Housemate causing expensive bills, but the rest of us might have to pay for it

MoonChild91

For background; I moved in to my current house share about 18 months ago. It’s bills included in the rent, from a private landlord who we have a good relationship with. There are 3 of us living there, and for the most part we all get on really well. However, our landlord is considering putting our rent up as our bills have doubled in the last year, especially in the last six months, something which I am certain is down to one of my housemates, and not the other 2 of us. I am not sure it’s fair that we all should pay more because of this. 

This was something he mentioned before coronavirus, so our energy usage from working from home hasn’t been counted in the increased bills. 

I’ve considered my own usage (because obviously it’s happened since I moved in) and don’t think I use an unreasonable amount - I shower in the morning, dry my hair, make breakfast/brunch, and then am out at work between 12 and 7.30. I eat my main meal of the day at work, and don’t cook in the evening when I get home unless it’s just to boil some rice for my packed dinner the next day or have a slice of toast. I’m usually out at the weekends, and batch cook something on a weekend evening for my work meal (which I also have for dinner that night). Obviously there’s the usual things like turning on lights, laptop usage, charging phone etc. I think this is a normal amount of energy to be using and not unreasonable. My other housemate has a similar routine, although he cooks most nights, and a similar usage of energy. The girl who lived in the room before me barely cooked, and spent a lot of her time staying at her boyfriend’s house, so I think what may have happened is her lack of usage has hidden the amount my 2nd housemate takes up.

My problem housemate uses energy like there’s no tomorrow. She is obsessed with cooking, has 3 cooked meals a day (none of which take less than an hour), has the radio or her speakers on constantly, sleeps with an audiobook on, takes a bath at least every other day, and all her hobbies are home-based. She was off work with stress from mid January (before getting a new job in March and working from home) and since then has barely left the house even before lockdown started. After the warning from our landlord I started keeping an eye on our smart meter, and noticed we were averaging at around £4.50/£5 a day - which seems a lot? Between 12 and 7.30pm when both me and my other housemate are out she regularly uses between £2.50/£3 just on her own, which I can’t understand how she manages. Yesterday for example, she spent 4 1/2 hours in the kitchen cooking in the morning (with the radio on, singing loudly and slamming about), another hour and a half at dinner time, and in between was upstairs with her sewing machine for hours (again with music on) and hoovering, before having a bath and going to sleep with her laptop and fairy lights on. Even when she was working, she had a bath every night and would spend 2 hours making dinner, and yesterday’s escapades are similar to how she would spend a normal Sunday. 

After speaking to our landlord I did tell both my housemates what had been said and suggested that we ought to be more mindful of our energy usage in order to keep our rent down, which seemed to be agreed at the time. Since then she has made zero changes, and just doesn’t seem to be aware that she could or should? She is a difficult person to live with sometimes, as she has this obsession with routine and doing things she’s planned out for the day - there’s very little give and take with her, as if she’s decided to do something and she’ll do it whether anyone else is there or not. This has got noticeably worse since she’s not been working too and both me and my other housemate have said that right now we feel like we’re simply lodgers in her house (she has been there 5 years, which may contribute to her possessiveness of the space). To be frank, since she’s been off work she’s made my life hell, and there have been several days where I’ve barely been able to eat before work as she’s decided to spend 2 hours making herself breakfast, or had to run to work to use the bathroom because she’s decided to have a bath. It’s like she has no awareness of other people or their needs and just dominates a space so no one else can use it. Both me and my other housemate have raised these issues with her, but she just doesn’t seem to take it on board, and carries on regardless. As you can imagine, lockdown has been extremely difficult. 

Not only is her behaviour making it extremely difficult to live in the house, but I don’t see why I should have to suffer financially because of it? Any increase in our rent feels like it would be us subsidising her activities and doesn’t seem fair. However, I don’t know how to broach this with our landlord, or whether I would even have a case to argue?

pinkshoes

I would look for a 2 bed property with your nicer housemate!

Having a radio turned on will not use much energy. Ovens or anything that heats or moves will use more.

thorsoak

Move out with the other housemate before the rents grow up.   Maybe this is her objective.  She will then have the space to herself.

avoidtheupsidedownbottles

pinkshoes said:

I would look for a 2 bed property with your nicer housemate!

Yes, and tell the LL exactly why you are leaving; he won't be happy to lose two good tenants.

MoonChild91

Thanks everyone! I was hoping there might be another solution besides moving, as I really like my room and the house in general - plus it's within walking distance of work and the city etc which saves me a lot of money - but I'm not sure there is. The other issue is how unlikely it is to be able to find somewhere and move while coronavirus is still around!

Savvy_Sue

Moving is now 'allowed', and you may find there are people desperate to let right now! I'd start looking ... 

Mrsn

Another vote for looking elsewhere.

House sharing with 1 other can be stressful let alone 2. She isn’t considerate to the needs of those sharing the living space and like you say lockdown will have magnified that. I actually agree now might be an ideal time to look as might be more choice from people putting moves on hold etc.

elsien

If your "problem" housemate has been there 5 years and is a creature of routine,  it seems unlikely that a recent increase in bills is purely down to her. Especially as you say a lot of her activities are the same as previously.  I do think it's unreasonable to try to tell someone else how often they should be having a bath.
Is it possible that the utilities have been increasing for some time just because the tariffs were increasing over the last couple of years, but it's only now got to the point where he's feeling the need to increase the rent according?  You don't seem to be considering at all the impact of you and the second house mate being at home all day as well,  just shoving all the blame on her.
To be honest it does just sound as if the 3 of you sharing just isn't working anymore. 

Spendless

Do you have/can you get one of those meters that show you exactly what the consumption is in money for the electricity? When we've had one, I've seen that it is the combination of heat and or movement that costs a lot. eg vaccumming, ironing, electric shower, washing machine and so on. Sometimesthe costs shown are high but it's only for a limited time, for example boiling a kettle for a cuppa.  
It's also possible that the previous tenant of your room was such a low user due to not being there much that bills have been estimated on that usuage and now it's increased.

BrassicWoman

£5 a day for three people is £150 a month or £50 each.

I live alone and my leccy bill (no gas) is £65.

doesn’t seem a crazy amount to me.

Financially, do you want all this upheaval and bad feeling for what’s probably no more than £20 a month each? And which hasn’t gone up in five years?

it sounds like her other behaviour is really your issue. And the landlord won’t fix that for you.

getmore4less

MoonChild91 said:

For background; I moved in to my current house share about 18 months ago. .......

 (she has been there 5 years, which may contribute to her possessiveness of the space).

........

You picked the wrong housemate to share with move on.