I need some help ...

[aggiesal]

I'm currently living with a friend in a 2 bedroom apartment.
The apartment as a whole is about 1100 sq. ft.
My roommate took the larger bedroom with a private bath, balcony and 2 closets.
I have 1 bedroom with 1 closet, and I have to use the community bathroom.

Rent is $2000 mo. The original agreement was for me to pay $850.
Roommate is having money problems, and wants to raise my portion to $1000
plus half the utilities.
I have no problem with the utilities, I use the electricity and other amenities.

My problem is that my roommates bedroom and bath 1.5x larger than my
bedroom and bath.

Is it fair to charge me $1000? Is it OK to charge at 50/50 when my roommate
has 60/40 in bedroom/bath space, 55/45 when including the whole apartment?

Roommate is very upset, and accused me of taking advantage of him.
I don't want my roommate to be upset, but I also don't want to be taken
advantage of either.
Thanks!!!

Any recommendations?

[PoliticAverse]

1. Two questions...

1 - What are your options if you have to find other living accommodations?
2 - What are your options if your roommate can't afford to pay the rent?

[aggiesal]

2. 2 good questions ...

1 - I am in the process of finding a new place.
My sister has a room I can use until I find a place of my own

2 - Roommate claims that the room can get $1200 per month.
If roommate can't afford the rent, I'll be hard pressed to pay
the full amount myself.

[PoliticAverse]

3. It seems you have found your answer. n/t

[aggiesal]

4. Moving out is one thing ...

Pissing off a friend is completely different.

Am I wrong to insist on not paying 50/50?
This is the first time I've had a roommate.

[dixiegrrrrl]

5. You might want to re-evaluate your definition of a friend, for starters

People who go back on their word, attempt to manipulate me emotionally ( becoming upset when you say no) do not qualify as friends, in the real world.

[aggiesal]

6. Roommate has said some really mean statements in the past week, ...

Do others charge higher amounts for larger bedrooms?
Or is rent usually split 50/50?

I'm in California. Are there laws about how much rent can increase?

[dixiegrrrrl]

8. Cal. esp. SF, has some very stringent rental laws

and shared housing might be included.
Depends on the initial agreement, perhaps. All sorts o variatons are possible.
I have no idea on current law, but I did share housing for 10 years, when I was in college.

What was the original room mate agreement? Who is on the lease as responsible for rent?

[aggiesal]

10. Roommate is on the lease ...

rented from friend.

[aggiesal]

11. Original roommate agreement ...

was that I pay $850.
Now 3 months later roommate now wants $1000

[PoliticAverse]

14. I think you have gotten to the issue. If the roomate thinks that he can get someone to pay...

$1,200/month for the space you are occupying, he's not going to really think anything less
than that is 'fair'.

[ginnyinWI]

7. maybe this friend would like to swap bedrooms with you?

And then I'm sure you'd be happy to pay for half the rent.

[aggiesal]

9. I proposed that, ...

but my roommate wanted to place all kinds of conditions
where I get no benefit.

[Thor_MN]

13. When I split an apartment, I had the bigger bed room with attached bath.

We split the rent equally, but the roommate got the underground parking space that came with the apartment.

Money issues did not ever change the percentages we paid. The utilities should be split, if you haven't done that before, you should offer to catch up on that.

You are not taking advantage of your roommate currently.

If you can afford the increase, offer to swap bedrooms to help the roommate out with the money problems.

[aggiesal]

15. When I offered to help roommate ...

the first response was "Oh, so you can afford more!"

On Saturday, I finally gave my 30 days notice.

Yet I didn't receive 30 days notice for the increase, I was
text and expected to pay it the next day.

The last straw was when roommate used personal information against me.
That was it, in my mind, so I gave roommate 30 days notice.

If roommate can get $1200, good luck. It's a nice place but it's very
constraining, and roommate has a dog that shed's a lot.

[raccoon]

17. I'm glad you did. And that was crummy of her/him not to give you any notice. nt

On Saturday, I finally gave my 30 days notice.

Yet I didn't receive 30 days notice for the increase, I was
text and expected to pay it the next day.

[LaydeeBug]

16. I would suggest that if he wants you to pay more rent than you should switch rooms.

would *he* feel taken advantage of then?

If not, explain that the agreement was the agreement and he is using his failure to project it onto you.

Why did he say 850 is he was just going to renege?

[Blacktop]

18. Since he needs money it may make sence to offer him $1,150 and take the larger room.

I would offer him the flip deal of what you are getting and take the big room and pay $1,150.00 but it really depends on the housing market in your area. People are so quick to take advantage of someone that allows them to. I would definitely check the market and stand up for myself to be treated fairly,