Housemate and Bills

Barcode

Situation is this: Owing to commitments, I rent a room in one place, and travel to another frequently. I'd say I spend about half the week in shared house. First set of bills just came in.

My reasoning is this: I'm happy to pay half of things that have a fixed cost, but where things can be controlled, I think I should pay slightly less, e.g. gas and electricity. I don't use the t.v., but housemate thinks I should pay half of t.v license. And phone (which I've never used).

She has a direct debit set up with BG or £27 a month. I want it to be changed to quarterly billing, or something that reflects how much is actually used. Same with electricity.

I'm not avoiding paying, and have sucked it up this time, but I know I'll be away for a lot of the summer, so think it's unfair that I should pay half of bills for things I am not using. I tried to explain this diplomatically, and she said one reason for needing a housemate is that they need to pay half the bills. I see that, but she can also reduce her usage, so bills are lower, I think.

Should point out I've lived in shared accom. for coming on ten years, never had disagreements will bills. I'm finding this has the potential to become an uncomfortable situation.

Either (a) I just put my foot down and say I am not paying for things I don't use - but will pay a contribution based on how much I am there or (b) she needs to change some things from a fixed amount each month to what is actually used.

Any advice?

Lavendyr

What is stated in your agreement?

Personally I would just pay it. I lived in a houseshare for nearly a year where I was a) out of the house at work most of the day whereas my housemate was at home all day and b) away almost every weekend. However I still felt it fair to pay half the bills (dropping to 1/3 when her boyfriend as good as moved in with us). It just keeps things more amicable even if it doesn't feel fair at the time. Same should apply with the TV license IMHO - even if you don't use it, if it's in a communal place you should pay for it as well. Obviously if it were in her room and you didn't have any access to it, I'd agree you shouldn't have to pay it. Again, giving an example from my last houseshare, I wanted a TV, the other person didn't want to share cost of the TV license, so I got one, paid the license and kept the TV in my room, which seemed fair to both of us - that way I got exclusive use/control of the TV and she didn't have to pay for it.

Regarding the fixed DD on variable usage things, she probably gets a discounted rate on the gas & electricity bills for paying by DD so it might not be worth it to change to a usage-based plan. The DD should also be a "realistic" amount based on usage so it can't be that far off what you actually get through.

If you're really not happy with the situation and can't feel content paying half the bills, then yes, do talk to her and explain exactly how much of the utilities you use. Perhaps you can agree on you paying 1/3 rather than 1/2 of the bills, or you can agree to pay 1/2 the bills most of the time and 1/4 over the summer when you're away. But I think you need to be willing to compromise if you want her to budge.

zebulon

if you were my flatmate I would want you to pay half - mainly because you just assumed and raised this only whem the bill arrived ... !

i agree with getteing the bill for what's consumed though vs. an amount per month.

I never use the phone or watch TV in my flat, but I pay CT and landline.

BUT you can get detailed phone bill (pay half the landline but only your communications if any)

IMO, it should have been agreed from the start that you would only be considering paying bills pro-rata of the time you spend there.

I'm surprised you never got the problem in 10 years!

olly300

Barcode wrote: »

Situation is this: Owing to commitments, I rent a room in one place, and travel to another frequently. I'd say I spend about half the week in shared house. First set of bills just came in.


My reasoning is this: I'm happy to pay half of things that have a fixed cost, but where things can be controlled, I think I should pay slightly less, e.g. gas and electricity. I don't use the t.v., but housemate thinks I should pay half of t.v license. And phone (which I've never used).

Did you tell your housemate when you agreed to share that you weren't going to be in the house the majority of the time and therefore you were not going to pay half the bills? If you didn't then you are going to need to pay. You cannot change your contract even if it's verbal now the bills have arrived.

Do you have broadband at the house? If so you either get it via landline which means you need a phone connected and therefore need to pay for the line rental, or via cable. cable packages mean that it's cheaper if you have a tv and telephone in with it. So you either need to pay the landline or the tv license depending which way you get broadband.

Barcode wrote: »

She has a direct debit set up with BG or £27 a month. I want it to be changed to quarterly billing, or something that reflects how much is actually used. Same with electricity.

