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Shared-house expenses become messy quickly when roommates rewrite the formula after people leave for vacations.

The original agreement was simple: utilities would be divided among four residents.

Now one roommate wants absences and an empty bedroom to shift extra costs onto whoever remained.

Check out the culmination of this story below.

AITA for only paying 1/4 of utilities?

I signed a sublease agreement to rent 1 room of a 4 bedroom house for June, July, Aug.

Sublease specified utilities would be split amongst the 4 people staying there.

The person in charge of paying utilities (Jane) sublet her room for the first 2 months but did not find a subletter for Aug.

This makes sense.

Another housemate left for vacation for about a month. Jane is saying we should split utilities based on the number of weeks we were living in the house.

So for Aug, Jane would not have to pay at all and her subletter would cover costs for June and July.

Person on vacation would not have to pay utilities for when he was gone. It’s even more complicated bc our billing is not on a monthly cycle.

I think Jane should be responsible for Aug utilities even though she wasn’t there. I don’t mind paying an extra $50 to resolve the issue but it’s more about the principle.

The WiFi is a little different since it is the same price whether you use it or not, so I agree that it should still be split four ways.

Jane also wanted us to split August wifi 3 ways but to me that is a fixed cost you agree to if you’re on the lease (regardless of if you’re there or not)?

I paid 1/4 of the utility bill.

AITA for not wanting to pay more?

People who aren’t there shouldn’t pay for gas, electric, etc since they aren’t using it, though splitting the WiFi even if they aren’t there could make sense.

Read on to see what the people in the comments say about it.

I didn’t think of it this way, but this commenter is correct.

This commenter might be right.

Yeah, there is more to a bill than the usage fee.

Apparently this is not a common way of doing things.

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a person who calls on dozens of whirlygigs to combat the neighbor’s complaints about the fence.

This commenter makes a good point, it isn’t just about the usage.

This tenant reasonably paid one-quarter because the sublease explicitly required utilities to be split among four people.

Any prorated alternative needed prior agreement, while fixed expenses like Wi-Fi remain regardless of vacations or vacant rooms.

Jane’s calculator only seems to divide in her favor.