Real-life MMD: Water worry - should we split the bill equally?

Former_MSE_Debs

Money Moral Dilemma: Water worry - should we split the bill equally?

My boyfriend and I house-share with four others. On returning from a four-week holiday, we were told to pay our share of a large water bill. We usually split everything equally, but as we'd been away for so long, we feel resentful about paying as much as everyone else. Should we ask to pay a portion rather than the whole amount?

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iclayt

If it's a bill just for the month you were away, you might have a point. If it's a quarterly bill I don't think it's worth risking bad feeling for.

You chose to go away and presumably didn't discuss a reduction in utilities beforehand or this wouldn't have come up now. If you've paid rent for those four weeks there's no reason you shouldn't pay your share of the bills for those weeks either.

bylromarha

I presume it's metered from the way its written?

How often are you billed? And how much of a reduction do you think you qualify for?

Are your flat mates allowed to add up all those 1/2 night stays they stay at their partners house, or go away for the weekend as they'd add up to more than 4 weeks I guess?

If you always pay everything equally then you will have to on this too - you're opening a can of worms if you ask for a reduction on this.

BNT

If you discussed and agreed it before going away, I'd say you have a point. If you waited until afterwards, then no I don't think it is reasonable to ask for a reduction. I would expect these things to even out over time.

Mickygg

What about when they go on holiday? Would get a bit silly everyone saying 'I wasn't in last weekend, I want 2 days reduction'. It would get messy and you risk resentment.

psychopathbabble

If you lived on your own you would still have to pay a bill. I don't think it's reasonable to ask for a reduction on this basis. Why not go the whole hog and ask to skip the rent for month you were away too?

I would just suck up and pay it on this occassion, perhaps discussing it before a trip in the future. Bearing in mind that if you ask for a reduction, everyone else will think they are entitled to it when they are away as well.

BabyBoots

Your friends did not get any benefit from you going away, so they have nothing they should pay you for. If they wanted you to contribute equally to communal grocery purchases they'd consumed while you were away, I could understand your protest. However your water bill is what you pay to access the water supply, regardless of whether you were at home. Even if your housemates were also away those 4 weeks, there's still have been a bill, and as householders you'd be jointly liable for it. Turn the situation round, if one of your housemates tells you they're going away for three months, and they'd like you to pay their share of the bills while they're gone and keep their room for them, how would you feel?

If your concern is that the supply is metered and you believe your housemates used an unusual amount while you were away, I'd still say you have no claim. Each housemate will use more water or energy at one time than another, whether its having more baths, using the heating/hairdryer/tumble dryer/ computer more etc etc. If your attitudes really differ on use of utilities. it's time to find new housemates. Otherwise, it's all part of sharing a house.

Inigo_Montoya

if its an unmetered water bill then you should pay as normal just like you pay your rent even when you are away i.e. you not being there for a month does not affect the amount of the bill - its not fair on the other tenants to expect them to pay extra for your part of the fixed bill because you decided to go on holiday

If its a metered water bill then you should have tried to sort out any reduction before you went away because you would have needed to read the water meter at the start & end of the trips in order to calculate any reduction fairly

However I tend to agree with a previous poster i.e. it opens up a bit of a pandoras box for all the tenants to start asking for reductions because they went away for the weekend etc.. - this could extend to gas & electric bills too - any potential saving is simply not worth the ensuing hassle (& thats assuming you could get the other tenants to agree to it)

Zazen999

How much is it for? We won't find out but if you look at your hourly rate and the time you might spend dodging the bill, perhaps you might find that it will actually be cheaper to pay it.

pennypinchUK

This dilemma has been recycled many, many times on this forum. Let's have some fresh ones.

Okay, so you've been asked to split a water bill for water you've not used this time. Isn't this just one of the downsides of house sharing? Really, it's no big deal, you're bound as some stage to use more water/gas/electricity/phone, etc. than the other people in the house. What comes around, goes around. It'll all balance out in the future. If it doesn't, move.

AHAR

One third share of 4 weeks worth of a water bill: £not a lot
Shared house harmony: Priceless