Last year I moved to Sydney (from China lol) with a long-time friend. We rent a 2-bedroom unit together and split the rent 50/50. I have the master bedroom with an ensuite, she has the secondary room but the size of the rooms are the same. The place comes with one parking spot and I’m the only one with a car, so I park there.
When we viewed the apartment, she knew I’d take the master and use the parking spot, and she agreed to splitting rent evenly. We both happy with 50/50 atm.
Now after living here for a while, and she’s heading back to China for holidays and ain’t to happy to pay $400 AUD/ week for for a room she won’t be using for a while, so says the rent is too expensive for her. She wants to either:
1. rent out the parking spot to someone else to reduce our rent, or
2. make me pay extra rent each week because I have the master + use the parking.
I’m not comfortable renting the spot bc I actually need it, and I don’t feel it’s fair to change the rent split after she already agreed to it and moved in. But we’ve been friends for years and I don’t want to ruin our relationship.
AITA for saying no to both options? What would be a fair way to handle this?
EDIT: Our bedrooms are actually the same size, and she also has her own bathroom, so the ‘master’ really only refers to the layout, not extra space. When we viewed the place, she specifically said she didn’t care about having an ensuite and was happy with the even split. That’s why I felt it wasn’t unfair at the time, since we agreed on it together. I also wouldn’t have taken the room or signed the lease this way if she wasn’t comfortable with it. I’m happy to pay extra for parking, but my own finances matter too. I’m honestly not sure what the fairest approach is here, so that’s why I’m asking
MORE INFO: The parking spot comes with the apartment, and choosing a place without a parking spot wouldn’t have reduced the rent
**FINAL EDIT PLS READ**: I didn’t expect this many replies! Thank you all so much for taking the time to respond. **I’ve decided that I’m going to pay a bit extra for the parking spot.**
On the floor plan, all of our facilities are the same, the only difference is the layout. My bathroom happens to be inside my room, which is why it’s labeled the ‘master.’ We rarely have guests, so she has always been comfortable with her room and never felt like she was missing anything.
**Neither of us is under major financial pressure(her family is ridiculous rich, her monthly is about $6500 AUD, and I work as apprentice mechanic, earned $3600),** but this is my first time renting so there are a lot of things I’m still learning. I care about my friend deeply and I don’t want her to feel upset. I’m usually very generous with her too.
**I don’t even use the living room, she keeps all her things there to the point that I don’t really have space to eat. I also clean up for her a lot without ever complaining. I gave her a lot of rides and do a lot of shopping. She can be a bit bossy sometimes and occasionally crosses my boundaries (I won’t get into the details here), so maybe that’s why I’ve become overly sensitive about some things. I’m trying to figure out how things generally work.**
She wasn’t unwilling to pay rent while she was away; **it was just that the thought of still having to pay rent during her absence made her come up with this solution to reduce her own rent.**
Also, English isn’t my first language, so maybe my phrasing caused some misunderstandings. I’ll try to express myself more clearly 🙂
>I don’t feel it’s fair to change the rent split after she already agreed to it and moved in.
The only reason it’s “unfair” for you to pay more is that she had agreed to this arrangement previously. But what she agreed to was itself unfair, and I think that if you don’t at the very least acknowledge that you’re getting more than you pay for with that 50/50 split, YWBTA.
YTA. You get a private bathroom and a parking space. There is no reason your friend should pay that much rent. The fact they took a while to realise how unjust the situation was doesn’t do much to help the case but you could reasonably ask for a grace period of a couple months before renegotiating if starting to pay more right away would be financially straining on you.
It would be generous of you to start paying a larger portion because you have the parking and ensuite.
She will still have to pay for a room she’s not using and, really, that’s on her for going on holiday.
YTA
It should never have been a 50/50 split. You are getting way more for your money and she is right, it should be more like a 70/30 split with you paying the 70. But regardless of whether she leaves for a while this is her home for now and should still pay the rent even when she is not there.
While I can see him paying more, a 70/30 split is ridiculous.
Short term rental?
I would say the master bedroom plus the parking is probably worth at least a 55/45 or 60/40 split, but it sounds like they want it to be even more
YTA if you’re not willing to pay 55/45, but if your house mate doesn’t want to pay any rent at all then NTA
I’d say 60/40 given the parking spot in addition to the en suite bathroom. It’s obviously an area where parking is limited so the spot has decent value.
OP, YWBTA if you don’t agree to reconfigure the rent. Your friend was being nice letting you split evenly, but you should have offered from the beginning knowing you were getting more value. That’s what a real friend would have done instead of taking advantage of their kind friend. Having the master bath and the parking spot both have value to them. Clearly you aren’t willing to give up your parking spot which means you should pay more for it regardless of whether or not your roommate has a car.
The fact it wasn’t your original agreement is irrelevant if you cherish your friendship at all.
INFO: are the utilities included in the weekly rent? if it is, it makes sense she pays 400 minus the reduction in the utility bills because you’ll be the only one actively using. (the reduction would be due to her lack of usage, the fridge and similar devices will still consume electricity etc.)
Why are you even asking? You want to get away with being asshole based on having been an asshole from the jump? How does that make sense to you? Hopefully for her, she is your former friend, because you are not a friend to her. YTA
NTA. You may have the primary room and en-suite but she has a bedroom just as big along with the main bathroom.
The real issue here is that she doesn’t want to pay her share of the rent while she is away.
Her options are to either find a sublease and treat the room like an airbnb, if you’re okay with a stranger in your space, or moving out and and finding a new permanent housemate.
She doesn’t get just stop paying rent because she doesn’t want to. That is assuming she’s on the lease as well as you.
I’m an Australian, I get exactly what you’re saying. You’re definitely not wrong here, she’s just being cheap. And I get that too, because rent is expensive
Info: How much did she benefit from you having the car? Did you frequently drive her places or pick up thongs for her?
NTA but youre likely to start something by not falling in line.
How much is it to rent a parking space near you? She’s obviously having money troubles, can you deduct Half the cost of a parking bay off her rent going forward?
If youre renting a place without removing your stuff when you go away you cant expect not to pay for that time!
Offer to swap rooms. That will offset parking space privileges with her ensuite
After reading your other comments about both rooms being the same size and she also has her own bathroom, NTA.
She’s still responsible for paying her part of the rent even if she’s going on holiday.