Please Settle This,
Let me paint you a picture.
My roommate Priya’s room has a walk-in closet, a private bathroom with a double sink, and a bay window where she keeps eleven plants and a reading chair. I have seen the reading chair. It is velvet.
My room fits a full-size bed and one dresser, if I open the dresser drawers one at a time. My window looks directly at the brick wall of the building next door. I share the hall bathroom with every guest who has ever come over.
We each pay $1,150 a month.
When we signed the lease last year, Priya found the apartment and I was desperate. Her old roommate had backed out, my lease was ending in two weeks, and she said, "We will just split it evenly, it is easier." I said yes before I even saw the rooms. That part is on me.
But it has been a year now. I did the math, because of course I did. Her room is about 60% of the bedroom space. And the bathroom. I asked if we could adjust it for the new lease, maybe $1,250 for her and $1,050 for me.
She was quiet for a second, then said, "We agreed on even. I literally found this place. I did all the work." Then she went into her room, and I swear I heard the velvet chair creak.
She is not wrong that she found the place. She handled the landlord, the application, all of it. But I still feel like I am paying for a bathroom I am not allowed to use.
Am I wrong for asking? Or did I give up the right when I said yes to even?
Signed,
Living in the Closet
Letters are written by NowSettled from the disputes people search for. Names and details are made up.
