Who goes in the box room?

8 of us are moving into a shared house in July, but we've still not yet decided on who gets the box room. Most think they have their rooms sorted, and think it's gonna be one of us 4 left to have it.

Originally some people wanted this guy to have to have it because he has less stuff than the rest of us, but I said that was unfair forcing someone into a room they didn't want. As no-one wanted the box room I came up with what i though was a good solution.

As the person in the box rooms pays he same amount of rent, I suggested everyone in the other rooms gave £1 a week to the person in the box room (making their rents £1 more a week, but the person in the box rooms' £7 less a week). If we didn't have this I can see us picking names out of the hat which is not fair on anyone, plus I genuinely think they should have cheaper rent, regardless who's in it!

Everyone actually thought that was a good idea at the meeting and me and this other girl have even said we would strongly consider having the box room if that were the case. However this other girl was talking to me the other day and said how she wants to go look at the room as she's unsure whether £1 a week is too much as the attic rooms are just as small (you can walk around in the attic rooms, the box room is just a bd as soon as you walk in).

Do you guys think that £1 a week thing is fair?

Reply 1

SophieSmall

If the room is significantly smaller than all the other rooms then yes I think cheapening the rent is fair. I'd be a bit annoyed to be paying as much rent as everyone else in the house if my room was significantly smaller.

Reply 2

TattyBoJangles

Splitting the rent is fair, IMO, if it's significantly smaller.

My friends and I are doing something similar. Rent is £430/month each, paid by direct debit, but the person in the biggest room (by far) is giving the person in the smallest room (which is pretty tiny) £20/month.
For us, deciding who got which room was fairly easy as someone was prepared to pay the extra £20/month and another housemate would rather save £20/month than have a larger room.

£1 a week per housemate is nothing, particularly if it is as it sounds and you can only fit a bed in there..