It's cheaper to pay by DD. As long as your housemate regularly gives the utility companies meter readings then you shouldn't be out of pocket.

Barcode wrote: »

I'm not avoiding paying, and have sucked it up this time, but I know I'll be away for a lot of the summer, so think it's unfair that I should pay half of bills for things I am not using.

Life isn't fair. Even if you live in the house full-time someone is likely to use the washing machine/dryer more.

Barcode wrote: »

I tried to explain this diplomatically, and she said one reason for needing a housemate is that they need to pay half the bills. I see that, but she can also reduce her usage, so bills are lower, I think.

Her usage is likely to be lower because you are not there all the time.

For example if the heating is on your radiator should be turned off when you are not there. Plus the same amount of hot water won't be used. And if you are not doing all your washing at the house then the amount of electricity used will be much lower.

I personally think you should pay the bills and find somewhere else to live where the bills are included in the rental price. That way it doesn't matter if you are there full time or half the time.

bandraoi

Pay half, they have moved into the house on the understanding that there are X number of people in the house and the bills can be split X ways.

You not being there for 50% of the time does not result in there being a drop in usage equivalent to 50% of your share of the bill. One person or two people in a room is still only one lightbulb. Two people sharing dinner (which most flatmates do occasionally) is still the same amount of gas,

Heating may end up being more if only one person is in the property.

Barcode

zebulon wrote: »

if you were my flatmate I would want you to pay half - mainly because you just assumed and raised this only whem the bill arrived ... !

Sorry, I should have clarified. We verbally agreed the phone, internet, and television had nothing to do with me. I can sort of see some of her points, but think some measures should be taken to reduce the bills, if only slightly.

Barcode

Think will move to a cheaper place when contract ends though, maybe before if can find somebody to take contract over. Housemate doesn't seem pleased about that, as she seems to like the convenience of not having somebody there all the time, but happy to pay bills. Not my problem though.

Am finding that the older I get, the harder it is to accommodate eithers. So, maybe time to look for a one bed / studio, and therefore only answerable to self.

SquatNow

olly300 wrote: »

I personally think you should pay the bills and find somewhere else to live where the bills are included in the rental price. That way it doesn't matter if you are there full time or half the time.

That wouldn't make any difference, he'd still be paying for being there all the time!

The OP just needs to accept that this is how house shares work.

All bills are split 50/50 except phone bill which is 50/50 on the line rental and everyone pays for their own calls.

lostinrates

Are you a lodger or a tenant? Its not clear but I am thinking that if you rent a room only and only part of the week you miht be lodging rather than a tenant sharing??

As a lodger DH pays no houshold bills but a flat monthly or weekly bill -which obviously covers usage of water/apliances/heating etc. He does not use the landline at all or tv but if he did as a lodger I think it would still probably go on the rent rather than come to hime as a bill. When we had a lodger I was the same, I asked a flat weekly rent, included costs for extra heating and hot water.

As a SHARER I'd expect to pay my fair share, i.e. an equal split, of all the standard bills, and my calls on an itemised phone bill plus a share of the landline charge.

But, of course, it should be discussed at the beginning of whatever arrangement!

Barcode

I'm very familiar with houseshares. I feel the housemate has reneged partly on what was verbally agreed. Have decided though, to leave asap. It's all too much hassle accounting to others these days, and cost of studio/one bed is not nec. significantly more - worth it for an easier life.

zebulon

Barcode wrote: »

Sorry, I should have clarified. We verbally agreed the phone, internet, and television had nothing to do with me. I can sort of see some of her points, but think some measures should be taken to reduce the bills, if only slightly.

ok, thanks for precising - yep she's being unfair to come back to what you agreed together.
unfortunately not much you can do about a verbal agreement.

I agree with the getting older bit - I feel the same sometimes (I shared with the same person for 3 years, then alone for 6 months, then sharing with 2 other people - it's a bit hard (ggrrr who leaves the light on in the hall all night :mad: ) but I'm saving at least £150 per month vs. the smallest 1 bed i could find so it's still worth until I find a :kisses2:

Good luck.