Fair way to split rent -- roommate moving in earlier than me

[ceczar]

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seriously, do you really believe that if friends agreed to figure out a fair arrangement at a later date, then the fact that they signed a lease changes that expectation?

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So sorry, I must have missed the part of the story where they made an agreement like that.

The way I read it, OP went and signed a lease with his friend, and then called up afterwards saying, "I don't have to pay for the first month, right?"

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Beforehand we knew that we had different start dates and that it would be a problem needing addressing in terms of rent splitting rent. That is, we both acknowledged that rent would need adjusting for this period. No solution jumped into mind, so we just kept looking for places. Now that it's locked down we need to decide.

Yes I signed a lease, but I signed it now instead of a month from now for my roommate's sake. If I refused to sign for a month, he'd either have to find temp housing for a month or we'd both have to find roommates in a city across the country, which wouldn't be as cool as roomming with a college friend.

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i think it's pretty clear that they agreed to figure out a fair way to split it in the future. if they didn't, and the roommate didn't know he was going to have to pay at least for some of OP's rent, then it would be unreasonable to bring it up after the lease is signed. but it definitely sounds like they did at least talk about it beforehand.

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First person is bearing half the cost. Remember OP said "We aren't friends so much as classmates". Try pulling this stunt on someone you didn't know from college and see where it gets you. Should this be any different?

In any case, the lease start date is on the rental agreement. So what if OP's work start date is different. Happens all the time. Welcome to life after college.

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first person isn't bearing any of the cost if OP pays his half in the first month. the "cost" isn't the full lease, it's having the unused room that they still have to pay for.

if they had figured this out before signing the lease, they almost certainly would have either agreed to a 3/4:1/4 split or lived separately. they could have been proactive and found a subletter too, but that's potentially hard to setup when you don't live in the city until your lease starts. when they agreed to move in together neither had any leverage advantage for negotiating, and as friends they shouldn't let the legal document prevent them from negotiating as equals, as they were when they started this arrangement

[McShove]

this thread is pretty hilarious. just pay your half dude. seriously its not much money.

[Khabbi]

Did you guys ever decide on an agreeable arrangement?