Student Rent Question

3,043 Views | 23 Replies | Last: 8 yr ago by FlyRod
milner79
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Situation: rental house in CS with three students on lease. Paying equal rent, 1/3, 1/3, 1/3, year-round. Also responsible for equal shares of utilities. Over summer, one renter is gone home, still paying rent. But what is customary for handling of utilities, the cost of which is being generated by just two renters for the summer months? Common sense says utilities (not fixed costs) should be split equally between the two present renters for the two summer months. What say those of you who are B/CS landlords?
CS78
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quote:
Paying rent

As a landlord, what's the problem again?



techno-ag
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AG
Discuss with the missing party. Is it fair for someone not there to pay utilities? Is it in the lease that utilities are split regardless? Discuss.
AggieBarstool
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Missing party should absolutely NOT be responsible for paying for utilities he/she didn't consume.

Room, however, is an opportunity cost therefore he/she should still pay rent.
aggiegal99
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I disagree that it's "common sense." I don't think it's fair for the remaining two roommates to be stuck dividing the bills in half, unless they knew from the beginning that this roommate was going to be gone for the summer. I'd be pissed if I now had to come up with extra cash because one person didn't stick to planned arrangements.
NativeTxn
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Was there no talk about any of this prior to move in? A roommate agreement describing who is responsible for what, when and under what circumstances? So what if two of you go on spring break and the other goes home for the week. Who is responsible for utilities then? No one? If one of you were to spend the night at his girlfriend's house for months on end, would that roommate be off the hook for utilities?


We all know that isn't the case. Based upon that logic, if there is no written roommate or landlord agreement addressing this situation, I'd say all three are responsible for their share of the utilities whether they are present or not.
redd38
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AG
If one of the renters goes home for a weekend do they get to take those days out of their utility bill?

If there wasn't some prearranged deal to exclude one of the renters from utilities for several months then I would expect them to keep paying.
FourAggies
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AG
They still need to pay their share of the utilities. The remaining two can't save money on the A/C just because the other person isn't there. It's a basic cost of renting and if the landlord was running the utilities, instead of the roommates, that's exactly how they would do it.
AggieDarlin
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AG
3-way split on all bills whether the roommates are in town or not. It's ridiculous to think you don't pay your share just because you decide to go away for some time. Rent elsewhere with a shorter lease.
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Yuccadoo
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quote:
quote:
Situation: rental house in CS with three students on lease. Paying equal rent, 1/3, 1/3, 1/3, year-round. Also responsible for equal shares of utilities. Over summer, one renter is gone home, still paying rent. But what is customary for handling of utilities, the cost of which is being generated by just two renters for the summer months? Common sense says utilities (not fixed costs) should be split equally between the two present renters for the two summer months. What say those of you who are B/CS landlords?
Um, they're all adults. Asking on Texags might not be the best solution. When I was in college back in the roaring nineties, I had roommates. We worked things out between us. No parents, no landlord, no drama, etc., etc.

If you're in COLLEGE and you don't have enough maturity to work through this without involving a landlord, parent, or Texags, then you're going to have problems in "the Real World (tm)"... Sorry, but I felt like this had to be said. These helicopter parents are killing this generation.
Well said. I've been preaching this message for about 30 years. I'm still doing it because parents seem incapable of making the connection. Pretty soon, the kids are so dependent on the parents that they are paralyzed from living their own lives. Man...what a difference a generation makes.
Cowboy1990
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Third renter should still pay his share.

AS previously mentioned, does one student not have to pay if he goes home for weekend?

What about if one uses more devices than others? Do they pay more? I know, dumb question. But so is OP I'M.
Gigemchicken90
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AG
My daughter is home for the summer and still pays her part of all bills.
Kendall Rogers
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AG
It all depends on the original agreement which should have been agreed upon up front.
Tanya 93
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quote:
I disagree that it's "common sense." I don't think it's fair for the remaining two roommates to be stuck dividing the bills in half, unless they knew from the beginning that this roommate was going to be gone for the summer. I'd be pissed if I now had to come up with extra cash because one person didn't stick to planned arrangements.
Then work harder and make more money. People should not be responsible for utilities they did not consume, especially when they are not there to turn off lights lazy people forget to turn off.
Brewmaster
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AG
quote:
in CS with three students on lease.
Going home for the summer doesn't get you out of your responsibility...unless the student that went home for the summer had a previous arrangement with the other 2 - which it doesn't sound like they did.

As others have stated, they should take care of it between themselves. This isn't your problem. We did this in college a couple summers and always made agreements with friends sub-letting before hand.
dubi
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AG
Only 1 of our 4 tenants is home for the summer.

All 4 are paying; that is how it works and no one is complaining.
Stupe
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S
quote:
3-way split on all bills whether the roommates are in town or not. It's ridiculous to think you don't pay your share just because you decide to go away for some time. Rent elsewhere with a shorter lease.

Completely agree with this. Unless something was agreed upon prior to the lease being signed, then everything is split for the duration of the lease.
Stupe
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S
And the two going off on rants about such a simple little question. Geez.
aggiepaintrain
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AG
If I go on vacation for a month can I ask the utility company for a break?

Is this real life?

All (3) pay.
Counterpoint
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AG
All my classes are during the day so I'm away from the house until night time. My roommates take night classes so they are home all day. I think they should pay a higher percentage of the utilities since they use more air conditioning during the day.

quirkyaggie
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AG
I was in this situation in college. I made an agreement with my roommates that I would pay half of my normal rate in utilities. I wasn't there to consume them but I was paying for my room still and therfore was consuming electricity that was in my room and air conditioning to keep my room cool.

Seemed like a decent compromise for everyone. They only had to split the half of my portion that I didn't pay for. It came out to be very little extra for them.
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techno-ag
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You've just got to discuss it among yourselves. This is not something that can be resolved in a public forum.
FlyRod
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