Is a higher rent share fair when my flatmate uses the dining room as an office?
Housing"If I pay extra, does that make the room mine after six as well?" my flatmate asked when I suggested changing our rent split. That wasn't what I meant, but I could see why she'd heard it that way.
We rent a two-bedroom flat for $1,800 and pay $900 each. Our bedrooms are about the same size. When we moved in, we both worked elsewhere. Her job has since become fully remote, and the dining table now holds two monitors from nine until five. On the two weekdays when I come home for lunch, I eat in my bedroom because she's on calls. She clears the table for dinner and says she's trying to keep the inconvenience contained.
I proposed $1,020 for her and $780 for me. She says that changes a deal she budgeted around, and offered to buy a folding desk for her bedroom instead. It would fit, though she'd have to rearrange her wardrobe. I said the bigger payment would make me less resentful; she asked whether I'd still want her to move the calls when I got home.
I probably would. Is there a fair rent adjustment here, or am I trying to price a loss of shared space that money won't actually fix?