I recently moved to Mexico for work. The first apartment they arranged for me was honestly a nightmare. Almost every night around 2–3 AM I’d get woken up by loud music, neighbors, or even chickens outside. After about four months of barely sleeping I decided I had to move.
A coworker suggested I share a room with another girl from work. I’ll call her Amma. She’s younger than me and works as a cleaner where I work. We found a house where the owner rents rooms to several women and we agreed to share one.
The rent for our room is 8,000 pesos each (16,000 total). The owner also wanted a deposit equal to one month’s rent (8,000 each), but I managed to negotiate paying it in installments of 2,000 per month for four months.
So for the first four months the total payment for the room was 20,000:
16,000 rent
4,000 deposit
Amma told me she couldn’t afford the full deposit amount and asked if I could help by covering 1,000 pesos a month for those four months. She said starting in month five she’d start paying me back 1,000 pesos a month until it was paid off. So basically she would owe me 4,000 total. I agreed.
Because of our schedules she would send me the money electronically and I would withdraw it and pay the landlord. For the first four months everything was fine. She sent 9,000 each month (8,000 rent + 1,000 deposit from her side) and I paid the landlord the full 20,000.
Then month five came, which is when she was supposed to start paying me back.
I asked her to send the usual 9,000. Hours went by and nothing. Later she told me she could only send 8,000 because she was waiting for her uncle to send the other 1,000.
She sent the 8,000 right away, but the other 1,000 never came. When I asked again she told me to relax and said she hates talking about money.
That annoyed me because for four months she had no problem sending the full amount, but the moment it was time to start paying me back suddenly there were delays and excuses.
The next morning she sent me a “good morning” message apologizing with a cute sticker.
At that point I was frustrated. Since I had covered 1,000 pesos for her each month for four months, she owed me 4,000.
So I sent her back 4,000 from the 8,000 she had sent and kept the other 4,000, which is exactly what she owed me. I also told her that from now on she can deal with the rent herself because I don’t want to be involved with money between us anymore.
I didn’t take extra money, just what she owed me.
AITA?
nta but she’s not gonna be paying her part of the rent. be careful. she might yet stick you with a bill.
I agree with this.
I absolutely would not share a room with a person that I couldn’t trust
Hopefully OP’s learned their lesson: If someone’s *already* having money issues before you even move in with them, don’t move in with them.
NTA. Funny how people who ‘hate talking about money’ only develop that allergy the second they actually owe it. You aren’t a bank with a cute sticker interest rate; taking your own money back and making her handle her own logistics is just basic inventory management. Welcome to Mexico, hope the new place has fewer chickens and more reliable roommates.
NTA
NTA! I think it’s smart to let her deal with the rent herself.
NTA.
She set the terms of the payback, so she cannot avoid it. You’re not her personal bank card that she can use to make transactions.
NTA you covered what you told her you would for the amount of time you said you would. You’re lucky you even got your money back. I always tell people “never loan more than you’re willing to donate” because 99% of the time you won’t get it back
Edit: save all your texts, screenshot all the times she’s sent you money, get all your receipts, etc. in case she or the landlord try to come for you. You’ll want all the proof of what you agreed to, what YOU paid and what she sent you
Is that what rent is in Mexico? That seems so expensive for a shared room! Who all do you share the rest of the place with? Or is it a one bedroom unit?
NTA..I hate When people say they hate to talk about money. I’d be like “yeah me too! so pay me and shut up”
I think that if someone owed them money instead, they would soon get over their hatred of talking about money!
For the other people from the US reading this – 1000 pesos is 55.71 USD right now
NTA, but sending her back half the rent because she didn’t include the extra 1000 means you likely won’t be paying your rent this month if you guys don’t talk this out. You said you’ve been the one paying the landlord…are they aware you won’t have the full months rent?
-If your roommate didn’t have 4000 at the beginning, she definitely doesn’t have the 4000 to cover what she owes you in one lump sum. Will you lose the room if she doesn’t cover her portion of the rent?
Confirm with your landlord that you won’t be penalized for her failure to pay. You said the room itself costs 16,000/mo. Will the landlord treat you as separate tenants, each paying for a bed in the house? If not, it’s unwise to make your landlord take the hit for money issues you have with your roommate.
If you’ll lose the room if she doesn’t pay her share, you need to talk to her in person and figure it out.
Remind her she could afford 9000/mo for the last 4 months, so she has to figure out how to pay it for the next 4 months.
If she tries this again before you are paid back, Tell her you will keep sending back anything less than the 9000 shes supposed to pay, minus 1000 she owes you until she pays you back. Then, send her back 3000 and she can send the full 9000 back.
Make sure to do this together so neither can back out.
If your landlord is willing to rent you the bed, and you’re cool with them renting to someone else, do not collect any more rent from her- she can go straight to the landlord. If you do this, it will make it harder for you to get your money back.
ETA- sorry for the ramble. Saturday wake and bake makes me chatty