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.

Obviously him moving in isn’t some big exciting concept for the rest of you or you would all be jumping with joy and agreeing to anything. So as a result there needs to be some sort of compensation, as a majority you have decided that is him contributing to rent.

The bills are irrelevant because he is using his share so why wouldn’t he pay, him not making you all pay for him isn’t him doing you a favour.

I have shard a house for many years @materialrealitygirl and that isn't how it's ever worked in any houseshare I've lived in. Absolute pisstake.

@IDidntKnowItWasAParty

I agree, I've lived in lots of house shares. You can't just move people into your room. House dynamics are very important. If you want to live as a couple...leave!

A house share has set rules, housemates need to stick to them.

It'd be a big fat no from me. Will completely change the dynamic of the living space plus he'll be taking up more space and resources and you get nothing in return.

Pffft.

I would be concerned if he causes any damage. Seen as he's not supposed to be there will you have to take responsibility for it? Will it invalidate any insurance? Will it affect your deposit?
What if he takes over the communal area, doesn't tidy up after himself? How would you throw him out seeing as he's not supposed to be there?
I wouldn't be happy to let him be there unless it was all legit and above board. Mainly for your protection.

But is the rent per room, truly? I doubt it.

Could you each move in a partner and have eight people living in the flat? Or is that above the maximum occupancy your landlord is willing and able to allow?

Landlords set occupancy numbers with comfort, safety and wear and tear in mind. If it's a flat-share, let to four named sharers, that's what it is.

As a landlord, I'd need to know if another tenant was moving in. They'd be subject to the same reference checks as anyone else - if I was willing to allow an additional occupant at all. Visitors are different. You can't visit permanently.

I’m with your friend, however he should pay a share of the bills. She already pays more for the room.

Utility bills will increase - more showers, washing, cooking. He should at least pay towards that. But what happens if your landlord finds out? Could you all be asked to leave?

When my sons were renting houses at uni the lanlord or the letting agent would come round every 6 months or so. More often if there was a problem or a complaint. You have to be given notice of this, so some of the boyfriends stuff could be moved, however it would still be blindingly obvious that a man was sharing the larger room with the official female tenant.

[quote IDidntKnowItWasAParty]@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![/quote]
No, never! It was only ever couples.

I didn't mean that the other people should have no say over who moves in with them.

I was only talking about the rent. Everywhere I've lived it's been by the room and I did the same when I let rooms, more recently.

I've only seen a set up where you have no say over who lives with you in bedsits - or housing association or co-op type places and it ended badly there. (A seriously disturbed man moved into a house with my friends and bullied them, and played the system by complaining to the HA before my friends got a chance to complain about him, so the HA had no idea who to believe. My friend believed he poisoned her cat. Having met him, this wasn't an outlandish suggestion).

FWIW if I was the OP, I wouldn't want to move the guy in at all. It's not about the money for me, I simply wouldn't want to live with a bloke I didn't know well who was there on an unofficial basis like that as you've got no way to move him out if it doesn't work. And, if they take money off him then they can't very well go to the LL for help if they want him out, can they?

But, if I was in my younger years, I would probably have been totally up for it.

Tell the LL, it is likely to be in breach of your contract, assuming you are all on one contract rather than individual ones? Also, I believe once 5 people are in a rental then it becomes a large HMO which comes with quite different obligations for the LL which includes having a license. So it is not as simple as splitting the rent five ways.

Another angle to consider is that if you charge him rent you make it harder to kick him out.

Paying towards bills and household expenses should be a given. Rent is a bit different though. If he and his girlfriend up their share and you all get a rent reduction as a result of him living there, you will have a much harder time persuading them that time’s up and that you want your four-person setup back.

If you ‘let’ him live in his girlfriend’s room for a finite period then you’re doing him a favour and you reserve the right to say ‘ok it’s been four months now, time to move on’. If they pay more rent though then you’re effectively giving him an official claim on the place and opening up arguments that ‘I’m paying my way, you can’t kick me out’ and ‘you can’t complain, you’re paying less rent because of me’.

You’re also making it much harder to plead ignorance if the landlord gets wind of it all, because you will ALL be sub-letting to him by accepting money from him, not just his girlfriend.

