Outstanding Bill, should i pay?

How much should I pay my roommate on the phone bill?

• I live with 2 others, an elderly woman who buys all the food, pays all the bills because it is her home, and her son who pays for nothing but does odds and ends for her like paint the garage or something. I agreed to rent a room for X amount, and pay my internet portion of the phone bill, this woman has had the same phone number for many years and always pay her own phone bill, but now thinks I should pay her phone bill too on top of paying for the internet. This month the bill was $100 my portion is $50 for my internet. Her son uses the internet daily also but pays none because he is her son and does other jobs for her. I dont mind paying my portion but now she wants me to pay the whole bill, in otherwords pay for her home phone which I never use. But she does pay for everything else like food and electricty and virtually everything but I never agreed to pay for someones phone bill. I do my share around the house sweep, mop, dishes and anything and everything else when needed.

• Answer:

  If you have a written agreement (such as a lease) regarding your tenancy and that current agreement does not include these phone charges, but you think it is something that would be fair for you to start paying, I would suggest you amend the agreement to include these charges (as the overall deal seems like a good one for you). This would also set a precedent for you that you will do the same for any possible future charges she would want you to start paying. And if you don't want to pay such future charges, you can always refer to the lease that says you don't have to. If you don't have a written agreement, and paying these charges does not add much of a burden, you may want to tell her that you will start paying the charges, but you need to get into a written agreement (lease) that outlines your responsibilities. If entering a written agreement is not going to happen, you will have to judge accordingly what you can do and what is fair. If this is a minor expense for your, you may want to go ahead and assume it, so as not to rock the boat (you seem to admit yourself this is at least a pretty good deal for you). Regardless of how good your relationship is now, however, I really recommend a written agreement. If paying the additional phone charge is too expensive for you, and you don't have a lease, you probably need to sit down and talk with her to let her know the situation.