How should a special rent discount be divided among roomies?

What is the total rent? or should I say what is the total monthly value of the student discount? That would make the math easier, and make comparisons to things like washers/driers more meaningful. Interesting Question.

I’d let the student keep the discount. He’s the student, he got the discount, and it makes you no worse off if he gets the cut. That is the Pareto Optimal solution.

The application of your laundry equipment should have been negotiated before you moved in. It’s too late to change the terms now.

I would give the student the student discount. I know you have the washer/dryer, but that was part of the deal before the student discount.

I agree with @zenvelo & @DrBill

It’s his good fortune..he is not obligated to make a deal with you. If he wants to apply it to his portion, it is HIS portion.

This is like saying that if won the lottery he is obligated to give the rest of you money.

It might be NICE if he wanted to apply it to the total household, but he is in no way OBLIGATED for choosing not to.

Sorry….gotta toss those sour grapes. lol

@gorillapaws – for the sake of ease, let’s just say it’s 1,000 dollars

@zenvelo – actually, our lease begins on October 1st, and my wife has not yet moved in , as she is bringing the washer and dryer. I’ve paid the rent for us to move in early, and we will all become responsible for the agreed-upon divisions as of Oct. 1st. And terms can always be changed. If i don’t want my roommate using my stuff, they aren’t using it.

40/30/30 seems good.I don’t know how this student discount is applied. As long as it doesn’t mean you are paying more it shouldn’t be a problem.

I’m confused. Did the landlord give “the property” a 5% discount because of the presence of one student, and which the student intends to write off against only his rent? So you pay 40% of the original amount, one other roommate pays 30% of the original amount and the student renter pays only 25% of the original amount? If that’s the case, then he should split with you.

If it is the case that “his personal rent” is reduced by 5%, meaning that he’s now paying his original 30% less 5% of that amount (in other words, “his rent payment is reduced by 5%, not ‘five percentage points’), then his discount is his own. In that case, it’s a discount given only to him based on the cost of his rent. You should let him have that.

But who gives such a discount? Are you living in student housing? Maybe you shouldn’t even be there at all.

Are you kidding? Student discounts are for students. Are you a student? No? Then no discount.

@CWOTUS – YES, it’s as you described in the former.

The ENTIRE monthly rent is discounted, and he intends to apply it solely to his own portion, this is the problem I have.

So if it’s 1,000 monthly before the discount, I would pay 400 and they would pay 300 and 300 each.

But with the discount, it’s 950, and I would still pay 400, the non-student roomie would still pay 300, and the student, having applied the entire $50 to his own portion of the rent, would pay only $250

So this basically amounts to a difference of $20/month for you and your wife, or $10/month for each of you of money that you didn’t expect to get and didn’t budget for. Is it not enough that you are moving into a nicer, larger place and with a lower rent payment than you were paying before? What percentage of you and your wife’s total budget does this amount to, and is it really worth getting your panties in a wad over?

I don’t mean to be super sassy. I mean to pose the question matter-of-factly.

@XD – With this question, I’m only trying to get a fair way to handle it, and get opinions from the community on how to do the right thing. My question is “how would you handle this scenario”, not “Make me feel better about not getting a piece of the pie”. Your response is unhelpful, personal attacking flame bait, but I’m only allowed one of those selctions when I flag your response, but I don’t need to poll the Fluther for that.

Please. I’m asking you if the facts are worth the trouble.

@gambitking the two options:

Scenario 1: You distribute the discount equally. You will pay $380 and he will pay $285 per month.

Scenario 2: he applies the discount to himself. You will pay $400 and he will pay $250.

So you’re talking about saving yourself $20/month vs. him saving $35/month. It hardly seems worth quibbling over to be honest (and possibly causing tension with your roommates/friends).

@gambitking

I think that some of the answers are just not what you wish to hear. lol
No offense, but….others have made some good points for the “argument” of just letting it go.

