His Friend Raised His Rent by $150. Then He Learned He’s Covering Most of the House’s Increase While the Friend Pays Just $200 Plus Utilities
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It’s hard not to feel taken advantage of when a friend asks you to pay more than they’re paying themselves.
That’s where one renter found himself after his roommate raised his monthly payment from $700 to $850.
He’d trusted his friend enough to move in without a written agreement, but the increase made him question how they were splitting the rent.
After doing the math, he realized his friend had the master bedroom and garage storage while paying just $200 toward rent, plus utilities.
Then, he learned the whole house’s rent had only gone up by $200, leaving him wondering why he was covering most of the increase.
Read on to see what you think about their arrangement.
Roommate overcharging me for rent am I being unreasonably upset?
The house I currently live in, the rent is now $2,300. We are three roommates in total.
Recently, I experienced a $150 rent increase, which I thought was a large jump from $700.
Roommate 2 pays $1,250 per month but gets the garage for storage. Roommate 3, the one who is charging me, gets the master room and garage storage but pays utilities (mild coastal climate year-round). I get nothing but the room. I did the math. He is paying $200 plus utilities.
He knows the owner of the house, so he asked about the increase.
The roommate charging me had been a good friend of mine before I moved in 2 years ago, and we have maintained our friendship since. But recently, I suspected he was lying. We kept it as a verbal agreement. I’m not on a lease agreement.
Because the house is being rented from another one of my friends’ dads (who was giving us a reasonable deal, I felt, because he’s putting people he knows in the house), I was able to find out the rent increased on the whole house by $200, and I received a rent increase of $150.
Am I being unreasonably upset? My roommate has a good job, makes good money, is way better off than me, and is taking advantage of me, I feel like.
Yikes! That does seem really unfair for him.
Let’s check out what the folks over at Reddit feel about the whole thing.
This is how it would appear to the outside at least.
This person has a completely different opinion.
Yep. And it sounds like it’s already happening.
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According to this reader, he needs a lease.
Well, the good news is that he doesn’t have a lease tying him to this arrangement.
But before deciding to move, he should ask his friend to explain exactly how they’re splitting the rent and utilities.
No matter how you look at it, making him pay most of the increase is totally unfair.
And if his friend won’t agree to a better split, he’d be better off looking for another place than letting this ruin the friendship any further.
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