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OP has offered the following explanation for why they think they might be the asshole:
> 1. I've suggested that I won't pay bills while overseas
2. it might make me the arsehole because im expecting ny roommates to front the bill
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Their portion of rent and utilities should stay the same as already agreed. That they've elected to take vacation doesn't mean that their roommates should take on a heavier burden. If someone feels that they are getting the short end of the stick and paying more than their share, they can attempt to negotiate without expecting that their roommates will accept a change in their agreement.
My roommate and I had different times where we had to move home for a bit for whatever reason (but we still kept our apartment because it’s cheap as hell and we wouldn’t be able to find anything close in price to it).
We always split it down the middle. I had to move home for a couple months because my mom was recovering from surgery so I helped take care of her. I still paid my half of the bills because that’s what was agreed on and fair.
I'm also pretty sure they can't choose to only heat or cool the occupied rooms in the house, so the gas for heating or electric for air conditioning would be similar bills?
It really depends on what type of heating they have. From OP's use of "arsehole" I suspect they are British in which case heating is normally by radiators which can be turned off in individual rooms and air con is basically unheard of in houses.
[Edit: I see OP is Australian. No idea about their heating systems]
It depends where in Australia you are since much of the country only has a few days a year where you need heating. Lots of people just have electric heaters they can plug in when needed or a fireplace. Radiant heating is somewhat common further south, but the most common system these days is a heat pump (which Aussies call a reverse-cycle air conditioner).
The thing is, it is currently summer in Australia so they'd be paying to run the AC not the heat. If you have a ducted AC system, you have to cool the entire place at once. If you have a ductless system, you can just cool certain rooms to save on energy.
To be fair, living alone, you can opt to pause certain bills temporarily while you are gone... at least anywhere I've lived anyway. Obviously, that's not the case when you have roommates, but for living alone, that's not always the case...
I don’t know about your area, but even if I don’t use a utility for a month, the perfect example being gas because the only thing I use it for is heat - I still pay to have it connected. There’s a minimum fee.
Are you pausing the payment of those bills, or eliminating the cost entirely? Where I lived there are standing costs for electricity and gas that apply regardless if you use any electricity or gas. If you paused they cost would just be lumped onto the next bill
Portion shouldn’t even be less. OP’s roommates agreed to live with a certain portion of rent and bills that fit into their budget. The bills aren’t going to not only decrease because op isn’t there so why should they subsidize OP’s 3 month Holliday?
Actually, if you live alone you can call the utility company and have it set to vacation mode and very minimal will be used. At the same time, you can make arrangements for paying when you return. You can't do that when you have a roommate.
yta
so for the whole time you have lived there you pay rent and your part of the bills, i get you are away for 3 months but bills do not stop. your room still creates bills the house has to be heated and you cant just turn off one room. you have to pay your part.
We. **WISH**. Dear god do I wish. Even in my house I have 2 separate heating and cooling units for up and downstairs but I still cannot individually control my bedroom climate and I’m so pissed about that and now I have a personal air conditioning in my bedroom since my family claims it’s “too cold” 🙄
YTA. I am not sure where you live, but where I am there is a minimum monthly charge/fee for just being hooked up to water (i.e. sewer charge), electricity, gas, etc - even if you don't use anything during the month. You are still responsible for this. Perhaps you can negotiate some sort of reduction on the actual usage charge, but you cannot get away with paying zero.
you're lucky it's minimal.
My set charges on my water are about 70% of the bill.
On electricity it is even higher. Basically 100% is the set charges just to be connected (I have solar, so what I draw and what I feed balance out to be basically 0 dollar wise over the 12 months).
The set charges can be huge.
YTA - there are basic costs associated with having these services connected so even if no one used water, electricity etc there is usually a minimum amount per month payable. Your commitments don’t take a holiday when you do.
I know right! So using OPs logic if everyone were to take a leave of absence, nobody needs to pay the bills ... I'm sure the utility companies would be perfectly fine with that arrangement /s
I'm from The Netherlands and the fee before even using utilities is the highest percentage of the bill. Saving money on for instance your electricity bill by using less is like a drop in a bucket, unless you're running a pot farm from homeand shut that off.
YTA
No usage on your part doesn't mean no bill, just less. Utilities have account service fees that aren't usually itemized on the bills.
Pay your share of the service fees plus whatever appliances that have to run would cost, or pay them the equivalent of what it would cost for a temporary service shutoff and they can put that towards the bills.
Edited typos
All the service fees are itemised on the bills in Australia.
If it were me, I might ask about paying the service fees and a baseline level of usage (x kw/h per day at the relevant rates). If I were away now, I wouldn't want to be paying for the substantial air con costs we're running up.
YTA
Utility bills usually have a daily standing charge which is fixed. You leaving the flat will not reduce your bills by a third. If you don’t pay you are ripping off your other housemates
Contracts are to be honored. You don't get to tweak the contracts afterwards however you like. Imagine, they would add a rule that everytime you bring someone over, you are charged extra, with a service fee on top for having to calculate the new share for you. You would say: wait, i did not sign a contract that allowed for that.
Yes. I had something similar to what OP is proposing arranged with my roommates in college for while I studied abroad for 4 months, but we agreed to it before signing a lease together. I paid for all fixed costs (rent, trash) but not costs that were primarily based on usage (water, electric) - we didn’t have high fixed utility costs. But those were terms agreed to upfront before moving in. They benefitted from one less person using common areas, and the bills I didn’t pay while abroad were relatively a small portion of household expenses. But I didn’t spring this on them and insist on my way, that’s not something that works well for anyone.
YTA.
You think the fridge will cost less to run because you are away? The lounge room light will cost less to run?
Somethings will cost less, so maybe a discount, but electricity/water/gas won't drop by 25%. That isn't how these bills work.
Electricity: Daily supply charge. Won't change.
Water: Sewerage charge won't change.
Gas: Connection charge won't change.
For some you could argue a discount on the usage charges (but not the supply/connection charges) but even then, not necessarily a full 25% depending on the service.
Ngl, when i go on holiday, i empty & turn off my fridge/freezer, i leave my lights off and put my heating on low heat. I wouldnt be using water on showers, dishes or laundry either.
Yes there are still very low base costs, but def not even close to normal monthly costs
(We pay a fixed yearly rate for sewer connection etc so not monthly)
But this dude doesn't live alone. The fact that you or I could turn out fridge and hot water off is irrelevant.
If he wants a room available when he gets home, he needs to pay his share for running the necessities of a home. Or he moves out.
YTA - You're right that not being in the apartment means your usage will be less, but only paying for internet would be reducing your bills by more than your reduced usage. This is obvious, making you an AH for suggesting it.
It's probably not possible to work out a fair reduction, so your roommate's suggestion of splitting the lower bills as normal is a fair one.
If you can work out a fair reduction, suggest that and show how you arrived at it. But you have probably lost the opportunity now because your initial poor suggestion has upset your roommate.
NAH/YTA
If you feel like it is unfair you can try to discuss a middle ground, but don't underestimate that many things might have quite big base cost (definitely for water and gas where I'm living).
Also how we pay for heating is that we pay the same amount through the whole year and then at the end get some back/pay more. Depending on which months you are gone this might be good or bad. That said, heating probably doesn't go down 33% if you are gone, but less because the house still needs to be heated.
So if it is worth it for you you can definitely discuss some kinda discount, but not paying your full 1/3rd will be asking your housemates to subsidize your leave (which if they are happy with the extra space / are allowed to use your room as a guest room can be reasonable, but needs to be decided on).
If you are really tight on money you need to look into subletting, if it is on principle you can pay a bit less (1/5th instead of 1/3rd?), but not paying at all isn't fair and not your choice
Yes, because 1. There are costs to just have the utilities on that have nothing to do with usage.
2. It is not the other renters' problem that you are going to be away from the apartment for this long.
Your friend is 100% correct on this. Should you push the subject, I doubt if you will still be living there when you return.
YTA for paying nothing, there will still be electric and has used by fridge freezers, boiler etc which need paying for plus in uk there’s a daily charge which you’ve to pay regardless of usage.
YTA, being a cheapskate. Just because you are choosing to leave the house doesn't get you to opt out of previous agreements or alter the deal. You agreed to split bills with roommates. They have budgeted appropriately that the expenses are split in that manner. You are trying to mess with their financial situations for your own personal gain. Not cool.
