying 200 per week on top.

Is that standard that the landlord gives 2 separate contracts to 2 people sharing? With a written copy of the difference in rents?

A property can be let as a whole , on one contract signed by all Ts with what is called "joint & several liability", or on an individual room basis, with shared communal space, on individual contracts.

Most LLs prefer the former option because if one doesn't pay the rent the LL has the option to pursue one/all of the other joint signatories.

Your LL will be making suggestions about specific splits in rent to ensure that he gets his property rented out - it *is* harder to let properties to non-related individuals where there is a big discrepancy in room sizes.

In most cases, the decision is likely to be down to an agreement between the potential flat/housemates.

Mojisola

Suggest you swop bedrooms and say you'll then be happy to pay your £200 a week. He'll probably feel differently about it.

Isn't it better to have some bills in your name and some in his? You sometimes get asked for a utility bill in your name for identification purposes.

BitterAndTwisted

I suspect that the OP will be much better off paying the rent 50/50 and letting the flat-mate pay all of the bills. Especially in winter when the cost of heating can be very high indeed.