POLL: Should my roommate pay his share of utilities?

[rgwalt]

Originally posted by: BlahBlahYouToo
he should pay his share of the rent, but if he didn't use water/elec/heat, why should he pay?
definitely not 100% of his share.

He should pay because they are roommates. If you lived alone and left for a month, you couldn't skip out on paying utilities. Granted they would be lower because you wouldn't be around, but there is still some base usage of eletricity/gas for minimal heating/cooling. Plus, the roommate that stuck around is left holding the entire amount, paying for lights/heating/cooling on a larger space.

At the very least make the roommate pay his share of the cable/internet/phone and any other non-metered service. He couldn't turn those off for a month without a hassel.

R

 

[silverpig]

Dear landlord,

I'm going to be away for two weeks this month. Here's half the month's rent for the time I was here.

Sincerely,
me

................

Dear VW,

I only drove my car for 20 days this month, here's 2/3 of my normal lease payment.

Sincerely,
me

...............

Dear phone company,

I didn't use my phone for 6 days this month. Please subtract that service from my bill.

Sincerely,
me

................

Dear butcher,

I cut off 8% of the mass of my ribeye steak last night as it was fat and I didn't eat it. Please refund me 8% of my money.

Sincerely,
me

 

[rgwalt]

Originally posted by: BlahBlahYouToo

Originally posted by: rivan

Originally posted by: nerp

Originally posted by: BlahBlahYouToo

Originally posted by: GoPackGo

Originally posted by: BlahBlahYouToo
he should pay his share of the rent, but if he didn't use water/elec/heat, why should he pay?
definitely not 100% of his share.

The guy lives there...it doesn't matter if he was gone or not.

Whats next? Someone is gone for a few days, and want's that removed from the bill?

a few days is quite different from a whole month.

how would you feel if you were gone a whole month, it happens to be the coldest month on record and your share of utilities goes up $40 that month?

I'd feel like an adult.

:thumbsup:

i guess you people also split the bill evenly with the guy that just gets a salad and water, whereas everyone else gets 3 rounds of beer, steak and dessert.

i like to be a bit more fair.

No, food is different than utilities. You can divvy up the cost of a dinner. Try calling up the cable company and telling them that you didn't watch TV all month or use the internet all month and see if they'll cut you a break. For utilities, especially the non-metered utilities, he should have to pay his share.

What if they were both gone for the entire month? Granted the bills for the metered utilities would be lower, but can they both not pay? No... It is part of the deal when being roommates. They both signed the lease and they both agreed to share utilities. One roommate shouldn't have to submeter the usage to the other roommate.

 

[Pacemaker]

I would say that even if he lived alone and was gone he wouldn't have turned everything off completely. I would say he should pay 100% of his normal share of the fixed bills (cable, internet, etc.) as you wouldn't turn those off for a month even if you knew you were leaving. I personally would ask him to pay at least 50% of his normal share of the non-fixed costs (power, water, heat) as if he was living alone he could have turned them down/off, but they still wouldn't have been free.

However, I would tell him that I am discounting it because I am nice, not because I have any obligation to do so in the future. I would also let him know that debates on who uses things more will not be tolerated.

 

[shocksyde]

Oh yeah, one more fun tidbit.

We have a fridge with more than enough space, yet he refuses to use it and instead has a mini-fridge in his room. He also left his computer on the entire time.

 

[sdifox]

Originally posted by: shocksyde
Oh yeah, one more fun tidbit.

We have a fridge with more than enough space, yet he refuses to use it and instead has a mini-fridge in his room. He also left his computer on the entire time.

why? because you guys can't be trusted to not eat his supply of pig's ears?

 

[shocksyde]

Originally posted by: sdifox

Originally posted by: shocksyde
Oh yeah, one more fun tidbit.

We have a fridge with more than enough space, yet he refuses to use it and instead has a mini-fridge in his room. He also left his computer on the entire time.

why? because you guys can't be trusted to not eat his supply of pig's ears?

I'm not sure, really. I guess he's still stuck in dorm mode. He's a full-time student without a job.

 

[dmw16]

100% of his share. I don't get to not pay 50% of my utilities because I work 12 hours a day...

 

[Atheus]

Originally posted by: silverpig
Dear landlord,

I'm going to be away for two weeks this month. Here's half the month's rent for the time I was here.

Sincerely,
me

Irrelivant, rent doesn't get cheaper when you're not there, utilities do.