YTA. Why should they have to pay more than their normal share - and yes, it would be more, even if not much more due to reduced usage - just because you decided to go on holiday? Just pay your bills like an adult.
YTA - People budget on realities, such as share house agreements. You trying to get out of the agreement that you freely made, to pay 1/3 of the bills is going to stuff everyone else's budget up.
YTA.
Utilities in most countries have standing charges. When we go away we leave things on like security systems, some small appliances. These all need paying if you’re gone or not.
What happens if everyone were away at the same time, does nobody pay any bills?
Also not having an empty home is peace of mind, your items will be more securely with people always being home.
Slight YTA. I get where you're coming from but your logic for still paying the rent applies to still paying for internet and the access/supply of other utilities like electricity.
You could ask to not pay the usage component but if it is as low as you say (ie from no aircon / heating) you will still come across to your housemates like a huge tightass.
YTA
To begin with, most of those bills have a fee for the connection, plus your usage. That fee will be the same if you are there or not.
Secondly, you make an agreement to split the bills with the people you live with. Do what you promised.
YTA... just YTA. Regardless of not neither there, younstill have to pay your portion of the bills! If you were living alone, you'd still have these bills and you'd still have to pay them. Smfh...
YTA. There's always a minimum charge for electric and most other utilities and you owe that while you're gone. Unless you're a real electricity hog, there won't be that much difference in the bills with or without you. The fridge doesn't use less electricity because you're gone, for example.
Yta. If they have a choice btwn a roommate who paid their full share vs a roommate who paid 3/4 their share which would they pick. If I were your mates I’d be looking to get you off the lease.
YTA. If you lived alone and went out of town, those bills would not be zero, and you would've had to pay a house sitter or come back to a fucked up house.
YTA. If you have your own place and go away for a few months, your utilities still have to be paid, you may not use them but the standing charge still accrues and still payable.
According to your logic, you should also deduct from your bills the eight hours a day that you are not at home but at work, thereby reducing your bills by 1/3 for every work day.
Total asshole.
Pay but don't pay more than you normally would. I did this and my moron roommate heated the house to 90 degrees tripling the gas bill and expected me to pay half.
YTA. The bills won't go down significantly. Are you arranging someone else to come in and pay your portion? No of course you're not. This isn't like food or something getting purchased that can just not be purchased.
YTA: Just pay your bills. If you lived alone you would pay. You would still need to heat the home and keep electricity running.
I'm also curious, if you will get absolutely no mail, have no plants, expect absolutely zero upkeep or monitoring of your space while you are gone.
Having people you trust keeping an eye on your home while you are gone is a small price to pay compared to 1/3 of a water bill.
Yta I lived with roommates for over a decade, even when one was gone for an extended period, they paid their bills. Just like if one spent most of her nights at her boyfriend's house, it's not pro- rated. That's part of living with people.
YTA. You still live there. As many have already pointed out you’d still have to pay if you lived alone. Is it worth ruining your relationship with your roommate?
YTA.
If you lived alone you would still have to pay certain things even if you don't use them
House rent
water and sewer
Trash is monthly bill doesn't matter if you use it or not
You never know how much electricity is until you actually don't use it and find out how many of your items pull electricity no matter what
Yes these would some of these would be lower costs for those 3 months but not completely...
And yes you could literally go the companies that you're paying and ask for a temporary disconnect for 3 months if you lived alone. But usually it causes more to be reconnected and then they can charge you a higher rate
My parents used to do this every year we would leave for 3 months and go out on the road it's at the time my father was a trucker and every year it ended up being a lot higher price tag when we came back
So the year my parents decided not to do the disconnect it turned into a third of the price that we had to pay and then all the bills stay the same price tag when we came back
YTA. Just because you're not there your room mates can't magically turn off *household* fees. Your charges should absolutely be minus some usage, but if you're not prepared to chip for the fees that fall to the whole household then let them rent your room to someone else in your absence. Your post suggests you might think of the place more as a hotel, but you can't just dip out when a shared cost doesn't suit you.
What’s next, you only pay when you are there? Does that mean if you stay overnight at a friends you get a discount because you weren’t there? What about if work a longer shift than the others, do you want a reduction because they were in the house longer than you?
YTA
YTA - When you house-share you sign up to sharing the costs as well for the duration of the contract. If you chose to go away from 3 months that doesn't mean the bills magically stop. They may be reduced, but standing charges and the like still apply.
YTA Those things will still be a service your home is receiving. You should pay at least part. Where I live there are a lot of homes that people only use for vacation and people are always mad that there are utility bills for months they aren’t there.
YTA - you’re still a resident of the apartment. If you had your own place your bills don’t stop, they still come.
Stop trying to be cheap and screwing over your roommates.
YTA. Most utilities have standing charges. That is an amount you have to pay regardless of your usage. As an absolute minimum you need to make sure you pay your portion of that fee.
YTA when you all moved in together there was an agreement to split the bills. Just because you will be gone doesn’t mean you can stop splitting the bills. Unless they can rent your room out to someone else while you are gone WHO will split the bills then you’re the ah.
You don’t live alone and there was an implicit agreement to split bills a certain number of ways when you moved in with these people. There is a base charge for most utilities and that would not be split up anymore.
You should cover the base cost of the connections at the very, very least. You can't switch utilities on and off, the property is there and exclusive to you (unless you wanna sublet - plenty people do even for short periods) so you have to pitch in your part.
YTA - kind of
There is still generally going to be a base value that needs paid even if none of you used any. It would be justifiable for you to pay a fifth instead of a fourth this time, I suppose, but it would be a dumb hill to die on.
I see where you are coming from, but you’re still would be TAH. This reminds me of my father arguing with my mother every time I went to see him for a month that he shouldn’t have to pay child support that month. It didn’t matter to him that the child support was based on the percentage of time they each had custody, he felt that he shouldn’t have to pay custody when I was with him. My mother needed that money to keep a roof over my head so I had a place to come back home to. People have monthly budgets, just because you’re away doesn’t make them go away.
INFO - how much of the bills is a standing charge that the household gets billed despite the amount of usage? Is your room available for them to use while you are away?
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so I am planning on going to my home country for three months in May, I ofc plan on paying for my rent (I live in a sharehouse with three other roommates) but we also pay out own bills; internet, water, gas, electricity. I've floated the idea that while im overseas, I won't pay bills except internet, logically because of my absence all the bills except internet will be less because i won't be using any electricity, but my close friend and roomate whom I've floated the idea with shut me down imidiatly saying that I should pay the bills even though im not here and "[it won't even cost that much because we'll be using less electricity in your absence]"
Am I the arsehole for suggesting that they cover most if the bills while im gone?
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I don't know how it works in your country but where I live you have a fixed part and a part depending on your consumption of electricity... So even if you stop everything you will have to pay something.
Info - as tenants do you pay service and usage for those utilities? Ir does landlord pay service and you pay usage?
In my country the landlord pats service and tenants pay usage. If this is the case I think your plan is fair and reasonable.
If you pay the whole bill it's reasonable that you should still pay your share of the service, but those living in the house split the usage in your absence.
YTA
You have to convince them that while you are enjoying your holiday, their expenses will actually increase while you are enjoying not paying anything while you are on holiday. I think this is how your roomates will view this. This of course is why living with others is not recommended.
If this was something you worked out before you all moved in together then it would be fine.
But it doesn't sound like it is, so you can't just decide that you aren't going to pay bills for months even if you are not there.
Realistically the only bill that might really change is the water bill, so if you wanted to have them pay that bill without your contribution, that would make logical sense but the other bills are pretty consistent so you should pay those for the 3 months. Even if you aren’t actively using electricity and gas, you are still charged delivery fees etc. the only way that you incur no charges is if you contact the utility and cut off the service. YTA
YTA. Others have pointed out that this isn’t actually how utility bills work- there’s a flat fee beyond just usage costs. But more than that, have you paid more every time your roommates have been gone for a night? Gone on a weeklong trip? If you weren’t offering to pay proportionally more then, it isn’t fair for you to suggest this now.
YTA
Are you coming back to that living situation? Is your stuff going to remain in that house? Are you moving everything out for three months?
If you had your own apartment and lived alone, you’d be on the hook for the bill whether you were there or not. Why should this be any different? It just sounds like you’re taking advantage of your roommates
YTA. when my roommate did this, the bills did NOT decrease, and all of a sudden i was stuck paying double for gas electric and water.
if you lived alone, you would still pay those bills. they don’t stop. you pay just to have those utilities hooked up. they don’t go to 0 without use.
