I and my 3 other roommates are resigning our lease for our apartment and have to decide which room we want. In our current apartment, I and one of my other roommates got to choose our room first and we chose the rooms furthest away from the door and the ones with a little more natural light. The other two rooms are slightly darker and again closer to the front door so there might be more noise because of that. One of my roommates who lives in one of the other rooms is hardly ever there and does not even open her curtains to use the natural light she does have but has said she wants one of our rooms (not to us but to our other roommate). At first I thought it would be fair for my other roommates to get the nicer rooms but after seeing how this semester has played out I don’t think it would be right for her to get one of the “nicer” rooms when she is never there (she works all of the time and will have a similar schedule next year). I and my other roommates are there a lot and spend a lot of time in our rooms. On the other hand, I know it is fair for them to get a turn with the nicer rooms but I’m just not sure. I also need to say the roommate also on that side said she does not care and honestly I don’t care a whole lot because I know it’s temporary but the roommate with me on the nicer side cares a lot and says she’ll be miserable if she’s in the darker rooms. I know this post is kind of all over the place and I’m sorry but how do you think this situation should be handled? Thanks so much!
Back in my day, we drew numbers for the order we chose our rooms. Just seemed more fair to have a random process.
My daughter is in a quad this year that was supposed converted from a triple. There are only three “real” closets and then an armoire. My daughter and her roommate switched this semester who had the smaller armoire so it would be fair.
IMO, harmony in the apartment trumps everything else.
You say that you know it is fair for the two who have had the “lesser” rooms to get a turn with nicer rooms, so you’ve answered your own question.
If you all pay the same rent, then it is probably fair for you to swap rooms during the year if some rooms are nicer and those with the less nice rooms want to. Her time in the apartment is not your concern and should not enter into it.
If they don’t care, why is it an issue? If everyone cares, draw straws. Do not try to force the kid who is never there into taking a ‘front’ room. If she wins, she gets to pick.
If they don’t care and you do, it there something you could offer them to make up for it? Closer parking space? More room in the kitchen?
If the one never there doesn’t care, that’s simple. Do t hy e others even want to switch, move their things?
If she is paying her fair share of the rent, then her reasons for wanting the room don’t matter. It seems as though you got one of the nice rooms last semester, she should get one of the nice rooms this semester.
You can also put a premium on those nicer rooms. Whoever bid up with higher price gets it. Otherwise it is only fair you guys take turns.
Would auctioning the rooms desired by more than one person work? I.e. have the people who desire the room bid on the room with how much each is willing to pay for the rent.
It sounds like you’re trying to justify keeping one of the “nicer” rooms!
Just number the rooms 1-4, then put the numbers 1-4 on small bits of paper. Have everyone take turns drawing a number to see which room they get. It’s that simple. You need to gather all of the roommates together, and see if they want to draw numbers.
How much time somebody spends in their room is frankly none of your business and shouldn’t be a factor in which room they get.
I lived in off campus apts for 3 years, we always did the lottery method like above. One exception: The first year, one roommate had to share, a large basement bedroom. She was the only one that had to share, everyone else got their own bedroom. So the next year, she got first choice then the rest of us did lottery. Now, the sharing worked out great for her because other basement roommate basically lived with her boyfriend, but we didn’t take that into consideration because it was unknown at the outset, and she never knew if it would change. I kind of agree that how people use their rooms shouldn’t count against them.
I feel like it seems like a big deal at first, but then you just figure it out and live with it. I always ended up in the middle, not the best room, not the worst, and sure I would wish I had the bigger rooms at time but only for like a second! I think what helped was that I really, really liked my roommates and the friendship and relationship was more important than the room.
I would let whoever had the worst room this year choose first, second worst second etc. If there are other things that folks prefer (parking spot, shelves in bathroom, etc), let those get chosen first by the last room picker (i.e., last room, first parking spot.) It sounds like it is too late to charge different rents for different rooms.
I agree with @gardenstategal
Can the rent be allocated so that the better or larger rooms pay a premium and then whoever is willing to pay gets that room? That’s what my D and her roommates did post-college. She got the room in the back with its own bathroom because she already had her masters and could afford a bit more than the others.
Otherwise, I suggest a lottery system as discussed above. Mark the rooms 1 - 4 and have everyone pick. A take on this would be to have a neutral party randomly label the doors with post-its and do the drawing away from the apartment. Then, everyone goes back and sees what they have drawn. People can trade if they want to and nobody should complain.
How much time your roommates spend in their rooms doesn’t matter. If your roommate who has one of the nicer rooms would be “miserable” in a darker room maybe your other roommates feel the same and that’s why they aren’t there much. I’d give them a turn in the nicer rooms or offer to pay for the privilege of staying in the nicer ones. If they’re that much nicer they’re worth more, right?