So personally IF I were to allow this arrangement (and that’s a big if because I am still firmly in the ‘don’t do it’ camp) I would not accept rent money from him but would keep the pressure on both of them for him to find a new place ASAP.

For the sheer change in dynamics it'd be a hard no. Been in same situations plenty of time, one houseshare, the couple kept having romatic dinners and movie nights meaning it was really comfortable for the rest of us. Not to mention he wasn't very clean!

Never ever again

Anyway this is all moot as it seems having 5 people living there triggers a load of things which are not going to be good for any of you.

So I would say no. If he's registered at his parents house, he can live there can't he?

I support the bedroom and rest of the shared space idea.

So half the rent is per bedroom; the other half of the rent is per person. It is taking the mick for him not to pay rent while he lives there.

@springtimeishereagain

Utility bills will increase - more showers, washing, cooking. He should at least pay towards that. But what happens if your landlord finds out? Could you all be asked to leave?

He is. The op says splitting bills 5 ways.

OP are you renting a room or renting a whole house with three other people?

The rent for the shared room needs to be higher but the rent should not be split 5 ways. The utilities should be split by 5.

The existing housemates should see some benefit to this new arrangement.

I wouldn't be telling the LL, if he keeps his official address elsewhere & he's there loads anyway...

Utilities: split 5 ways, yep. But his use of them will increase them, so you won't really 'get' anything out of that.

Rent: He needs to pay something into the pot. It would be easier to say how much if we knew what you were all paying, but there are a few calculation people have suggested.

In a way I'd say to split the rent 5 ways. Yes they're sharing a room, but they're sharing the nicest, biggest room and gave an en-suite. They're sharing with their partner so that's no hardship (not like two friends sharing). They have a little less 'footage' each than you all do but the are compensated by the nicer room & ensuite.

Seems fair to me. If they don't like it, he doesn't have to move in!

No way should he just pay half HER rent & inconvenience the rest of you! CF

@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.

You're incorrect when you agree that the rent is per room. It's not. It's per person as each person is being charged rent for each room.

Could you move 10 more people into your room?

No. And she can't move one more person into her room either as that's not what was rented; one person was rented one room, and now she wants to add a person to that, she can't.

She's asking you two favours;

1. Let her boyfriend share your home
2. Keep it a secret from the landlord

And she isn't even offering any kind of incentive?

Lol at her cheek and lol at anyone who allows themselves to be played in such a way.

Not sure why everyone is being so po faced about telling the landlord, if it's only for six months. People do this all the time.

First, it may invalidate the LL's license and insurance; those are very serious concerns for the LL. His insurance protects his asset, and provides his public liability cover, for occupiers safety and injuries.
Tenancy agreements commonly have a clause forbidding subletting. If tenants breach their contract they risk being given notice to quit.

Technically this is not subletting.

This BF has done his homework and has figured out how to live rent free with no paper trail.

I'm surprised such a crafty person has fallen on hard times.

This has got disaster written all over it. Saying that as someone who has lived in a house share.

So many things to be concerned about. He likely won't leave in 6 months, then you'll have to have an awkward conversation which may not end well. Regardless of this, having someone's boyfriend move in will change the dynamic of the house. What about the atmosphere if they have a row? What if they're always snuggled up together in the lounge and you feel like a gooseberry? (This has happened in a house I've lived in).

Honestly all that plus the Financials, it's just not worth entertaining the idea.

@mathanxiety

I know you are reluctant to do this but the landlord, who owns the house, needs to know who is living there.

There may be maximum legal occupancy numbers due to fire codes or to prevent the neighbourhood being overrun with flophouses.

The plan you have outlined, with the BF retaining his parents' address officially, and his name not on the tenancy, is 100% skewed in his favour.

He could cause damage that the rest of you would be liable for.
His mates could make your home theirs.
He is going through hard times and you might not see a penny of the money he says he will pay toward utilities.
There will be a bathroom squeeze.
There will be negotiations wrt mess in the kitchen and the shared bathroom.

Assuming you ignore this advice and let him move in without alerting the LL, he should pay one fifth of the rent because he will be using the communal spaces. Anything less is cheeky fuckery. He is a moocher.

This is how I'd be looking at it.