Housemate’s boyfriend moving in-split rent?

[Lampyshady]

I live in a flatshare with 3 others. One of the girls has a much bigger room and an en-suite and pays a bit more rent and the other 3 of us share a bathroom and pay a bit less. Girl with big room has asked if her boyfriend can move in and share her room for about 6 months, and said we’d split the bills by 5. We all said we’d think about it. He’s here a lot anyway and has been going through a very hard time and we get on well so it wouldn’t be so bad-and we’d still be sharing a bathroom between 3 so it wouldn’t add to bathroom waiting times.
We suggested that he should pay rent and the girlfriend said oh he’s going to pay half of my rent so it’s fair. I think this is unreasonable, since there will be 5 of us in the house/using the kitchen etc so I think the rent should be split by 5 and the rent should be lowered for the rest of us too as a result of having one more flatmate.
I think it’s unfair that they will get to live in a nice house, in a big room in an expensive city for half the market rate, with the convenience of having their partner with them, while the rest of us pay nearly double and have the inconvenience of living with more people.
Their argument is that the rent is per room and it is only 1 room they are renting so as long as that room is paid for it’s none of our business/their finances are up to them.
Who is being unreasonable? And is this even legal-we weren’t planning on telling the landlord he’s moved in because it’ll (probably) only be for a few months.

I think you will regret it.

The dynamic will change.

They may be cooking meals together.
Having couples nights in front of the tv which may make you feel uncomfortable.

For the price of utilities he will feel he has rights.

Your flatmate is a CF.

When I shared with a few girls it was made very clear to them that we wanted quiet enjoyment of our flat without their boyfriends round all the time because they lived at home and it was easier.
Fortunately one of the girls took the lead and we agreed with her.
There were 5 of us, one was taking the piss and the other wasn't.

You are far less likely to walk around in a face mask wearing little if you have men around.

They have a lot to gain and you have the loss of comfort in your home.

Think long and hard.
Constantly having your boyfriend around is CF territory and inconsiderate.

They need to get a flat together, not impose on the rest of you.

YABU - the price is per room and he’s sharing a room so I definitely don’t think it should be split 5 ways.

However you could compromise by dividing the utility bill by 5 as he will be using water, electricity etc.

But the rent isn’t just for the room it’s to live in the property which has a shared kitchen, living room, furniture and appliances and is priced according to location. No he won’t be sleeping in my room, but he’ll be doing more than just sleeping in the one room-he’ll be using the kitchen, fridge, washing machine, bins, sofa etc.

But the cost for the communal areas has already been factored in to the rent. You aren't currently paying one amount for your room and another for the rest, it's all one cost.

If you really felt that way, then this girl would be paying the same rent as the rest of you, because she doesn't get the use of the communal bathroom so her bigger room would even out.

When I was a student my cheeky fucker housemate moved her friend into her room 'temporarily'. Flatmate got half her rent paid, but it was the rest of us who had to put up with another person sharing the bathroom and living space. Then the friends cheeky fucker sister came to stay and thought it was perfectly okay to have sex on our sofa and stay in my room while I was away. I know I'm massively projecting but I'd say no because the dynamic will completely change.
If you do agree, get the rules nailed down before he moves in.

I wish I'd been less accommodating when I was house sharing!

@TheFlis12345

I don’t think the rent should be split 5 ways given they are sharing a room but he should pay a nominal sum to balance you now living with an extra person.

I'd also suggest this

There's risk in not telling your landlord. In my early twenties it's a risk I would probably have taken without much thought. Now I'm in my fifties I wouldn't. That's partly experience and partly having more to lose from it going wrong and less to gain from it working out.

If you can agree on rent and decide to go ahead you should also ask for a deposit to be held by someone other than the girlfriend and a firm agreement to review 1 month later on X date with an understanding that any one of you can veto extended if it hasn't worked for you so far.

But also, you should think about what you will do if your friend decides to just give him a key and let him stay the whole time anyway and not have him pay rent or split bills. Legally I think it would be next to impossible to get him out or get extra costs from them. So if she might just do this anyway you may want to take what she's offering right now but look to move out ASAP.