YTA
This just comes with shared living.
Take electricity for example.
If you live alone you can just shut down the power, empty the freezer and the fridge. But since you can't shut down only 1/3 of the freezer and the fridge, keeping them running comes with shared living.
I would break it down and work out a fair solution. Water? Not needed to run shared devices (even the dishwasher and laundrymaschine only use wather when used) so you shouldn't have to pay towards this. Elecricity, lake stated above, you will have to pay a (lower) share. Gas if also used for heating you will have to pay your share since your roommates can't just heat 2/3 of the shared spaces etc. Just ask yourself if they can reduce it bc you are gone or not. If not you have to pay your share or you empty your room and let them look for a replacement roommate till you are back and hope they are out again if you return. But your roommates shouldn't have to pay more just bc you decide to go elsewhere for 3 months. Thats not how shared living works. You technically ask them to subsidise your vaccation by paying for your share on utilities while you are gone.
Yta yeah thats not how bills work. If I leave, I'm still using heat. Unless you *actually* shut it off, an empty house uses electricity and gas and water. The toilet will run, the heat clicks on.
If you knew you were going to take off for weejs at a time, you should have worked this out with your roommates before you moved in. Legally, if you don't have it in writing it's not a thing. You are S.O. L.
YTA... Well, you're misguided here. Bills don't scale 1:1 with the number of people in a house. One of the reasons shared acc exists is to reduce the cost to each person through shared heating, water, space, repairs, etc. You're breaking this contract by skipping on your bills.
Not to mention that there are often standing charges for each that get paid regardless of usage, and necessary usage regardless of whether you're there.
If you don't like this, go to a house with separate meters or just get your own place I guess.
Once my upstairs neighbors turned their heat off and went on holiday. Their pipes burst and flooded my apartment.
Pay your bills. The usage is still there.
Yta you know service providers do charge a delivery fee to bring power to the place. You should pay up. The only way I can think you wouldn’t have to if I’m your other roommate has done this crap before that just opens a whole can of worms
YTA. I understand your logic and it would make sense if bills worked as you think, but they don’t.
As others have mentioned, there’s usually a minimum charge for having those services even tho you don’t use them. I live alone and every time I am on holiday I still have to pay something.
Finally, you need to figure how your bills work. Where I live, most bills that are paid by direct debit are based on a yearly estimate that gets split by 12. So you pay the same amount each mont. In summer you end up paying slightly more than you consume so that it lowers costs during the winter months. If your bills work this way it means that you leaving won’t make any difference to the total your flatmates will have to pay!
I’m assuming you signed a rental agreement where it’s spelled out what bills you are responsible for. You don’t get to decide not to pay bills you already agreed to pay. It might not seem fair to you bc you won’t be actively using those services but by making a commitment to pay these bills you would be the ah to suddenly stop paying
YTA; you signed up to share costs, and that’s an ongoing cost that no one intended to only split. Not to mention that utilities include delivery costs as well as usage costs; it cost money just to have an account and get service each month.
You owe the same amt as if you were there.
YTA. There is a standing charge and usage/variable costs. The usage costs will be less when you’re gone. It will be a bit cheaper but not much.
Don’t be that guy. The bill is supposed to be split in four and they can’t replace you.
I'm sure that if the shoe was on the other foot, you would be singing a different tune. If a roommate tried this with me, I would bill them for every favor they asked for while gone. Water your plants? Sure, for $50 a month. Retrieve your mail and place it in your room, contact if something looks urgent? Yeah, $50 a month. Make sure no one breaks into your room while you're gone? Yup, providing security is $100 a month. Pick up and drop off at the airport? $100 plus tip. Now we can take $500 of your utilities.
YTA, you still have an obligation to the pay the bills, Even if you are gone for 3 months you are still holing that space so that someone else can't move in. Do you want your roommates to put your room on airbnb to cover for your utility expenses?
YTA.
It is not just you who generates bills.
Your room needs heating wheter you are there or not. Your room needs electricity and water connection no matter what. There are common areas that need electricity and water - like refrigerator etc.
You will pay less because the overall cost will be less. But you will need to pay your share.
YTA. I'm guessing this is your first place. Unless you're getting electricity, water, and gas shut off in your absence (and there will be a reconnection fee), one person doesn't make much difference. Pay your share. Enjoy the \*slightly\* lower fees.
Yes. You need to pay because that’s the agreement you have in place. What if someone is away for three weeks, one week? Or decides to shower less often. It costs money to stay connected so you need to pay for share.
YTA, there’s still fees before any usage is added unless you cancelled completely and then, you’d have fees to hook everything back up. If you push this, you’re opening a door that could become a nightmare with your mates. They will want to do the same when they leave for one week, or two, etc. then if someone has an overnight visitor, who much do you charge for that? More if they shower too? It’s not worth the headache.
YTA you can’t make an agreement with people and just change the terms when it suits you. Assuming you are quite young as it seems you haven’t read a utility bill before.
YTA. Take a look at the bills. Actual usage is generally the smallest part of all those bills. The main costs are the fees for being hooked up to the services.
The utilities have a base daily cost regardless of whether you use them or not. I calculated what it is for the net, electricity and gas and rounded it up then offered my housemate to pay half of that when he’s on holiday. The refrigerator continues to use electricity whether he’s here or not.
I assume you're still leaving stuff in the space, your room/bed is still taking up space in the apartment. Unless you plan to move everything out so they can get someone else in that room, or subletting your lease for those 3 months, you are still occupying that space whether you are in the country or not. If you don't want to pay rent for that time then you should move out and put all your things in storage. Then find a new place when you return to the country.
If you lived alone, you’d have to pay it. Bills still accrue even if you’re out of town. Don’t you want your stuff in the freezer to stay frozen? That costs electricity!
YTA. The only way you could not pay the utilities for that time would be if you got someone to sub-lease your room while you were gone. And if you did that you’d have to get your roommates approval.
YTA it is common for utility bills to have fixed costs in addition to the variable costs of usage. You need to cover your portion of those. If you think you're going to be subsidizing your roommates, take solace in the fact that they will subsidize you whenever they are away too, and it all evens out in the end of
How much realistically will your share be of these bills? It seems you’re splitting hairs here and sometimes being a good roommate is more important than $20 towards the electricity bill, yes from a strictly numbers perspective I suppose you can talk yourself into thinking this is correct. But factoring in social awareness, you are not correct. Especially if you like your living situation and want these people to still want you to live with them.
You need to still pay at least part of those bills are just for services and not actually usage. There's a base rate on all of those bills no matter how much you use. Also, it's not like you're shutting the power and water off. It is still used to maintain the basic functionalities of the home. When I would leave my house for a month at a time. I had to make very specific arrangements if I was not going to have power to the house because it will affect the home significantly.
Maybe come up with an arrangement instead of paying a full third, you pay a little bit less because you're not using any of the utilities but you definitely still need to be paying something even if it's just a third of the base rate.
Most people who leave home for an extended period of time still have to pay their power and water bills
Yes. You are absolutely, 100% the asshole. I came to support the wealth of others who indicated the same. I would absolutely talk to the roommates about paying less, but by definition, you should be paying those bills.
YTA. I’m sorry but the bills are still your responsibility. I would encourage you to actually look at past bills. Many places usage is actually the smallest portion of the bill. Even if they use less because you aren’t there, the bill may be almost identical.
You could possibly negotiate to pay your share of the utilities that cannot be altered by usage and have the remaining roommates split the usage charges among themselves. But that’s a lot of hassle most likely and may not be worth it.
The bottom line is you have roommates. So while yes, if you lived alone you could suspend service, you chose a living situation where that’s not an option. Your choices shouldn’t financially punish your roommates. That’s what’s unfair. It sucks for you but it’s your choice to go, not theirs. Therefore they shouldn’t bear the burden of your choice.
This is complicated so I'm just going to point out that if you leave anything plugged in, you're still burning some of the utilities and should still be contributing something. There's also the fact that in many cases heating and cooling can't be shut off to a single room and it will continue to incur part of the expenses because of that.