I can understand wanting to split the discount since it’s on the total amount of the rent, but I can also understand the student wanting to take advantage of the discount for himself. Have you considered just talking to him/her about it? It doesn’t seem like a big enough amount to let it cause any problems though. Just ask nonchalantly and if he says he wants to keep it for himself, so be it.

How are you splitting up the utilities? I wouldn’t make a big issue about the washer/dryer in regards to the rent, but perhaps you can adjust those to take in account that you and your wife are providing a washer/dryer for all of you to use, so maybe the utilities can be split up a bit differently.

Personally I would divide it 400/300/250. If you are not a student you can’t expect the student discount.

From what’s being said, it sounds like it’s best just to let him have the discount (since he is the only student after all) and that $20 or even $30 a month isn’t enough to soil a relationship that is just beginning on a 12-month journey. I’m in agreement in that respect. I’ve actually already agreed to that scenario, but my wife made the important point (which some people understand, and people like XD are completely missing) that if the discount is applied to the entire rent, instead of individually to the student, then the student roommate shouldn’t garner the increased discount against a principal of 70% of which he is not originally responsible for.

@gambitking that’s a good point, and one that I considered. It’s also worth noting that ultimately you and your wife are getting the biggest discount of all since you’re really only paying 20% of the rent each, while they each pay 30% and 25% respectively. I realize you share a room and that’s certainly a big deal, but if they had found someone else to rent the master bedroom that was single, they’d be paying the same thing and having one less roommate to have to deal with.

I think with dollars amounts this small, these kinds of details are really pretty pointless though in the grand scheme of things. Best of luck with your new living arrangement.

If it’s really an issue, then charge the student for use of the washer and dryer to offset the loss. That way both of parties can feel satisfied nobody’s making undue money off anyone else.

If you want to recoup some money, I think you’re best recourse would be to do it in terms of wear and tear on your washer/dryer.

I’m assuming you haven’t dealt with the utilities yet and anyone who would object could take their stuff to a public laundromat (which they would be unlikely to do since it’s far more convenient to do it at home).

I’m willing to bet your basic monetary gain would be around the same amount of money per month once the negotiations on it are all said and done.

Let’s face it, as others have mentioned, it’s a pretty small amount and not worth alienating people about.

But by the same token, asking for a small amount per month to offset the increased wear and tear on your washer/dryer should not be objectionable to the others. Fair is fair.

Utilities are a different expense from rent and if they lived elsewhere without a w/d on the property they’d be paying for the use of such elsewhere in town.

You arent imposing this charge on them since theyre perfectly free to schlepp into town through the slush and snow of winter if they really prefer that unlikely choice. As long as you keep it to a reasonable amt. for them, it shouldn’t be a problem and would cause far less stress overall.

By your wife’s logic, really, the fair thing to do is to return 70% of the discount to the landlord/property management, since the student is only originally responsible for 30% of the “principal” and no other roommates are originally responsible for the discount.

I’d say let the student keep the discount, and if you aren’t happy about them using your washer and dryer charge them for it.

If he wasn’t a student there would be no discount. So why should you have any of it? Let him keep what he earns, unless it’s a socialist living environment.

When I used to live with an aunt, sometimes she’d get a discount for referring someone into the building. She took it off her part of the rent. When I referred someone, I got the discount, as I am the person who earned it.

I’d say the most “fair” thing to do is to let him keep the discount and ensure that everything is split “fairly,” i.e. splitting the cost of things like washer/dryer, etc.

However let me warn you, sometimes when people start being petty (I’m sorry, that’s just how many people would see it) and start saying “you have to give me a dollar to use my washer,” it does not promote a positive environment for roomies.

And it seems like the only reason you care about the usage of the washer and dryer is because you want an “excuse” to justify your “entitlement” to part of the discount.

I personally would just keep things the way they were before the 5% discount “situation,” and leave the discount alone.

How did you all end up handling the rent discount and the washer/dryer situation? Please provide an update, if you will. Thanks.

JCA
The Update Lady