Cohabitation – How much rent?
February 2nd, 2011 at 01:53 pm
Here is the situation; I am living with my Boyfriend and My Son. My Boyfriend just moved in and is still in the process of getting out of his lease agreement (Not sure how much longer he will have to pay rent or what kind of lease breaking fee he will have to pay because he cant get the owner or the apartment manager to call him.)

Because of this he has not started paying rent to me. He buys a portion of the groceries, and is helping me with child care and is really motivating me to watch my spending (My Son and I have not gone out to eat or purchased Fast Food since he moved in). So it is a beneficial thing even if he is not at this time handing me Ca$h.

Once his rent situation with his landlord is ironed out, what is reasonable to ask him to pay towards lodging costs? I own my home; I have a mortgage, house insurance expenses, housing taxes, Gas/Electric and Water/Waste bills. There are three of us living there so anything more than one third seems wrong.

First Question; is it fair to charge a third of the housing expenses when at this time he has no “Vested” interest in the home, meaning if I were to die he would not get any portion of the proceeds of selling the house. A third of the costs would be at least $150 less than he is currently paying in rent for his apartment, and my home is a massive step up from that Dive of a building. I bet once he switches over his car insurance, his car insurance will go down being this is a better area and the vehicle is now garaged.

Second Question; should I average the variable bills (Gas, Electric, Water) so that the rent is always the same or should I ask him for his third as those bills come in?

I know, I know, I tend to over analyze things.

(I am moving this from My Other Blog- So I am moving the reader comments and putting them below IF Possible)

4 Responses to “Cohabitation – How much rent?”

1. Savings Queen Says:
February 2nd, 2011 at 02:05 pm
I vote for a third of the rent and a third of the utilities. Either that or he should just pay you what he paid his old landlord. Suze Orman would say "He's already moved in and you haven't talked about money yet???!!!" I know the money talk is difficult, so maybe you could broach it with something like, "Honey, while you are settling things with your landlord, of course you don't need to pay anything and once that's done I don't think you should pay for half the expenses here since there are two of us and just one of you. What about you just pay a third of the mortgage and utilities?" I think it's very fair of you to not ask for half.

2. Savings Queen Says:
February 2nd, 2011 at 02:07 pm
On second thought...maybe he SHOULD continue to pay what he was paying and then give you a third of the utilities. After all, if he wasn't living with you, that's what he'd have to pay. Also, your place sounds MUCH better than his!


3. creditcardfree Says:
February 2nd, 2011 at 02:16 pm
How about you ask him what he thinks is reasonable, and have your plan as the backup? If his is higher, I'd agree to that. I think if he's moving in he would want to know what rent he will be paying. If he seems surprised about paying rent...well, he might think he's getting to live in free.


4. ThriftoRama Says:
February 2nd, 2011 at 02:20 pm
He should pay something. He'd have to pay to live somewhere even if it wasn't with you. This doesn't have to be a bad conversation. He'll probably be happy to contribute.