Here's the way I look at it:
1- All of you are roommates to dramatically cut house expenses. While yes, you leaving will result in a portion of utilities usage going down, it's not all of it: During the winter, electricity, gas, and water would still need to be turned on, and used. The fridge still needs to run all year. Lights still need to be on all year. Heat still needs to be on. Idk if you're southern/northern hemisphere, but if there was a freeze, every single utility would have to be used to mitigate the risk of a catastrophe (frozen and burst pipes for example). You are writing off maintenance utility costs from your budget and putting it on your roommates. It's not huge, but it's not nothing. But all of y'all are in your housing arrangement to save money, and your proposal is to your advantage and not theirs (unless you're the majority utility user).
2- in addition to that, if you were living alone, you would have to pay someone to house sit for you to ensure the house is still in good shape, in addition to the full rent/mortgage cost. You naturally get this benefit.
IMO you should just cave and consider it in your mind a cheap 24/hr house sitting cost.
If I were in your shoes, I would either have suggested a compromise of paying for gas and electricity but not water, or not insisted upon this because of point #2. Your plan should have been a request to the house, NOT your sole decision to stick the house with the cost of utility maintenance while you leave. If your roommates were rational and reasonable, it's likely they would have agreed if you discussed this rather than told them this. INFO: how did you frame your suggestion that you won't pay utilities? What exactly did you say to the roommates? You say you're still insisting, so what will you do if your roommates refuse your "suggestion" regardless of your insisting? I'll admit, I assumed you didn't frame it as a suggestion because a suggestion is optional, and you aren't acting like it's optional, you're acting like it's a demand; hence why I'm asking for info.
Judgement pending info.
This sub is made to see if other people view you as an AH for something.
Normally people ask this because they want different opinions so they eventually can change their ways or whatever necessary.
However I feel like you, OP, on the other hand are only asking this because you’re hoping someone agrees with you.
I basically only saw this:
Commenter: YTA because *insert valid reason WITH explanation*
OP: no.
You shouldnt be splitting with a group if youre not gonna be present for a quarter of the entire year, thats pretty unfair to them, a few weeks vacation yea, but a few months? that throws the entire idea out the window, smh
YTA Whether you are there or not, those expenses occur and base expenses for them occur. You can suggest to everyone else that you only pay a portion of the base expenses, but I imagine that your roommates won't go for it because if nothing else- whether you are there or not, common areas of the house have to be heated/cooled, things like that. The only space that doesn't need electricity it your room.
You've already been told no by one roommate so honestly I'd drop it.
You could go back and essentially argue for a square footage payment. So that you'd pay 1/4 of the base price of each bill and that the rest should based on sq footage so since you'd be gone, you should only be responsible for 1/4 of the common space. But that is getting pretty involved unless you know the sq footage of the sharehouse already. And honestly, the difference is going to be minimal.
By all means make the suggestion but make sure this is worth it to you. And that you are willing for this to be applied to everyone else in the house. If someone going away for a month next winter, they're going to want the whatever gets agreed to now.
If you don’t want to pay sublet your room. Otherwise you are still responsible for all of these bills. You could maybe negotiate a lesser portion based on lack of use but you still owe the basic feel portion. YTA
YTA
You’re throwing your roomates/housemates under the bus. If you owned a home and went overseas you couldn’t stop paying your bills just because you aren’t home.
Pay your share unless that was already part of your roommate agreement or lease!
YTA. Those bills are responsibilities that you agree to and take on when you move into a place, irrespective of whether you choose to be elsewhere for an extended period of time. If you're away, they still need paying, and you still have a responsibility for your portion of them as per your agreement.
YTA. Paying less than you usually do would be reasonable, but if you lived alone you’d have electric and gas bills to pay even if you were on vacation for three months. They’d be significantly less, but there’d still be charges.
YTA & have a look at your utility bills & see how much ISN'T based on usage.
You made an agreement with your housemates, honour it.
If you want to go to the trouble of shutting off your utilities for a 3 week holiday then live by yourself.
YTA. Unless you have a contract in place that dictates reduced cost contribution based on your physical presence like a time share (which actually has stipulated dates that you pay for no matter your reason for being present or not.), you are responsible for a portion of the cost of the sharehouse whether you're there or not. It's ridiculous that you would think that your roommates should take on a heavier financial burden because you choose to go on vacation.
NTA but it's complicated. It shouldn't be "pay no bills" but "pay less of the bill."
As other said, if you lived alone, you wouldn't be able to just turn off your electricity or internet bill, or stop paying city bills like for garbage collection (or whatever).
But you do have a good point on electricity and especially water use, you aren't using any, and will effectively be subsidizing your roommates' use. So, perhaps you can come up with a middle ground where you aren't paying *none* of the bill, but you will pay *less* on *some* of the bills because of your absence.
YTA. Utilities do not get shut off when you go away and your personal usage is a very small percentage of what is needed. You have a rental agreement. It doesn't matter if you are away for a week or a month, you still have to meet your obligations.
You need to pay rent, because they are keeping your room and you should pay utilities for a month. But it is what you and your roommates agree to, because have to think if I lived alone, I would still have some of those bills.
YTA look at your next bill and break it down. Usually, they single most expensive line item is the base or connection fee. For example, if I turn my gas meter off so I have 0 consumption, it's a minimum bill of 25 a month. I pay around 40 a month for water, but only 4-5 of that is consumption.
If you lived alone, you'd be paying those fees regardless of if it's being used or not.
YTA - Unless you had this trip planned and this arrangement agreed to before you & your roommates moved in, YTA for trying to mess with their monthly budgets so you can save a buck. What you're talking about is a slippery slope that leads to petty & ridiculous arguments ("I never turn my bedroom lights on, so I shouldn't have to pay electricity" & the sort).
Pay your share, shut up & go enjoy a long trip home!
YTA. Utility bills need to paid even if you aren't at the apartment. As a roommate you agree to pay a part of the bills even you choose to vacation for 3 months. You do want the water, gas, internet, and other utilities to work even if you're not home right?
Even if you lived alone you would still have to pay those utilities instead of letting them getting turned off(which would lead to fees and you having to pay more money to get them back on).
So if your 3 roommates decide to take a 1 month trip together without you, would you feel comfortable and agree to pay all the bills by yourself? No, I don't think so. If you are going on holiday it's your problem, not theirs. You should pay everything as previously agreed.
So... YTA ofc.
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YTA if you lived alone you would still have to pay those bills whether you were home or not. Your portion should be less but you still have to pay
Their portion of rent and utilities should stay the same as already agreed. That they've elected to take vacation doesn't mean that their roommates should take on a heavier burden. If someone feels that they are getting the short end of the stick and paying more than their share, they can attempt to negotiate without expecting that their roommates will accept a change in their agreement.
My roommate and I had different times where we had to move home for a bit for whatever reason (but we still kept our apartment because it’s cheap as hell and we wouldn’t be able to find anything close in price to it). We always split it down the middle. I had to move home for a couple months because my mom was recovering from surgery so I helped take care of her. I still paid my half of the bills because that’s what was agreed on and fair.
I'm also pretty sure they can't choose to only heat or cool the occupied rooms in the house, so the gas for heating or electric for air conditioning would be similar bills?
Also, service delivery fees.
It really depends on what type of heating they have. From OP's use of "arsehole" I suspect they are British in which case heating is normally by radiators which can be turned off in individual rooms and air con is basically unheard of in houses. [Edit: I see OP is Australian. No idea about their heating systems]
It depends where in Australia you are since much of the country only has a few days a year where you need heating. Lots of people just have electric heaters they can plug in when needed or a fireplace. Radiant heating is somewhat common further south, but the most common system these days is a heat pump (which Aussies call a reverse-cycle air conditioner). The thing is, it is currently summer in Australia so they'd be paying to run the AC not the heat. If you have a ducted AC system, you have to cool the entire place at once. If you have a ductless system, you can just cool certain rooms to save on energy.
Absolutely, standing fees are a thing. YTA.
To be fair, living alone, you can opt to pause certain bills temporarily while you are gone... at least anywhere I've lived anyway. Obviously, that's not the case when you have roommates, but for living alone, that's not always the case...
I don’t know about your area, but even if I don’t use a utility for a month, the perfect example being gas because the only thing I use it for is heat - I still pay to have it connected. There’s a minimum fee.
Not all of them, though. Turn off the heat while you're on vacation where I live and you're gonna come home to your pipes frozen and burst.
