‘Greedy’ young man slammed for charging his housemates more rent to work from home but others claim he’s right to make them pay

A young man has come under fire online after asking how much extra rent he should pay his housemate to regularly work from home – but others backed him up, pointing out that those who work from home are a “nuisance”.

The tenant, from Sydney’s inner west, explained that his housemate would have to work from the common areas as his bedroom is too small for a desk.

He claims it is only fair to pay him for the space as he would effectively be ‘off limits’ while his housemate is on the clock.

‘What sort of rent arrangement would be fair? Eager to know what other shared houses are doing,” he writes in the post that immediately went viral.

Dozens of people appeared shocked by the question and said it was ‘crazy’ and ‘greedy’ to even consider raising someone’s rent for using communal space’, adding that ‘single bedrooms’ already cost up to $300 in week in Sydney.

People in shared homes are fed up with their friends working from home and start demanding that they pay more rent for the privilege.

‘Have we lost our humanity? What next… They pay extra rent if they come home at 3 in the morning once a month,” asked one woman.

‘This must be a joke. How do you split your bills? Do you take a shower? Monitor there electricity use, how long do they use the stove and how much storage do they take up in the fridge and how many cycles or washes do they do? I can’t believe you have housemates who would actually put up with you and live with you,” said one woman.

Adding: ‘They pay the rent – that’s the whole apartment. Not to be forced to live, eat, breathe, work from home in their room to please you,” said one woman.

A third joked: “The rent is 270 a week, there is an extra charge for using the kitchen during peak hours and we have a timer in the bathroom in case you take too long a break during working hours.”

But the young man continued to defend his question – noting that one person works from home – but pays more for the master bedroom so they have enough space.

He also explained that working from residential areas during the day would definitely drive other people away and stop them from being able to ‘watch Netflix’.

“Everyone is at home some days of the week, some people have desks in their rooms, some people work nights or hospo, so the day is their free time. I think working from the living room takes away from the comfort of the place, he said.

Some people supported it and said that charging more for people who work from home should become the norm.

“If someone is working 40 hours a week from their living room, I would assume that it would not be able to be used by people as it would normally be during that time. Want to have 3 friends over and hang out in the living room? We’re sorry someone is working there,” said one man.

“The communal space must be shared. If one person is using that space 40 hours a week preventing others from using it as needed, then it is no longer shared. It’s very easy. “Just think how you would feel if you suddenly can’t leave your room when you need to make lunch because that person is on a private work call in the kitchen,” one woman added.

A third added: “I’ve also had housing situations that have become very suffocating because people were WFH probably more than I expected. Plus, it’s a bit annoying to pay equal bills and such when the usage is likely to do not be equal.’

Another man said he had a similar situation where two housemates set up tables in living areas and ‘declared them off limits’. But he added that they left not long after that.