Living with a roommate often means dealing with passive-aggressive writing on the wall and having to read between the lines. In these types of situations, “Home Sweet Home” feels a little less so.

What would you do if your ideal roommate suddenly flipped a switch? One guy recently shared his frustrating situation like this on Reddit. Here’s what went down.

AITA for charging a flat ‘bills included’ rate that’s higher than the actual bills?

I (35m) live in a 2 bedroom + small WFH office apartment near the beach in a really good area.

The total rent is $725/week, which is cheap for the area, although the apartment itself is old, rundown and a bit dark.

I’ve spent years making it cosy and functional.

That’s all you can do in situations like that.

My old flatmate moved out, so I advertised the spare room and found “Meg” (32f).

She’s a friend of a friend, but we hadn’t met before.

We got along well and agreed she’d move in.

It’s usually better to have someone who has been vetted.

Here’s the issue: If we split the base rent roughly by room size/use, my room would be about $375/week and hers about $350/week.

But when I advertised the room, I listed it as $410/week including bills/utilities.

The extra money goes into a shared house account that I use for internet, electricity, cleaning supplies, occasional cleaners etc.

Sounds like that was the pre-existing setup that worked best?

Pretty much all the shared household stuff is mine and has been accumulated over years of living there, so the buffer also goes toward maintaining/replacing those things over time.

For example, I once got hit with a massive electricity bill because the meter had apparently been misread for ages, and I had to cover it myself.

So yes, the bills themselves don’t literally cost $60/week.

That’s a fair enough system.

Realistically, the actual utilities/internet side is probably closer to around $40/week on average, so there is some leftover money beyond the direct bills themselves.

Some of that money creates a buffer for upkeep and unexpected costs, and makes the house easier/stabler to manage overall.

Meg recently asked what I personally pay in rent, and I told her honestly: about $375 for my room, while she pays $410 including bills.

Transparency is vital in situations like these.

She feels misled and says she thought she was moving into a more equal sharehouse arrangement, rather than paying into a system where I have a buffer.

She says if bills come up, she would rather just split them as they happen.

She also doesn’t think she should have to pay for my concerns about unexpected costs.

Maybe she doesn’t fully see the big picture?

From my perspective, I never lied about anything.

The room was advertised clearly at $410 including bills, and if she had asked earlier I would have explained the setup then too.

I also genuinely believe it’s still a very good deal for the area, even at that price.

That likely may be so, but it’s fair she’d want to know about it.

She agrees the room is probably still below market value, but says the principle of it doesn’t sit right with her.

So reddit, AITA?

He’s not exactly a slumlord, but he wasn’t entirely transparent either. Let’s see how the jury of Reddit readers weighed in on this one.

The comments were pretty much all unanimous.

And purported the conventional logic.

A few scolded the OP.

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a woman who refused to let her neighbor have access to his spot, telling him to drive over the curb instead.

But most shared the same sentiment.

And one person put it plainly and simply.

Either the roof is getting raised, or the rent is.