@lampyshady - you’ve been given the precise legal situation by @HuntingCuns in their first post, so there’s no way you should be contemplating anything without telling the landlord. You could find yourself homeless.

@Hont1986

But the rent isn’t just for the room it’s to live in the property which has a shared kitchen, living room, furniture and appliances and is priced according to location. No he won’t be sleeping in my room, but he’ll be doing more than just sleeping in the one room-he’ll be using the kitchen, fridge, washing machine, bins, sofa etc.

But the cost for the communal areas has already been factored in to the rent. You aren't currently paying one amount for your room and another for the rest, it's all one cost.

If you really felt that way, then this girl would be paying the same rent as the rest of you, because she doesn't get the use of the communal bathroom so her bigger room would even out.

Between 4 people. Now the occupants of that room are no longer 1/4 of the household, they're 2/5. Put it into percentages to make it clearer - 25% vs 40%. So 40% of the occupants are paying 30% (let's assume as we know this flatmate pays more) of the rent - 15% each. While everyone else is paying nearly 25% of the rent each.

It's communal areas, wear and tear on the property, another person's food in the shared fridge, another person eating breakfast, cooking dinner, using the washing machine and crockery.

It's really not the same as a hotel room.

I wouldn't be happy with this anyway because it will change the dynamic but it tends to be how life goes in house shares.

He definitely needs to contribute something due to use of utilities, kitchen, living room etc. but it wouldn't be 20% of the total rent, it would be less due to sharing a room. I think you need to work out what this number is and then that amount gets split between all four of you, effectively as a reduction off your own rent, with the gf still paying more than a quarter due to having the larger room.

We shared three rooms between four flat mates in a similar situation to this (a couple in the much larger room.)

We split the rent equally between everybody living in the flat because the large room was much larger and had an ensuite. We also split all bills equally.

I agree the landlord needs to know.

Yes he should pay towards his use of the communal spaces: the kitchen and living room.

Yes, but those people who are paying 25% of the rent are also getting a whole room to themselves. Whereas the bf & gf are only getting half a room each. Why should they pay 20% of the rent for 12.5% of the rooms?

Communal areas are just priced into the overall rent and the overall rent is split up by rooms. That's how it's always been done. Some flatmates spend their whole time in the living room, others never leave their room, but they pay the same amount.

He would be paying a fifth share of the utilities so he's entitled to use the appliances that that pays for - fridge, washing machine, dishwasher, wifi, etc. And presumably his GF would have been using the kitchen for cooking anyway, so there would be no extra usage there.

When ever I’ve looked at flat or room shares a single occupant was always cheaper than a double occupancy
Say £500 for a single and £650 for a double

@HuntingCuns actually rules of what makes a HMO does differ from area to area too (that much I have read) one thing I read somewhere is if the building is more than 2 floors with multiple sharers/tenants can make a difference (presumably fire escape safety issues again) its quite complex (or if not HMO at least they have to be licenced which might be different?)

@HuntingCuns

OP, I am a LL and you absolutely can't do this. More than 4 people living in a shared house makes it an HMO, which would need to have a licence. Obtaining the licence is expensive; where I live, you also have to do an HMO training course (again, expensive) before you are granted the licence. I have deliberately not gone down this route because of the expense (and the 'training course' is almost certainly telling LLs how to do stuff they should already be doing, but charging them a fortune to tell them this). Your tenancy will be very specific - is each room let individually to each tenant, or is the whole house let to four of you? If the former, your friend-with-the-boyfriend needs to ask the LL if s/he is willing to change her tenancy to a joint tenancy (LL will say no, unless they want to go down the HMO route). If the latter, the Lead Tenant needs to make the request of the LL (who will again say no for reasons previously mentioned).

If you just let him move in, you could all be evicted. What about Council Tax? He would need to be paying CT, which would automatically alert the local Council to his existence; this would in turn work its way to the LL. Moreover, I'm quite sure the LL wouldn't be able to go down the HMO route even if s/he wanted to if there are four bedrooms but five people. Each tenant has to have a bedroom, even if in practice two of them are a couple and spend all their time in one room.

