Advice needed: Flatmate and boyfriend problem

aav

I am moving into a student house with some friends. My flatmate is moving her boyfriend into our house. Now I don't mind because he is a nice person but the arangement they have come up with it that they would each pay half rent for the room they are staying in and they would pay an even share of the bills. He will not be on the lease because he will not be a student so he wants to get out of paying council tax. Now I just want to know if I am being a nagging person or does this seem ok to you. Any adivce would be great.

marshall2k

There is clause against sub-letting in my tenancy agreement. How about yours?

Oompa_Loompa_2

I would say if you are willing to turn a blind eye to the fact he is moving in, just say (to anyone who asks) as far as you are concerned, your flatmate covers the whole rent but her boyfriend visits a lot. What do you mean an even share of the bills? If there are 5 of you and this girl and her boyfriend want to pay 1 share, I would definitely have a problem with that. Her boyfriend should pay the same as anyone else in the flat.

This does sometimes occur (avoiding council tax) but I guess it just depends what you feel comfortable with.

roney

it aint fair if you pay the same as a couple in a house share. Dont forget that even though they may share a room, the same cannot be said for the other amenities. I think the perfect split would be them paying 50% more than you

melancholly

we had a similar situation - we ended up with the boyfriend paying an equal share of the electricity and gas bills (so we just split them an extra way), but the phone line rental was by the number of rooms. If they are going to have 2 computers, with 2 connections to the internet, then they should pay equally on that as well.

We liked the guy and it was a short term arrangement, but if it's permanent and not what you originally signed up for, then there could also be some extra money which counts for the inconvenience of an extra person using the kitchen and bathroom. They're saving a fortune on rent, so this shouldn't be a problem.

This may go against the contract with your landlord, it usually does, so be aware of that. He should be careful about council tax too - but as a student who won't have to pay anyway, it's not your problem!

Darksun

There's probably something in your contract about subletting. If the landlord found out he could (potentially) kick you out of the house for breaching your tenancy agreement. As for council tax, it's a criminal offence to not inform the council of the people living in the house. IANAL, but I think potentially all residents could be liable, not just the boyfriend.

morg_monster

if they insist on paying half of one persons rent each, then you insist back that they split one persons share of fridge space, shelf space, etc. you could go further and insist that they share one chair in the living room...!
No but seriously, I think the bills should be split evenly between ALL people in the house, after all he will be using as much water, electricity and gas as anyone else. As for the rent, I don't think that they should just pay one person's share, but 2 seems too much, like someone suggested above make them both pay 2/3 or 3/4 of one persons rent. it will be more crowded with an extra person there and the living spaces will accordingly be more cramped, less storage space in the kitchen etc, more wear and tear and more cleaning to be done etc. You might also consider making sure that they pay proportionate deposit to the rent they are paying too.

Remember that if you are subletting and the landlord doesn't know, (aside from legal aspects!) you will have an extra half a persons rent in cash every month which you could use to buy stuff to make things a bit more comfy (an extra chair or extra storage etc).

The_doomed

are you in scotland? if so it is completely illegal. If discovered, both you and your landlord would end up in court.

aav

Thanks for all your advice. I am I am I suppose ok about it because we will have extra money to put twards bills. I think it just that there is 2 of them who will each paying half of the rent for 1 room. So it would work out at around £30. I don't mind him moving in at all or anything it's just that.

Rikki

The room 50% with his girlfriend.

The other bill split equally between all of the people in the house. ie five people the bills split five ways.

Idiophreak

I had the same thing in my house at uni.

They split the rent on their room, but everything else they paid 2 people's worth. ie they payed 2 lots of electricity, 2 lots of gas, 2 phones, 2 lots of toilet roll etc etc

Was never a problem - we got to have everything slightly cheaper and any extra they paid (like phone rental, maybe) was more than offset by the savings they were making on rent, so nobody ever had cause to complain.