Regarding rental price?

[user1472547428]

Hello everyone, long time lurker but first time poster here.

I am a mature student studying languages. I have recently returned from my year abroad and am finalising my accommodation for next year. I am living with three other mature language students, one of whom is a very close friend. I know the other two less well, however we do socialise together and get on well. Due to us all being abroad last year, we were unable to view many houses and settled for a property with three big double bedrooms and one average sized single. Although we had all hoped for a double, I said that I would happily take the single if I could pay less rent. Stupidly we did not discuss the rent reduction again before all signing the contract separately when back in the UK. We are now due to move in in a few weeks and have started to discuss rental reduction. The mean cost is £97 a week. The other women have suggested that they pay £1.50 extra a week for the doubles, giving me a rent reduction of £4.50 a week. I am really not happy with this - there is a large discrepancy between the rooms and I would much rather pay the extra one fifty to have a double room. However, they think IABU and that I should be grateful for this reduction. I feel stuck - I don't want to fall out with these women but at the same time feel hurt that they expect me to have a smaller room without much rent reduction. So tell me Mumsnet, IABU?

[birdladyfromhomealone]

They are being extremely unfair.
My DD was in your situation and paid £100pcm less.
When she had friends over they had to share a single or sleep on the floor unlike those in doubles.
she also had less clothes storage than them and had to study in the communal areas unlike those in doubles.

[pinkyredrose]

YANBU. I had this situation in a houseshare and the guy with the smallest room paid £50 a month less. That was about 10 yrs ago though, I'd expect about £80 a month less these days especially if the room is really tiny.

[LifeInJeneral]

I don't think you are being unreasonable if there is a very big difference and that was clearly stated as your reason for accepting it. You should have discussed properly before signing but what's done is done. What do you think would be a fair reduction. You are going to need to negotiate with them so you need to prepare yourself, work out your absolute limits of what you will and won't accept and then some small bargaining chips if you can think of any. You may have to play hardball and say you will opt out of the tenancy and they will need a replacement if they aren't willing to negotiate so you need to work out if it will cause too much bad blood.

[ToffeeForEveryone]

You sure they don't mean £15 a week?

£1.50 is taking the piss.

Can you get a few examples of local rental prices for double vs single rooms to show them what a reasonable price would be for a single room rental? You should be paying that and they the other three divide the remaining cost between themselves.

[MackerelOfFact]

That's really unfair. £1.50 is nothing! I suggest you look at a website such as Spareroom or Gumtree and see how much less single rooms rent for compared to double rooms in your area, and show the others. I would imagine you would be looking at around £100pcm less, at least.

[dowhatnow]

That's an insult amount.

Tell you what you will be prepared to accept or say that you will have a bigger room and one of the others can have the rent reduction for the smaller one. They don't think that's fair? Well then....

[MackerelOfFact]

Ah, total x-post with Toffee!

[ChazsBrilliantAttitude]

YANBU
I agree with the suggestion of checking the price differentials between single and double rooms in the local rental market. I think you will find the difference is rather more than £4.50 pw.

[MauledbytheTigers]

No you're not BU. If it's such a good deal one of them won't mind having it surely. I know you don't want to fall out with these people but they are taking the piss ...if they fall out with you about it, well, they aren't decent people anyway.

[IRegretNothing]

I would state that that's not a tangible enough benefit to having a much smaller room and that they Wilberforce your share to a significant amount or you can draw straws/rotate for the smaller room. Could you afford £97per week or would you struggle to pay unless it was reduced?

[IRegretNothing]

Autocorrect to Wilberforce, really?! should be Reduce!

[KoalaDownUnder]

YANBU. One pound fifty per person?? Of course you'd rather have the bigger bedroom!

It should be more like £10 extra per person, if you ask me.

[Bringmewineandcake]

I agree with all the others. Find out what single vs double room rates are and show them to your flat mates. If they aren't going to be reasonable, tell them you're no longer willing to take the single room and see how they feel about it.

[user1472547428]

Thanks all, good to know I'm
Not being totally unreasonable! I suggested 102 a week for the doubles and 82 for the single which was rejected. The suggestion of drawing rooms or rotating has also been rejected. Apparently they are more entitled to the double room as 2 of the 3 have boyfriends and I don't .

[ChazsBrilliantAttitude]

Are their boyfriends going to be paying rent? Or is £1.50 pw the boyfriend's contribution to communal expenses

I think they are taking the piss.

[BarbaraofSeville]

102 a week for the doubles and 82 for the single sounds more than fair.

The 4.50 reduction is taking the piss. If you didn't move in, could you find somewhere else? Could they rent out the single room for their suggested price? If they couldn't it would backfire even more with them as they would have to pay a third of the rental price, instead of slightly over a quarter.

[wowfudge]

Turn it around: would they be happy to have the single room for just £4.50 less per week? If so then the person without a boyfriend won't have an issue swapping with you?

[MiaowJario]

I'd be seriously thinking about finding. Somewhere else. They sound miserable.

[KoalaDownUnder]

Your suggestion is way more fair!

Seriously, how the feck did they come up with £1.50??

[OrangeSquashTallGlass]

They ABU. I think you should show them this thread.

[AlannaOfTrebond]

Your suggestion of the rent split is totally reasonable. I rent out student properties and that is pretty much exactly how I price a double vs a single room.

Your housemates are totally taking the piss. Really hope they see reason and this is worked out amicably for your sake.

[eightbluebirds]

That's insulting and just ridiculous tbh. Your suggestion was absolutly fair. Their boyfriends are also not your concern unless they're on the tenancy and paying rent, so that is totally irrelevant. YANBU

[SugarMiceInTheRain]

Your housemates are having a laugh - back when I was at uni in 2001 we had this situation, the guy with the single room paid £15 p/w less I believe. In addition when my DH moved in, we immediately split the bills 4 ways instead of 3, so if they have partners staying over regularly, they should contribute too

[brightspark2]

There are 7 bed spaces. Divide the rent into 7ths. They pay 2/7 per double room you pay 1/7. Or you pull out. They are pushing for their boyfriends having free rent and utilities as it is! Cheeky fuckers, you're going to have to put your foot down or set a precedent for bring walked over and shouted down.

[Sonders]

Jeez, in one of my student houses we had 4 massive doubles and 1 average double. I think we paid £25pm more for our massive rooms because it just seemed fair - £1.50 for an impracticably small room is an insult!