To Eric, For the past year, a woman has been renting a room in my house. She doesn’t have much money. In contrast to the $1,000 going fee in my neighborhood, I charge her $400 a month.
According to the terms of the rental agreement, she pays one-third of the utility bill and I pay the other two-thirds.
This previous summer, she traveled to see relatives. When she came back, she informed me that since she wasn’t present, she wouldn’t be paying any of the utility bills for the period she was gone.
I let it go because I dislike conflict. But I’ve come to have a somewhat unfavorable judgment of her character. Am I mistaken?
Inquiry about Billing
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To Billing, This appears to be less of a character problem and more of a communication difficulty. I understand her reasoning for paying for utilities she didn’t use, but she should have told you about her plan before she left, not after. The bill was presumably lower nevertheless. She might have transferred some of the planned energy expense to her travel money because, as you mentioned, she is in dire straits.
You should be clear that you expect her to pay a portion of the utilities whatever. Or include utilities, as the majority of her rent is probably profit. I would advise not taking this situation lightly, though. Since your query was about character rather than money, I assume that the cost of the utilities you used wasn’t a hardship for you. It would be better if you and she talked about what you expect from the future.
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