Dear VW,

I only drove my car for 20 days this month, here's 2/3 of my normal lease payment.

Sincerely,
me

See above. Also you saved on petrol so if you were splitting the total cost of the car including fuel with someone else it would indeed be cheaper.

Dear phone company,

I didn't use my phone for 6 days this month. Please subtract that service from my bill.

Sincerely,
me

What kind of ridiculous phone company makes you pay the same bill regardless of how much you use the phone 0_o

Dear butcher,

I cut off 8% of the mass of my ribeye steak last night as it was fat and I didn't eat it. Please refund me 8% of my money.

Sincerely,
me

You should have got the fat cut off at the butcher before you bought it and cooked it then! they happily do that.

Your examples are incredibly stupid.

OP: why not calculate the difference between last month's bill and this one then substract that from his payment? If there's no difference then he has to pay it all.

 

[shocksyde]

Originally posted by: Atheus
...

Your sarcasm meter has been nuked from orbit

 

[silverpig]

Originally posted by: Atheus

Originally posted by: silverpig
Dear landlord,

I'm going to be away for two weeks this month. Here's half the month's rent for the time I was here.

Sincerely,
me

Irrelivant, rent doesn't get cheaper when you're not there, utilities do.

Dear VW,

I only drove my car for 20 days this month, here's 2/3 of my normal lease payment.

Sincerely,
me

See above. Also you saved on petrol so if you were splitting the total cost of the car including fuel with someone else it would indeed be cheaper.

Dear phone company,

I didn't use my phone for 6 days this month. Please subtract that service from my bill.

Sincerely,
me

What kind of ridiculous phone company makes you pay the same bill regardless of how much you use the phone 0_o

Dear butcher,

I cut off 8% of the mass of my ribeye steak last night as it was fat and I didn't eat it. Please refund me 8% of my money.

Sincerely,
me

You should have got the fat cut off at the butcher before you bought it and cooked it then! they happily do that.

Your examples are incredibly stupid.

OP: why not calculate the difference between last month's bill and this one then substract that from his payment? If there's no difference then he has to pay it all.

Thanks for illustrating my point for me

Just because he's not there doesn't mean he doesn't owe for it.

Also, the difference may be made up for by different usage from month to month. I know my electrical bill varies quite a bit from month to month anyways.

 

[sdifox]

Originally posted by: shocksyde

Originally posted by: sdifox

Originally posted by: shocksyde
Oh yeah, one more fun tidbit.

We have a fridge with more than enough space, yet he refuses to use it and instead has a mini-fridge in his room. He also left his computer on the entire time.

why? because you guys can't be trusted to not eat his supply of pig's ears?

I'm not sure, really. I guess he's still stuck in dorm mode. He's a full-time student without a job.

He doesn't need a job when parents are paying for everything. It's the Chinese way.

 

[oogabooga]

I would ask him to pay it but probably wouldn't push it if he has some reason he doesn't want to. If he insists he doesn't want to he better remember the slack he was given and know it can be called upon later. Part of the benefit of having roommates is the ability to have flexibility with things like utilities (although it's also part of the nightmare).

My old roommates and I agreed we'd all split the utilities evenly (even though some didn't watch cable, others didn't use the internet as much, etc) just cause it's unreasonable to expect to figure out and pay an exact even share of whatever is used. We all figured where we are getting ripped off one area we're getting subsidized somewhere else

If someone was gone for an extended period of time (Month long trip or longer) we'd just not charge them utilities (but charge them rent still). No one had computers on 24/7 or a minifridge so they weren't sucking up electricity while they were gone so literally while they were gone they had no impact on our utilities usage. And it's not like cause he's gone we suddenly can't afford the utilities or we wouldn't use them. We'd just let the guy slide knowing at some point we may need the same benefit.

If we were all gone (or most of us were gone) we just split the base cost of the utility (the minimum billing usage). Usually the one or two people left at home didn't use enough to go over that but if they did they would cover it themselves.

Obviously if we lived alone we'd just pay the full utility if we were gone.. but we'd also pay full rent. It's not exactly the same as having roommates.

 

[mugs]

Originally posted by: silverpig
Dear landlord,

I'm going to be away for two weeks this month. Here's half the month's rent for the time I was here.

Sincerely,
me

................

Dear VW,

I only drove my car for 20 days this month, here's 2/3 of my normal lease payment.

Sincerely,
me

...............