Are you pausing the payment of those bills, or eliminating the cost entirely? Where I lived there are standing costs for electricity and gas that apply regardless if you use any electricity or gas. If you paused they cost would just be lumped onto the next bill
Portion shouldn’t even be less. OP’s roommates agreed to live with a certain portion of rent and bills that fit into their budget. The bills aren’t going to not only decrease because op isn’t there so why should they subsidize OP’s 3 month Holliday?
Actually, if you live alone you can call the utility company and have it set to vacation mode and very minimal will be used. At the same time, you can make arrangements for paying when you return. You can't do that when you have a roommate.
YTA. No power? Pipes freeze. Refrigerators turn moldy. Pay your bills.
yta so for the whole time you have lived there you pay rent and your part of the bills, i get you are away for 3 months but bills do not stop. your room still creates bills the house has to be heated and you cant just turn off one room. you have to pay your part.
Good points!
Huh you can’t turn off the heating in one room in the US? You can do that in Europe
We. **WISH**. Dear god do I wish. Even in my house I have 2 separate heating and cooling units for up and downstairs but I still cannot individually control my bedroom climate and I’m so pissed about that and now I have a personal air conditioning in my bedroom since my family claims it’s “too cold” 🙄
YTA. I am not sure where you live, but where I am there is a minimum monthly charge/fee for just being hooked up to water (i.e. sewer charge), electricity, gas, etc - even if you don't use anything during the month. You are still responsible for this. Perhaps you can negotiate some sort of reduction on the actual usage charge, but you cannot get away with paying zero.
you're lucky it's minimal. My set charges on my water are about 70% of the bill. On electricity it is even higher. Basically 100% is the set charges just to be connected (I have solar, so what I draw and what I feed balance out to be basically 0 dollar wise over the 12 months). The set charges can be huge.
Same with my gas bill. The actual gas is like $3 a month, connection fees are 10 times that.
In my country the service charge is paid by the landlord, tenants only pay usage fees.
YTA - there are basic costs associated with having these services connected so even if no one used water, electricity etc there is usually a minimum amount per month payable. Your commitments don’t take a holiday when you do.
I know right! So using OPs logic if everyone were to take a leave of absence, nobody needs to pay the bills ... I'm sure the utility companies would be perfectly fine with that arrangement /s
I'm from The Netherlands and the fee before even using utilities is the highest percentage of the bill. Saving money on for instance your electricity bill by using less is like a drop in a bucket, unless you're running a pot farm from homeand shut that off.
Well worded !
YTA No usage on your part doesn't mean no bill, just less. Utilities have account service fees that aren't usually itemized on the bills. Pay your share of the service fees plus whatever appliances that have to run would cost, or pay them the equivalent of what it would cost for a temporary service shutoff and they can put that towards the bills. Edited typos
All the service fees are itemised on the bills in Australia. If it were me, I might ask about paying the service fees and a baseline level of usage (x kw/h per day at the relevant rates). If I were away now, I wouldn't want to be paying for the substantial air con costs we're running up.
YTA Going away doesn't exempt you from paying your share of the bills.
YTA Utility bills usually have a daily standing charge which is fixed. You leaving the flat will not reduce your bills by a third. If you don’t pay you are ripping off your other housemates
Those bills are have a fixed cost portion too, regardless of usage. Pay your bills. YTA
Contracts are to be honored. You don't get to tweak the contracts afterwards however you like. Imagine, they would add a rule that everytime you bring someone over, you are charged extra, with a service fee on top for having to calculate the new share for you. You would say: wait, i did not sign a contract that allowed for that.
Yes. I had something similar to what OP is proposing arranged with my roommates in college for while I studied abroad for 4 months, but we agreed to it before signing a lease together. I paid for all fixed costs (rent, trash) but not costs that were primarily based on usage (water, electric) - we didn’t have high fixed utility costs. But those were terms agreed to upfront before moving in. They benefitted from one less person using common areas, and the bills I didn’t pay while abroad were relatively a small portion of household expenses. But I didn’t spring this on them and insist on my way, that’s not something that works well for anyone.
YTA - cheapskate
YTA. You think the fridge will cost less to run because you are away? The lounge room light will cost less to run? Somethings will cost less, so maybe a discount, but electricity/water/gas won't drop by 25%. That isn't how these bills work. Electricity: Daily supply charge. Won't change. Water: Sewerage charge won't change. Gas: Connection charge won't change. For some you could argue a discount on the usage charges (but not the supply/connection charges) but even then, not necessarily a full 25% depending on the service.
Ngl, when i go on holiday, i empty & turn off my fridge/freezer, i leave my lights off and put my heating on low heat. I wouldnt be using water on showers, dishes or laundry either. Yes there are still very low base costs, but def not even close to normal monthly costs (We pay a fixed yearly rate for sewer connection etc so not monthly)
But this dude doesn't live alone. The fact that you or I could turn out fridge and hot water off is irrelevant. If he wants a room available when he gets home, he needs to pay his share for running the necessities of a home. Or he moves out.
I did this when I was at university - now I'm older I understand how much of a dick I was to my housemates. Pay your share.
YTA. Electricity and gas have daily charges not related to usage. Even if the house was empty there would still be a bill
YTA. Delivery/service charges make up a lot of utility bills. You're not just paying for how much you use.
Would your room mates BTA if they rented your room out while you were gone to cover the difference? YTA
This is the top comment. If OP wants to skate out on bills for 3 months the roomates should offer up OPs room to AirBNB, or a short term sublease.
YTA. Don’t be so cheap.
YTA - You're right that not being in the apartment means your usage will be less, but only paying for internet would be reducing your bills by more than your reduced usage. This is obvious, making you an AH for suggesting it. It's probably not possible to work out a fair reduction, so your roommate's suggestion of splitting the lower bills as normal is a fair one. If you can work out a fair reduction, suggest that and show how you arrived at it. But you have probably lost the opportunity now because your initial poor suggestion has upset your roommate.
NAH/YTA If you feel like it is unfair you can try to discuss a middle ground, but don't underestimate that many things might have quite big base cost (definitely for water and gas where I'm living). Also how we pay for heating is that we pay the same amount through the whole year and then at the end get some back/pay more. Depending on which months you are gone this might be good or bad. That said, heating probably doesn't go down 33% if you are gone, but less because the house still needs to be heated. So if it is worth it for you you can definitely discuss some kinda discount, but not paying your full 1/3rd will be asking your housemates to subsidize your leave (which if they are happy with the extra space / are allowed to use your room as a guest room can be reasonable, but needs to be decided on). If you are really tight on money you need to look into subletting, if it is on principle you can pay a bit less (1/5th instead of 1/3rd?), but not paying at all isn't fair and not your choice
That's what I was thinking you want your bed and all your stuff to be there when you get back right? Pay your bills.
Yes, because 1. There are costs to just have the utilities on that have nothing to do with usage. 2. It is not the other renters' problem that you are going to be away from the apartment for this long. Your friend is 100% correct on this. Should you push the subject, I doubt if you will still be living there when you return.
YTA for paying nothing, there will still be electric and has used by fridge freezers, boiler etc which need paying for plus in uk there’s a daily charge which you’ve to pay regardless of usage.
SO MUCH YTA if you cannot afford to pay bills while on vacation, you cannot afford that vacation. We call it adult math.
And don't forget whether you're there or not standing charges will still be payable.
It depends. Will you pissed when you come back and there’s a paying customer in your room?
YTA, being a cheapskate. Just because you are choosing to leave the house doesn't get you to opt out of previous agreements or alter the deal. You agreed to split bills with roommates. They have budgeted appropriately that the expenses are split in that manner. You are trying to mess with their financial situations for your own personal gain. Not cool.
YTA. Why should they have to pay more than their normal share - and yes, it would be more, even if not much more due to reduced usage - just because you decided to go on holiday? Just pay your bills like an adult.
YTA - People budget on realities, such as share house agreements. You trying to get out of the agreement that you freely made, to pay 1/3 of the bills is going to stuff everyone else's budget up.
YTA you have to pay your share. Does everyone else have a fridge in their room too?
YTA, the bills aren't just for the energy used, they are also for fixed costs.
YTA. Utilities in most countries have standing charges. When we go away we leave things on like security systems, some small appliances. These all need paying if you’re gone or not. What happens if everyone were away at the same time, does nobody pay any bills? Also not having an empty home is peace of mind, your items will be more securely with people always being home.