In the extraordinarily unlikely event of the LL having an HMO licence or being willing/able to obtain one, the boyfriend should be paying 1/5 of all bills, including rent.

This is the right advice. Also bear in mind that your insurance will likely be invalid if you find yourself needing to claim on it.

Putting aside issues about the legalities and whether you want to or not, and simply focusing on the rent...

I've lived in shared houses and I've let rooms.

It's absolutely standard that the rent is per room, regardless of how many in it. And share of bills is per person.

(Unless the rent is inclusive of bills. If it is then you need to consider that.)

So, I'm sorry but the BF is right.

If you don't want him to live with you, you are absolutely within your right to say that btw. But, you don't have any right to make your flatmate pay more rent, or to charge him for it.

It's a dodgy area legally as he probably shouldn't be there. (See comments on HMOs above) although tbh if it was me, I'd turn a blind eye if I wanted to offer the room. But, if the shit does hit the fan with the landlord and you're found to be profiting from him being there, that's another level of dodgy! And then, it's not your flatmate's problem it becomes yours too.

Your flatmate and BF are being very unreasonable - and frankly, very cheeky in an unpleasant way.
Unless BF never leaves the bedroom/ensuite, he will be using all the other common rooms and facilities in the house. So, he must pay towards those rooms/facilities. You need to come to some sort of calculation that reflects the fact that you all pay for (a) your own rooms (housemate and her BF can divide that however they want) AND (b) common areas/facilities and split this common element by 5.

Actually instead of what I've said - everything @HuntingCuns and @L0bstersLass say is the best advice.

I've been in this situation, honestly it totally changes the dynamic!

plus the HMO rules, insurance etc. not to mention fridge space, sofa space, cleaning, living with a couple is difficult.

Hard no from me.

You're right, you also 'pay' and use common areas of the flat like kitchen and living space so yes he should contribute a little bit towards this to lower your rent.
I lived in a flat share which included a couple and someone had worked out the floorspace of bedrooms and common area and calculated it into rent per room. So the common areas in your case would be split 5 ways.

@IDidntKnowItWasAParty

Your flatmate and BF are being very unreasonable - and frankly, very cheeky in an unpleasant way. Unless BF never leaves the bedroom/ensuite, he will be using all the other common rooms and facilities in the house. So, he must pay towards those rooms/facilities. You need to come to some sort of calculation that reflects the fact that you all pay for (a) your own rooms (housemate and her BF can divide that however they want) AND (b) common areas/facilities and split this common element by 5.

Have you ever shared a house? This just isn't how it works. The rent for the room already includes use of those other facilities.

Rooms are paid for by the room, regardless of people.
Bills are split per person, regarless of how many in the room.

Them's the rules! (Well, usually, anyway).

Contributing a little towards rent isn't fair is it? let's say someone rents and has a spare room, their friend wants to move in. Friends says well you pay rent anyway so i'll just pay my share of bills, plus i'll chuck you a few quid.

Would that be fair? only for the CF!! sharing a room is not a reason to get free/super cheap rent.

Not telling the ll is a very poor move. If something happens to the house and the ll doesn’t have the correct HMO licence, they won’t have insurance if the house is damaged or burns down they won’t be insured and they’d be subject to a massive fine of up to 12 months rent, which could be up to 30k. If someone dies, it could be jail time for them. Ignorance is not a defence. See just one case example. landlordsdefence.co.uk/tenant-dies-in-hmo-fire-landlord-gets-4-months-plus-fines-fire-safety-order/

I’m a ll. I’d be appalled if you did this in one of my properties.

Is that something you’d be willing to risk?

If his contribution does not reduce your rent there is nothing in this for you. I would refuse and tell the landlord.

@materialrealitygirl

Of course I've shared a house. But the way you describe it is totaly lunacy, and certainly never how I've experienced a house-share. The way you describe it, one person in a house-share could invite loads of people to live in their room with them, split their share of the rent between them, and use all the common areas - kitchen, fridge, laundry, lounge, tv etc, while meanwile the other housemates paid their normal amount while having to share with a load of new people. I'm sorry if you ever got gaslighted into accepting that ridiculous state of affairs - or I'm appalled if you ever gaslighted housemates into accepting it!