Dear phone company,

I didn't use my phone for 6 days this month. Please subtract that service from my bill.

Sincerely,
me

................

Dear butcher,

I cut off 8% of the mass of my ribeye steak last night as it was fat and I didn't eat it. Please refund me 8% of my money.

Sincerely,
me

See, the thing that a lot of people are missing is that there are fixed costs and variable costs. Clearly the guy needs to pay all of the fixed costs, including the portion of the metered utilities that would be used regardless of how many people are there. It's not unreasonable though to give the guy a small discount to account for the fact that the variable costs are going to go down. It's also not unreasonable to give him no discount, but unless it was someone I really didn't like I'd give him a discount.

 

[mugs]

Originally posted by: shocksyde
Oh yeah, one more fun tidbit.

We have a fridge with more than enough space, yet he refuses to use it and instead has a mini-fridge in his room. He also left his computer on the entire time.

Wait, what?

1. He's already back and you're just discussing this now?
2. He left his fridge plugged in and his computer turned on and he doesn't expect to pay?

 

[silverpig]

Originally posted by: mugs

See, the thing that a lot of people are missing is that there are fixed costs and variable costs. Clearly the guy needs to pay all of the fixed costs, including the portion of the metered utilities that would be used regardless of how many people are there. It's not unreasonable though to give the guy a small discount to account for the fact that the variable costs are going to go down. It's also not unreasonable to give him no discount, but unless it was someone I really didn't like I'd give him a discount.

True, but the place is heated whether he's there or not. He isn't technically "using" the heat while he's at school, but still should pay his share. Unless he has electric baseboard heating and turns the heater in his room off, then he should pay.

Electricity is another thing. Most of the electrical cost is to light common areas and run common appliances. His room light might cost $1 a month to run. If he shuts his computer off (which it sounds like he won't), then maybe that's another couple of bucks, but by and large it's common area things that cost the money.

 

[mchammer187]

average the last 3 months utilities

say its $140 or something

if the bill comes to be $100 then doc $40 from his share

if there is no change than no discount

 

[olds]

100%

 

[hanoverphist]

Originally posted by: GoPackGo

Originally posted by: BlahBlahYouToo
he should pay his share of the rent, but if he didn't use water/elec/heat, why should he pay?
definitely not 100% of his share.

The guy lives there...it doesn't matter if he was gone or not.

Whats next? Someone is gone for a few days, and want's that removed from the bill?

this. if you feel like being a nice guy, do what you want. but it may become an issue if he is gone for a week later on and wants it to be prorated then too.

 

[CrimsonWolf]

Another vote for 100%. Sure, less electricity probably got used. But that varies from month to month anyway, and who knows, maybe it helps make up for when you pay for more electricity that what you use. It's a waste of time to try to track that. Anything less than 100% will just invite the possibility that this gets brought up every time he thinks "but but but I used less power by doing blah blah blah".

My college roommate and I split everything evenly regardless of whether we were there - it all evened out. It worked great and there was no petty squabbling.

 

[Nutdotnet]

He lives there...it doesn't matter that he was gone for a month.

He pays 100% of rent and 100% of his share of the utilities. There should be no discussion.

Years ago my old roommate tried to do the same thing...I told him he could move out if he didn't want to pay his share.

 

[speg]

Won't the utilities be less this month since he's not using them? Thus you won't be footing the cost of a "full" utility bill, though he should still pay something to have them maintained. So... 25% or 50% sounds good.

 

[SneakyStuff]

Originally posted by: Nutdotnet
He lives there...it doesn't matter that he was gone for a month.

He pays 100% of rent and 100% of his share of the utilities. There should be no discussion.

Years ago my old roommate tried to do the same thing...I told him he could move out if he didn't want to pay his share.

:thumbsup: He signed the same lease you did, he's responsible for the bills.

 

[erub]

How do the bills compared to the previous 3 months? That's the real key. Is the kWh or gallons used less?

 

[nageov3t]

if I were in your roommate's position, I'd expect to pay what I normally paid every other month. it's just part of being a good roommate and I wouldn't want to screw my roomie over by unexpectedly doubling their share of the cable/utility bill one month.

plus, his crap is still using up electricity and gas unless he unplugged all of his stuff and turned off the heat/AC in his areas.

I live alone right now... if I were to go on vacation for a month, it's not like my cable/gas/electric bills would be $0 for that month, even if I did turn off the heat (which is barely a lot of the time anyways)