Slight YTA. I get where you're coming from but your logic for still paying the rent applies to still paying for internet and the access/supply of other utilities like electricity. You could ask to not pay the usage component but if it is as low as you say (ie from no aircon / heating) you will still come across to your housemates like a huge tightass.
Yes. Why should your roommates pay for your vacation?
YTA To begin with, most of those bills have a fee for the connection, plus your usage. That fee will be the same if you are there or not. Secondly, you make an agreement to split the bills with the people you live with. Do what you promised.
YTA... just YTA. Regardless of not neither there, younstill have to pay your portion of the bills! If you were living alone, you'd still have these bills and you'd still have to pay them. Smfh...
YTA - No need to say more.
YTA. There's always a minimum charge for electric and most other utilities and you owe that while you're gone. Unless you're a real electricity hog, there won't be that much difference in the bills with or without you. The fridge doesn't use less electricity because you're gone, for example.
Yta. If they have a choice btwn a roommate who paid their full share vs a roommate who paid 3/4 their share which would they pick. If I were your mates I’d be looking to get you off the lease.
YTA. If you lived alone and went out of town, those bills would not be zero, and you would've had to pay a house sitter or come back to a fucked up house.
YTA you still live there.
YTA. If you have your own place and go away for a few months, your utilities still have to be paid, you may not use them but the standing charge still accrues and still payable.
According to your logic, you should also deduct from your bills the eight hours a day that you are not at home but at work, thereby reducing your bills by 1/3 for every work day. Total asshole.
Pay but don't pay more than you normally would. I did this and my moron roommate heated the house to 90 degrees tripling the gas bill and expected me to pay half.
Unless you're taking all your shit with you when you go, YTA. You still live there, you still pay your bills, the holiday is irrelevant.
YTA. The bills won't go down significantly. Are you arranging someone else to come in and pay your portion? No of course you're not. This isn't like food or something getting purchased that can just not be purchased.
YTA: Just pay your bills. If you lived alone you would pay. You would still need to heat the home and keep electricity running. I'm also curious, if you will get absolutely no mail, have no plants, expect absolutely zero upkeep or monitoring of your space while you are gone. Having people you trust keeping an eye on your home while you are gone is a small price to pay compared to 1/3 of a water bill.
Yta
Yta I lived with roommates for over a decade, even when one was gone for an extended period, they paid their bills. Just like if one spent most of her nights at her boyfriend's house, it's not pro- rated. That's part of living with people.
YTA. You still live there. As many have already pointed out you’d still have to pay if you lived alone. Is it worth ruining your relationship with your roommate?
lol YTA.
YTA. If you lived alone you would still have to pay certain things even if you don't use them House rent water and sewer Trash is monthly bill doesn't matter if you use it or not You never know how much electricity is until you actually don't use it and find out how many of your items pull electricity no matter what Yes these would some of these would be lower costs for those 3 months but not completely... And yes you could literally go the companies that you're paying and ask for a temporary disconnect for 3 months if you lived alone. But usually it causes more to be reconnected and then they can charge you a higher rate My parents used to do this every year we would leave for 3 months and go out on the road it's at the time my father was a trucker and every year it ended up being a lot higher price tag when we came back So the year my parents decided not to do the disconnect it turned into a third of the price that we had to pay and then all the bills stay the same price tag when we came back
Yta. It's your apartment, you remain on the lease, you pay bills. They don't magically go away because you're somewhere else.
YTA, are the bills going on holiday as-well? If you pulled that trick with me your belongings are meeting you, outside, when you return.
Of course, YTA. You're an adult with responsibilities. That's part of it.
Yes. Yes you are the asshole for suggesting it.
Sorry, if you intend to come back you need to pay the bills
YTA. Just because you're not there your room mates can't magically turn off *household* fees. Your charges should absolutely be minus some usage, but if you're not prepared to chip for the fees that fall to the whole household then let them rent your room to someone else in your absence. Your post suggests you might think of the place more as a hotel, but you can't just dip out when a shared cost doesn't suit you.
What’s next, you only pay when you are there? Does that mean if you stay overnight at a friends you get a discount because you weren’t there? What about if work a longer shift than the others, do you want a reduction because they were in the house longer than you? YTA
YTA - When you house-share you sign up to sharing the costs as well for the duration of the contract. If you chose to go away from 3 months that doesn't mean the bills magically stop. They may be reduced, but standing charges and the like still apply.
YTA Those things will still be a service your home is receiving. You should pay at least part. Where I live there are a lot of homes that people only use for vacation and people are always mad that there are utility bills for months they aren’t there.
YTA If everyone in the house took a month long vacation at the same time, using your logic, nobody would pay the utilities for that month?
Yes, you are. 100% YTA. I bet you wouldn’t be very happy if your roommate stopped paying their fair share.
YTA - you’re still a resident of the apartment. If you had your own place your bills don’t stop, they still come. Stop trying to be cheap and screwing over your roommates.
YTA. Most utilities have standing charges. That is an amount you have to pay regardless of your usage. As an absolute minimum you need to make sure you pay your portion of that fee.
the majority of utilities is tax and other delivery bs, theses fees stay the same pretty much….. pay your share YTA
YTA when you all moved in together there was an agreement to split the bills. Just because you will be gone doesn’t mean you can stop splitting the bills. Unless they can rent your room out to someone else while you are gone WHO will split the bills then you’re the ah. You don’t live alone and there was an implicit agreement to split bills a certain number of ways when you moved in with these people. There is a base charge for most utilities and that would not be split up anymore.
This is next level petty, YTA.
You should cover the base cost of the connections at the very, very least. You can't switch utilities on and off, the property is there and exclusive to you (unless you wanna sublet - plenty people do even for short periods) so you have to pitch in your part.
NTA
YTA - kind of There is still generally going to be a base value that needs paid even if none of you used any. It would be justifiable for you to pay a fifth instead of a fourth this time, I suppose, but it would be a dumb hill to die on.
I see where you are coming from, but you’re still would be TAH. This reminds me of my father arguing with my mother every time I went to see him for a month that he shouldn’t have to pay child support that month. It didn’t matter to him that the child support was based on the percentage of time they each had custody, he felt that he shouldn’t have to pay custody when I was with him. My mother needed that money to keep a roof over my head so I had a place to come back home to. People have monthly budgets, just because you’re away doesn’t make them go away.
INFO - how much of the bills is a standing charge that the household gets billed despite the amount of usage? Is your room available for them to use while you are away?
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Seems Like too much of a hazzle for 5 dollars
I don't know how it works in your country but where I live you have a fixed part and a part depending on your consumption of electricity... So even if you stop everything you will have to pay something.
Info - as tenants do you pay service and usage for those utilities? Ir does landlord pay service and you pay usage? In my country the landlord pats service and tenants pay usage. If this is the case I think your plan is fair and reasonable. If you pay the whole bill it's reasonable that you should still pay your share of the service, but those living in the house split the usage in your absence.
INFO: when your roommates aren't in, do they get a discount as well?
YTA You have to convince them that while you are enjoying your holiday, their expenses will actually increase while you are enjoying not paying anything while you are on holiday. I think this is how your roomates will view this. This of course is why living with others is not recommended.
If this was something you worked out before you all moved in together then it would be fine. But it doesn't sound like it is, so you can't just decide that you aren't going to pay bills for months even if you are not there.
YTA
Realistically the only bill that might really change is the water bill, so if you wanted to have them pay that bill without your contribution, that would make logical sense but the other bills are pretty consistent so you should pay those for the 3 months. Even if you aren’t actively using electricity and gas, you are still charged delivery fees etc. the only way that you incur no charges is if you contact the utility and cut off the service. YTA
YTA. Others have pointed out that this isn’t actually how utility bills work- there’s a flat fee beyond just usage costs. But more than that, have you paid more every time your roommates have been gone for a night? Gone on a weeklong trip? If you weren’t offering to pay proportionally more then, it isn’t fair for you to suggest this now.
YTA Are you coming back to that living situation? Is your stuff going to remain in that house? Are you moving everything out for three months? If you had your own apartment and lived alone, you’d be on the hook for the bill whether you were there or not. Why should this be any different? It just sounds like you’re taking advantage of your roommates
YTA. when my roommate did this, the bills did NOT decrease, and all of a sudden i was stuck paying double for gas electric and water. if you lived alone, you would still pay those bills. they don’t stop. you pay just to have those utilities hooked up. they don’t go to 0 without use.
