To refuse to pay my brother's bills?

[OrangeSunset]

The title's a bit misleading, maybe.
Me and my DB own a house - 3 rooms. He has one, the other two are rented.
The house has been sold, subject contract.
The 2 tenants are about to leave.
Until now, all 3 tenants (inc. DB) have paid a share of the mortgage based on room size (DB has second nicest room) and equal share of bills.
House has cleaner, Sky etc.
DB has historically had a slightly cheaper 'rent' then we would have charged to anyone else, to counter the hassle of having to find tenants (6 in 5 years). I managed it all whilst he went travelling for 10 months.
So, the 2 tenants are about to move out, in preparation for the sale.
Could still be a few months before completion.
I think that I should stump up for half of mortgage, standing bills (council tax, water etc). I think my DB should pay half, plus all of gas, electric and Sky/Broadband.
My reasoning is, that if the house was totally tenanted, and they all left in anticipation of the sale, we would have no gas/elec/sky bills as no-one would live there.
Therefore those costs are only incurred because he is living there (with fiancee). Me and DP don't have Sky at home, so I don't think i should pay a share of his.
I wanted to poll the MN Jury before opening this particular can of worms!
He has had an easy ride, financially, with this house. It's made a lot of profit due to work that I managed, and he bought into it without stamp duty, legals fees etc.
If the house is sold next month, I don't want to make a huge fuss for the sake of £60.
But, the sale could drag on for months and so on principle I want to get it sorted beforehand so I'm not paying for his Sky viewing come Christmas!
Long, sorry. I suspect my folks will think I should leave it, and that he won't be able to afford it etc. He can afford it - good wage, no DC just goes out a lot (I don't think I'm THAT biased [sceptical])
Thoughts? I don't want to be mean, but kind of feel like it's about time he stood on his own two feet

Sounds perfectly fair to me.

He should also pay more for the council tax however as if it was empty it would be less.

I'd bypass the whole sky thing too by cancelling it. If he wants it, he can pay for it.

You should look at what is normal for a normal tenant. It's not 'normal' for landlords to pay a contribution towards Sky or cleaner or utilities, for example, so I would say he's on his own with them.

CT you as a landlord are liable but as fruity says you get a reduction if the house is empty for 6 months. Maybe look at what that would be, ie how much would you be paying on CT if the house was empty, how would DB pay and come to some sort of arrangement on that. Maybe you should pay the % you would have to pay and he should top up?

The thing you don't make clear is who is benefiting from the sale? Just you or you and DB, and to what percentages. He should still pay his normal rent IMO and any shortfall in the mortgage payment should be split in accordance to the profit each will make. So, if you're going 50/50 on the profits, he should still pay his normal rent but you should each pay 50% of the mortgage shortfall.

I agree with Wilson.

The way you have set it out actually makes it slightly unfair to you.

Your folks may think it unfair, but the house (STC) has been sold; what are they/your brother expecting him to do in terms of housing going forward?

Does he expect to pay roommate/houseshare rates for the rest of his life? With a fiancee (and possibly children)?

If the house was empty wouldn't you still have standing charges to pay for the supply of gas and electricity so the least you should do is share that 50:50 but agree the consumption is up to them. Sky isn't anything to do with you really as a non essential, but they could give notice now in anticipation fo the sale. However you are talking about a relatively small amount in the scheme of things so is it really worth risking the possible fall out of asking too much ? I don't think you get much of a CT discount for an empty property unless it is probate now but that may vary from one council to another.

I'm changing my mind as I'm reading replies now!

50% of the house is owned by me. The other 50% is owned mostly by my DB, and a small % by my Dad (no idea of the exact arrangement).

My DB and fiancee are moving into a rented place until they decide where they want to live, rightly so.

In truth, each room has been rented individually, with a total amount specified for room + bills. It;s never been a shared house arrangement whereby they are paying landlord for rent and then being totally responsible as a collective for bills.

So, if my DB had moved out, and by chance one of the 'normal' tenants was left, we would probably leave their monthly amount as is.

Perhaps I will leave gas and elec at 50/50, then say if they want to keep Sky (£60 per month!!) they can totally fund that themselves.

Fair?

My DB is very good at playing the 'but I'm your little brother/we're family' card, but it's almost exclusively for his benefit! And he will profit handsomely from this house for very minimal effort over the years. The hard graft was done mainly by my DH, and his company re-did the garden at no charge. Perhaps I will be surprised with a lovely gift when the house is sold

"Fair?"

No. Not really. Your brother and fiancee could pay for their own gas and electricity. Do they pay towards yours?

Who is dealing with the paperwork for the sale of the house (why do you not know who owns what?) Is it set out explicitly somewhere? With your solicitor?

"Perhaps I will be surprised with a lovely gift when the house is sold..."

No. What you want is cold hard cash after the fees/tax has been paid.

No, not fair. They'll have to pay their own bills when they move out anyway, so may as well get used to it now.

What you said in your op is fair. What you said in your post of 14:59 is not.

You should deffo not pay for the sky. That is their choice to have it cos they could just get a cheap digi box. Does the fiancee not contribute anything?

Your first idea was fair - half of mortgage and half of standing charges for utilities. They pay for gas /electricity used, and sky.