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.

[quote Soontobe60]@TheRealityCheque

The difference is the hotels price their rooms assuming full occupancy, but if it’s under occupied they don’t reduce the rate.[/quote]
Don’t know what hotels you go to but I’ve invariably found my rate reduced for single occupancy!

Don't get dragged into any ot this, tell your LL and get them to sort it out.

Can't say I'd give a fuck really

The rent has to be split i.e. the 3 of you end up paying less. If he's not prepared to pay rent that benefits you and the other, he doesn't move in.

If there’s 5 people living in one property, it becomes an HMO not ok unless you have fire doors etc etc your landlord could be fined 20,000
Plus if I where your landlord and this where to happen I would sue you
Just something legal to think about

I agree rent should be split between all of you for fairness. But...check your contract, its pretty standard for them to say you need to inform the LL if anyone else is living there. They need to know for the purposes of insurance but also, you'll have a very stressful time if something happens and the landlord visits and catches you out.

Split the utility bills by five as extra person etc but not the rent as he’s sharing her room so they pay for it as a couple

@caringcarer

There are very strict rules on HMO's. A certain number of unrelated people can share but once reached cap a whole lot of rules apply. Check with LL. He should be paying a bit of money towards use of kitchen, lounge etc.

Yes. Once there are five unrelated people living in a house, the landlord has to be licensed. If the landlord isn't, he/she won't want an extra person.

@Babiesandboardgames

I think you should meet in the middle somewhere . Let's say you all pay 400 each and she pays 500. Under your proposals , it would be 2100/5 which would be 420 for each of them , or 840 for their room which is too high . Equally, 500 for 2 people (not 1 and that's an extra person sharing the living space ) isn't fair either I would suggest together they pay 600 so that the 3 others pay 33.33 less each and bills are lower because you have an extra person paying them I think that's fair :)

Agree with this approach. Make the couple pay a bit more so that your three get a discount, but they still pay a fair share.

I think if they pay a little towards the rent so you all pay less then thats fair but splitting 5ways is a bit much

Split 3 ways instead of 2. You should at least gain something from having the inconvenience of another person around.

I am a landlord. As has been mentioned already, if the 3 pay 400 and u pay 500 for example, then yr rent shd be maybe 600 and they pay a bit less. That is the fair way in the circumstances. Splitting 5 ways is too much and the way u suggest of keeping it the same is too little. Id also tell the landlord as ppl moving in for a few months usually results in an elongated stay. Unless u have firm plans with an end date. R u moving in together, or .... ?

If the rent includes utilities then he needs to pay his share. I think the conversation alone will send him running. Sounds like a freeloader

So basically she has the best room, with lover, and only has to pay half her rent? Some serious discussion needed, unless ll is happy it can be used for a couple, which I doubt as he would be charging double, yes they are brutal! X

The Boyfriends shouldn’t be paying half of the bigger bedrooms rent as he is going to be using electricity/gas/water/washing machine etc.

The Landlord needs to know of any changes.

Just easier now as there are 5 of you to share costs 5 ways.

If you are genuinely a LL, @mylifestory, I'm all the more surprised that you should offer such bonkers advice.

@msgreen is right.

From what I understand, a landlord can run an HMO (ie Flatshare) for up to 4 people without needing a special licence. If a fifth moves in, then the LL would need an HMO licence and if I remember correctly, support from the planning office. The planning office could potentially revoke the HMO status of the property and it could all end badly for everyone involved. What does your contract say? It may have a clause about not having people stay over or how many times they’re allowed to stay over as well.

As you like him and want to do him a favour, I would let him have the rent free... He's having a hard time and it's a nice thing to do. Technically he is a temporary guest and doesn't have to be on the lease.

Alternatively you could calculate a new rent for everyone based on shared communal areas and perhaps the floor area of their room, with a premium added for the ensuite. (And you would have to get permission from the landlord.)

Either way, definitely split the bills (electric, water etc) five ways while he is there.

Be prepared for him to stay permanently and for there to be lots of "couple dramas".

Also prepared to move out yourself it a problem develops!

From what I understand, a landlord can run an HMO (ie Flatshare) for up to 4 people without needing a special licence. If a fifth moves in, then the LL would need an HMO licence and if I remember correctly, support from the planning office.

An HMO is three or more unrelated persons. So technically it is already an HMO, and presumably licensed as such. (This could easily be checked with the Council.)

@ISayItLikeItIs

why should the rent be split by 5 if he doesn't have his own room? He's sharing a room with his GF (which y'all agreed to) and he's splitting utilities.

I agree, he won't have his own room but should pay his share of the bills. However if the LL isn't informed and finds out the tenancy could be at risk

Yanbu. When I moved my bf with my friend we split the rent three ways even though we shared a room. Tbh we could have probably done less than 2/3 since we shared a room and she had a whole one but I was just happy she agreed to it so wanted her to see a benefit. Maybe you could accept not quite 5ths but something where you get some financial benefit of having to share with him.

Do you pay all the bills yourselves (council tax, energy, water, broadband, TV licence) or is there anything included in the rent ie that the landlord pays?

I guess you could argue that the rent covers the kitchen, bathrooms and living room as well as the bedrooms. So when you divide it up you could factor that in. Count their large double room as 1.5 rooms (as it's bigger) and their ensuite as 0.5 room. Count the bathroom as 1 room which you divide between the 3 of you who share it. Kitchen and living room each count as 1 room shared between 5. Other bedrooms count as 1 room. This is 8 rooms in total. This means you and the other two single housemates would pay 1.73/8 (21.6%) of the total rent each. And the couple would pay 1.4/8 (17.5%) each.

I don't know if that makes sense to anyone other than me But I think it would be fair.

Correction to my note above: in some cities an HMO with up to 4 unrelated tenants doesn't need to be licensed.
5 or more is classified as a "Large HMO" and needs a license wherever you are.
So the landlord may well object to an extra resident if he is currently operating an unlicenced HMO.

I'd say no Op - there's no benefit to the rest of you and it will change the dynamic and you'll have the inconvenience of another adult in the flat. Say no or you'll regret not saying it!

Yanbu but I think it's also unreasonable for him to move in at all.

A fair rent split if he did move in would be calculated like this:

Bills - split across 5 people so each person pays 20%

Rental of the "public areas" of the house - kitchen and living room - 50% of the rent covers this and that also split per head so 10% of the rent each goes on that.
The other 50% is for the bedrooms and the big room with the en-suite is obviously more expensive - difficult to judge without knowing the rooms exactly how much more but maybe 11.5% of total rent for each of the 3 small rooms and 15.5% of the total rent for the big room.

So in total the 3 of you in smaller rooms pay 21.5% of the rent each and the couple who are sharing the big room pay a total of 35.5% between them, or 17.75% each.

But I suspect that the landlord wouldn't agree anyway so it doesn't matter.