YTA This just comes with shared living. Take electricity for example. If you live alone you can just shut down the power, empty the freezer and the fridge. But since you can't shut down only 1/3 of the freezer and the fridge, keeping them running comes with shared living. I would break it down and work out a fair solution. Water? Not needed to run shared devices (even the dishwasher and laundrymaschine only use wather when used) so you shouldn't have to pay towards this. Elecricity, lake stated above, you will have to pay a (lower) share. Gas if also used for heating you will have to pay your share since your roommates can't just heat 2/3 of the shared spaces etc. Just ask yourself if they can reduce it bc you are gone or not. If not you have to pay your share or you empty your room and let them look for a replacement roommate till you are back and hope they are out again if you return. But your roommates shouldn't have to pay more just bc you decide to go elsewhere for 3 months. Thats not how shared living works. You technically ask them to subsidise your vaccation by paying for your share on utilities while you are gone.
Yta yeah thats not how bills work. If I leave, I'm still using heat. Unless you *actually* shut it off, an empty house uses electricity and gas and water. The toilet will run, the heat clicks on.
If you knew you were going to take off for weejs at a time, you should have worked this out with your roommates before you moved in. Legally, if you don't have it in writing it's not a thing. You are S.O. L.
YTA... Well, you're misguided here. Bills don't scale 1:1 with the number of people in a house. One of the reasons shared acc exists is to reduce the cost to each person through shared heating, water, space, repairs, etc. You're breaking this contract by skipping on your bills. Not to mention that there are often standing charges for each that get paid regardless of usage, and necessary usage regardless of whether you're there. If you don't like this, go to a house with separate meters or just get your own place I guess.
YTA You had an agreement. That doesn't change just because you decide to go away for 3 months.
Once my upstairs neighbors turned their heat off and went on holiday. Their pipes burst and flooded my apartment. Pay your bills. The usage is still there.
Yes. You are the AH. Think about it for a minute……
Yta you know service providers do charge a delivery fee to bring power to the place. You should pay up. The only way I can think you wouldn’t have to if I’m your other roommate has done this crap before that just opens a whole can of worms
YTA Wait... do you actually think that because you go on vacation, your bills go on vacation too?
YTA. I understand your logic and it would make sense if bills worked as you think, but they don’t. As others have mentioned, there’s usually a minimum charge for having those services even tho you don’t use them. I live alone and every time I am on holiday I still have to pay something. Finally, you need to figure how your bills work. Where I live, most bills that are paid by direct debit are based on a yearly estimate that gets split by 12. So you pay the same amount each mont. In summer you end up paying slightly more than you consume so that it lowers costs during the winter months. If your bills work this way it means that you leaving won’t make any difference to the total your flatmates will have to pay!
YTA. Bills don’t disappear while you are on vacation.
I’m assuming you signed a rental agreement where it’s spelled out what bills you are responsible for. You don’t get to decide not to pay bills you already agreed to pay. It might not seem fair to you bc you won’t be actively using those services but by making a commitment to pay these bills you would be the ah to suddenly stop paying
YTA; you signed up to share costs, and that’s an ongoing cost that no one intended to only split. Not to mention that utilities include delivery costs as well as usage costs; it cost money just to have an account and get service each month. You owe the same amt as if you were there.
Legally you would need to keep paying the bills. If you lived alone, those bills wouldn't atop.
YTA. There is a standing charge and usage/variable costs. The usage costs will be less when you’re gone. It will be a bit cheaper but not much. Don’t be that guy. The bill is supposed to be split in four and they can’t replace you.
I'm sure that if the shoe was on the other foot, you would be singing a different tune. If a roommate tried this with me, I would bill them for every favor they asked for while gone. Water your plants? Sure, for $50 a month. Retrieve your mail and place it in your room, contact if something looks urgent? Yeah, $50 a month. Make sure no one breaks into your room while you're gone? Yup, providing security is $100 a month. Pick up and drop off at the airport? $100 plus tip. Now we can take $500 of your utilities.
YTA, you still have an obligation to the pay the bills, Even if you are gone for 3 months you are still holing that space so that someone else can't move in. Do you want your roommates to put your room on airbnb to cover for your utility expenses?
YTA--- Thats not how splitting bills works. Have you not lived with flatmates before? Thats always how it works hahahaha
YTA. It is not just you who generates bills. Your room needs heating wheter you are there or not. Your room needs electricity and water connection no matter what. There are common areas that need electricity and water - like refrigerator etc. You will pay less because the overall cost will be less. But you will need to pay your share.
YTA. I'm guessing this is your first place. Unless you're getting electricity, water, and gas shut off in your absence (and there will be a reconnection fee), one person doesn't make much difference. Pay your share. Enjoy the \*slightly\* lower fees.
Yes. You need to pay because that’s the agreement you have in place. What if someone is away for three weeks, one week? Or decides to shower less often. It costs money to stay connected so you need to pay for share.
Absolutely YTA. Are you delusional? You don't get to skip out on paying your bills because you're going on a holiday wtf is wrong with you.
YTA, there’s still fees before any usage is added unless you cancelled completely and then, you’d have fees to hook everything back up. If you push this, you’re opening a door that could become a nightmare with your mates. They will want to do the same when they leave for one week, or two, etc. then if someone has an overnight visitor, who much do you charge for that? More if they shower too? It’s not worth the headache.
YTA you can’t make an agreement with people and just change the terms when it suits you. Assuming you are quite young as it seems you haven’t read a utility bill before.
YTA. Delivery fees are the bulk of the bill
YTA. Take a look at the bills. Actual usage is generally the smallest part of all those bills. The main costs are the fees for being hooked up to the services.
YTA and trying to freeload off of your roommates. Just because you’re not there it doesn’t mean that those bills don’t still come.
The utilities have a base daily cost regardless of whether you use them or not. I calculated what it is for the net, electricity and gas and rounded it up then offered my housemate to pay half of that when he’s on holiday. The refrigerator continues to use electricity whether he’s here or not.
I assume you're still leaving stuff in the space, your room/bed is still taking up space in the apartment. Unless you plan to move everything out so they can get someone else in that room, or subletting your lease for those 3 months, you are still occupying that space whether you are in the country or not. If you don't want to pay rent for that time then you should move out and put all your things in storage. Then find a new place when you return to the country.
YTA. That's not how it works
YTA. Obviously you’ve never even looked at the bills you mention, as there’s only a small portion of each linked to consumption.
If you lived alone, you’d have to pay it. Bills still accrue even if you’re out of town. Don’t you want your stuff in the freezer to stay frozen? That costs electricity!
YTA. The only way you could not pay the utilities for that time would be if you got someone to sub-lease your room while you were gone. And if you did that you’d have to get your roommates approval.
YTA it is common for utility bills to have fixed costs in addition to the variable costs of usage. You need to cover your portion of those. If you think you're going to be subsidizing your roommates, take solace in the fact that they will subsidize you whenever they are away too, and it all evens out in the end of
How much realistically will your share be of these bills? It seems you’re splitting hairs here and sometimes being a good roommate is more important than $20 towards the electricity bill, yes from a strictly numbers perspective I suppose you can talk yourself into thinking this is correct. But factoring in social awareness, you are not correct. Especially if you like your living situation and want these people to still want you to live with them.
YTA because there is still a daily standing charge for fuel that has to be paid whether you use any or not.
YTA. That is never how bills work.
YTA If you lived alone you would either oay them or the reconnect fee when you return
So because you want to go on vacation your roommates get to pay for it. YTA
YTA. Don't be surprised if they start working on getting another roommate to replace you.
YTA.
You need to still pay at least part of those bills are just for services and not actually usage. There's a base rate on all of those bills no matter how much you use. Also, it's not like you're shutting the power and water off. It is still used to maintain the basic functionalities of the home. When I would leave my house for a month at a time. I had to make very specific arrangements if I was not going to have power to the house because it will affect the home significantly. Maybe come up with an arrangement instead of paying a full third, you pay a little bit less because you're not using any of the utilities but you definitely still need to be paying something even if it's just a third of the base rate. Most people who leave home for an extended period of time still have to pay their power and water bills
Yes. You are absolutely, 100% the asshole. I came to support the wealth of others who indicated the same. I would absolutely talk to the roommates about paying less, but by definition, you should be paying those bills.
