My housemates bought a tv
I told them I don't watch tv
But we split all costs so now i owe them like $160 for something I never intend to use
Is that fair? Should I just suck it up?
My housemates bought a tv. I told them I don't watch tv
Falling into your wing while paragliding is called 'gift wrapping' and turns you into a dirt torpedo pic.twitter.com/oQFKsVISkI
— Mental Videos (@MentalVids) March 15, 2023
Never sit costs with rooommates on anything other than rent. Let’s say you pay this $160, who gets the TV in a year or two when you all go your own separate ways?
we're going to reselll everything at the end. we're all living temporarily in a foreign country for 2 years.
they did consult me, i said i 'well i don't really watch tv' and whenever they're watching tv, i just sit in my room and read.
its not a snobbish thing, i just haven't had a tv for the last ten years and i'm not really that interested in watching sports or trash tv like they are.
i bought a bbq. i asked if they thought it should be split, given that i would be the primary user of it and they said it should be.
from there every large 'communal' purchase been split with the intention to sell on at the end of the three years.
if they split the grill, then you split the tv. case closed. anything else is israeliteery
yes but i only split the grill because they said they wanted to split everything, i was very happy to buy the grill myself.
in fact, the fact they said 'just split it' means that i ended up paying more because there was way less incentive to haggle.
it also means im now on the hook for whatever superfluous crap they want to buy.
also they owe me like $30 for the grill
you shouldn't have started to the split arrangement. this is on you. go back to israel and quit trying to justify fucking over your roommates.
i didn't start the split arrangement. it started because there were some common purchases we needed to make for the house that were only fair for us to split - eg one of the rooms didnt have a bed, so it was only fair for us to all buy the third bed so that the third person had a place to sleep.
from there my housemate has just insisted on splitting absolutely everything.
for example, when i was shopping for a grill, he mentioned that we should split it (and therefore we can spend a bit more).
>one of the rooms didnt have a bed, so it was only fair for us to all buy the third bed so that the third person had a place to sleep.
How is that fair? It's a nice gesture if you guys are friends, but "fair" would be the person with no bed somehow getting their own bed.
>from there my housemate has just insisted on splitting absolutely everything.
Your housemate sounds like they're taking advantage of you.
>only fair for us to split - eg one of the rooms didnt have a bed, so it was only fair for us to all buy the third bed so that the third person had a place to sleep.
This makes absolutely no sense. People furnish their own bedrooms in a shared space or the landlord does. If it's three of you renting a house the idea that two of you would subsidize 2/3 of your roommates bed is really silly. It's also silly because when you all move out what are you going to do sell a used bed and divide it three ways? Is he going to pay you two thirds when it's no longer part of the house and he takes it to the place he lives next? Is it going to remain as Furniture because it belongs to the house?
the landlord only provided two beds because the landlord is not a landlord but just a random guy who was living in the house beforehand.
we intend to sell everything at the end of the three years because we are only temporarily living in a foreign country. if one of us stays on in the country they would be expected to buy out the shared purchases to keep them.
If paying up for something you're not going to be a big user of is part of the existing deal, you should probably just eat this one and move on.
If you're not up for that arrangement, you need to be clear about it before any more big purchases arise.
If your roommates are decent people then this arrangement will likely be fine, however I would strongly advise stopping this practice ASAP.
they are decent people and it makes sense to split the costs and then split the money we claw back by reselling stuff.
the tv is just a painful one because i get virtually no benefit from that money i just spent.
Then use it sometimes dipshit its just a tv
You could tell your roomates to sit down and re-arrange the splitting costs deal into a more detailed version.
What happens when you say yes and pay the 160 and next week they buy a videogames console? Then they buy a sofa to go with the tv and gaming console, and a mini fridge to have next to the sofa?
Do you get a % of the TV when you leave? How does that work? That's retarded to split shit like that that way. That works for food and bills, but not shit like tv or a console. They are idiots lol
Touch call. If you split the cost of this that could lead to splitting more costs, which leads to a very unharmonious household. On the other hand, $160 is probably not insignificant if you're in a situation where you're sharing a house and splitting all the costs.
The real issue is that they made a big purchase without consulting you, then expecting you to pay that much money. If it were me, I'd probably eat this one in the interest of keeping the peace, but make sure they all know that if they make a big purchase again and don't consult with you, they're on their own.
Also yeah, don't split costs outside of bills and rent. Sorting out who gets what when someone leaves is a minefield.
>Also yeah, don't split costs outside of bills and rent. Sorting out who gets what when someone leaves is a minefield.
This.
Say you'll get the beer for the next month instead and buy a few cases of cheap shit.
>now i owe them like $160
no you fucking don't, they decided to buy the damn thing if they don't have the money they shouldn't buy it
Don't, you're setting yourself up for future financial pain
why?
Your roommates bought something knowing that you probably won't use it but will chip because they see you as a push over. This will spill into future purchases, they asked now but in the future they'll start buying things for "the house" and start billing you your part of it without consent. It'll trickle down into every interaction as well but I'm not trying to write an essay on it.
Tldr: You didnt want the tv, keep a firm stand and dont pay
Unless there's some sort of legal agreement binding you to split the costs of everything that they buy for the household even without your consent, then you don't owe them any money. It's not fair. Accost splitting agreement would be for something like the telephone bill or the electricity bill. What do you mean you split all costs? Like if two of them decide to order pizza you have to pay for the pizza too?
no we split all costs pertaining to the house. for example having a tv or a bbq pertains to the functionality of the house.
Is this a legal agreement or an unenforceable gentleman's agreement? The idea that people would be roommates and the two of them can buy a $10,000 stereo or whatever and you're on the hook for a third of that doesn't seem reasonable to me. What's the method for deciding whether an expense pertains to the house or not? It sounds like the two of them bought a TV which they'll be putting in a common area of the house. This sounds like you're being taken advantage of.
i mean what's worse is the guy who bought it also bought an ostentatiously large tv too. I'm sitting and waiting to see if he charges me for having whatever satelitte/netflix or whatever subscription.
>I'm sitting and waiting to see if he charges me for having whatever satelitte/netflix or whatever subscription.
This is why I'm asking if it is a legal agreement that is enforceable. Can he evict you if you decide not to play ball? I mean you want to maintain good relations with your roommates but if you didn't want to TV there's no reason you should subsidize it. Are you living in a shared space where one of your other roommates is the tenant and you all sublease from him or something? Are you month to month? I think you should probably just say I don't want to pay for this I don't want a tv, and see what he does. I mean then you have to avoid using it but if that's not going to be a problem for you I don't see the issue. It sounds like you either have a very weird rental contract or this is just an unenforceable agreement. But if you share bathroom and kitchen in many places you're not considered a tenant and so you don't tend to have protection from eviction, though this will vary from place to place. But you really don't want to get into a situation with roommates where you're relying on residential tenancy law.
Are you and your roommates huwhite? If so, you can always come to an understanding.