Sign up bonuses between tenants or not?

cormie

A friend recently went from being leaseholder on a house that they and two others were renting, to getting their own place and the two others moved into the new place too as it was just around the corner.

My friends name was on all the bills etc and of course, in the new place all bills are in their name too.

They would always divide the bills in 3, and I guess the responsibility was always on them, as it was their name on the bills, as it is now too given they are the owner, but they have gotten a sign up bonus for a utility bill in the new house, reducing the bill by more than 50%.

I was thinking initially that of course they should charge the tenants the full bill divided by 3, that it's the usage they should be paying for and the sign up bonus is for them as it's all their responsibility, the tenants could move out at any stage etc. Then I was thinking that in the situation before, where they were a leaseholder and not the owner, that it wouldn't be so fair if they switched provider for a bonus for example and didn't split it with the others.

What do ya'll think?

I found myself in charge of bills in my previous place, most were in the LLs name except the water but I always paid them and gathered the money of the others.

When the 100 euro from Irish water was given out I kept it all (even though the water bills were divided equally) as payment for the work I put in every month looking after the bills in the house. Of course I didn't tell the others in the house anything about the rebate either but I think it was justified.

I'd probably be inclined to keep it in your friends case also unless the people I was living with were good friends.