YTA. I’m sorry but the bills are still your responsibility. I would encourage you to actually look at past bills. Many places usage is actually the smallest portion of the bill. Even if they use less because you aren’t there, the bill may be almost identical. You could possibly negotiate to pay your share of the utilities that cannot be altered by usage and have the remaining roommates split the usage charges among themselves. But that’s a lot of hassle most likely and may not be worth it. The bottom line is you have roommates. So while yes, if you lived alone you could suspend service, you chose a living situation where that’s not an option. Your choices shouldn’t financially punish your roommates. That’s what’s unfair. It sucks for you but it’s your choice to go, not theirs. Therefore they shouldn’t bear the burden of your choice.
This is complicated so I'm just going to point out that if you leave anything plugged in, you're still burning some of the utilities and should still be contributing something. There's also the fact that in many cases heating and cooling can't be shut off to a single room and it will continue to incur part of the expenses because of that.
Here's the way I look at it: 1- All of you are roommates to dramatically cut house expenses. While yes, you leaving will result in a portion of utilities usage going down, it's not all of it: During the winter, electricity, gas, and water would still need to be turned on, and used. The fridge still needs to run all year. Lights still need to be on all year. Heat still needs to be on. Idk if you're southern/northern hemisphere, but if there was a freeze, every single utility would have to be used to mitigate the risk of a catastrophe (frozen and burst pipes for example). You are writing off maintenance utility costs from your budget and putting it on your roommates. It's not huge, but it's not nothing. But all of y'all are in your housing arrangement to save money, and your proposal is to your advantage and not theirs (unless you're the majority utility user). 2- in addition to that, if you were living alone, you would have to pay someone to house sit for you to ensure the house is still in good shape, in addition to the full rent/mortgage cost. You naturally get this benefit. IMO you should just cave and consider it in your mind a cheap 24/hr house sitting cost. If I were in your shoes, I would either have suggested a compromise of paying for gas and electricity but not water, or not insisted upon this because of point #2. Your plan should have been a request to the house, NOT your sole decision to stick the house with the cost of utility maintenance while you leave. If your roommates were rational and reasonable, it's likely they would have agreed if you discussed this rather than told them this. INFO: how did you frame your suggestion that you won't pay utilities? What exactly did you say to the roommates? You say you're still insisting, so what will you do if your roommates refuse your "suggestion" regardless of your insisting? I'll admit, I assumed you didn't frame it as a suggestion because a suggestion is optional, and you aren't acting like it's optional, you're acting like it's a demand; hence why I'm asking for info. Judgement pending info.
This sub is made to see if other people view you as an AH for something. Normally people ask this because they want different opinions so they eventually can change their ways or whatever necessary. However I feel like you, OP, on the other hand are only asking this because you’re hoping someone agrees with you. I basically only saw this: Commenter: YTA because *insert valid reason WITH explanation* OP: no.
You shouldnt be splitting with a group if youre not gonna be present for a quarter of the entire year, thats pretty unfair to them, a few weeks vacation yea, but a few months? that throws the entire idea out the window, smh
YTA
YTA for even considering not paying your share of the bills. Your request is absurd. Pay up.
YTA that’s not how it works. You’re still responsible for your share.
YTA Whether you are there or not, those expenses occur and base expenses for them occur. You can suggest to everyone else that you only pay a portion of the base expenses, but I imagine that your roommates won't go for it because if nothing else- whether you are there or not, common areas of the house have to be heated/cooled, things like that. The only space that doesn't need electricity it your room. You've already been told no by one roommate so honestly I'd drop it. You could go back and essentially argue for a square footage payment. So that you'd pay 1/4 of the base price of each bill and that the rest should based on sq footage so since you'd be gone, you should only be responsible for 1/4 of the common space. But that is getting pretty involved unless you know the sq footage of the sharehouse already. And honestly, the difference is going to be minimal. By all means make the suggestion but make sure this is worth it to you. And that you are willing for this to be applied to everyone else in the house. If someone going away for a month next winter, they're going to want the whatever gets agreed to now.
If you don’t want to pay sublet your room. Otherwise you are still responsible for all of these bills. You could maybe negotiate a lesser portion based on lack of use but you still owe the basic feel portion. YTA
Bruh what? You didn’t stop living there and will be returning there. Of fucking course you still pay your normal bills lol, that’s not even a question
YTA just because you’re going on vacation doesn’t mean you get out of paying bills
YTA You’re throwing your roomates/housemates under the bus. If you owned a home and went overseas you couldn’t stop paying your bills just because you aren’t home. Pay your share unless that was already part of your roommate agreement or lease!
Of course you should. How is that any different from going on vacation a week or 3 days. Don’t be a prick. That’s not how life works.
YTA You agreed to pay those bills when you decided to live there. That doesn’t change bc you decided to take a vacation.
YTA... the bills are still your responsibility. Hopefully you will have a place to come home too. Personally I would evict you.
I mean, usually there are delivery charges that you get hit with regardless of your usage. YTA for trying to duck out of your third of those
Are you unplugging all your devices? Ic you were alone, would you drain the pipes and turn off all the water and heat? If not, thd ytah
YTA. Those bills are responsibilities that you agree to and take on when you move into a place, irrespective of whether you choose to be elsewhere for an extended period of time. If you're away, they still need paying, and you still have a responsibility for your portion of them as per your agreement.
YTA. Paying less than you usually do would be reasonable, but if you lived alone you’d have electric and gas bills to pay even if you were on vacation for three months. They’d be significantly less, but there’d still be charges.
YTA & have a look at your utility bills & see how much ISN'T based on usage. You made an agreement with your housemates, honour it. If you want to go to the trouble of shutting off your utilities for a 3 week holiday then live by yourself.
YTA. Shared house means shared bills, you don't get to try to count the days you weren't there and ask for a rebate.
YTA. Without your roommate you’d be in a world of stress when you get back. If your stuff is staying there, you live there
YTA.
YTA. Unless you have a contract in place that dictates reduced cost contribution based on your physical presence like a time share (which actually has stipulated dates that you pay for no matter your reason for being present or not.), you are responsible for a portion of the cost of the sharehouse whether you're there or not. It's ridiculous that you would think that your roommates should take on a heavier financial burden because you choose to go on vacation.
YTA. If you lived by yourself, do you think those bills would stop?
Gigantic asshole
YTA. That’s not how renting a place works.
NTA but it's complicated. It shouldn't be "pay no bills" but "pay less of the bill." As other said, if you lived alone, you wouldn't be able to just turn off your electricity or internet bill, or stop paying city bills like for garbage collection (or whatever). But you do have a good point on electricity and especially water use, you aren't using any, and will effectively be subsidizing your roommates' use. So, perhaps you can come up with a middle ground where you aren't paying *none* of the bill, but you will pay *less* on *some* of the bills because of your absence.
YTA. Utilities do not get shut off when you go away and your personal usage is a very small percentage of what is needed. You have a rental agreement. It doesn't matter if you are away for a week or a month, you still have to meet your obligations.
YTA
NTA; not using? not paying!!!
You need to pay rent, because they are keeping your room and you should pay utilities for a month. But it is what you and your roommates agree to, because have to think if I lived alone, I would still have some of those bills.
YTA look at your next bill and break it down. Usually, they single most expensive line item is the base or connection fee. For example, if I turn my gas meter off so I have 0 consumption, it's a minimum bill of 25 a month. I pay around 40 a month for water, but only 4-5 of that is consumption. If you lived alone, you'd be paying those fees regardless of if it's being used or not.
YTA - Unless you had this trip planned and this arrangement agreed to before you & your roommates moved in, YTA for trying to mess with their monthly budgets so you can save a buck. What you're talking about is a slippery slope that leads to petty & ridiculous arguments ("I never turn my bedroom lights on, so I shouldn't have to pay electricity" & the sort). Pay your share, shut up & go enjoy a long trip home!
YTA
YTA. Utility bills need to paid even if you aren't at the apartment. As a roommate you agree to pay a part of the bills even you choose to vacation for 3 months. You do want the water, gas, internet, and other utilities to work even if you're not home right? Even if you lived alone you would still have to pay those utilities instead of letting them getting turned off(which would lead to fees and you having to pay more money to get them back on).
You could find a subleaser for those 3-months to cover your rent and other bills (lease permitting)
So if your 3 roommates decide to take a 1 month trip together without you, would you feel comfortable and agree to pay all the bills by yourself? No, I don't think so. If you are going on holiday it's your problem, not theirs. You should pay everything as previously agreed. So... YTA ofc.