My roommate and I were best friends and had a bad falling out last week. She no longer wants to be friends or live together. This was a mutual falling out. She wants to break the lease with five months left, and move out. I would rather not move, and don’t mind if we continue to live together. We each pay $1,000 a month.
For many reasons, I would prefer to stay in the current apartment. I do not think it’s fair I should suddenly cover her rent and pay $2,000 a month just because she decided to move out.
She says that she wants to find someone to sublet her room, but our lease doesn’t allow for it, and I do not want to live with a random stranger. She says she wants to ask the landlord to see if she can rent her room. I just do not want to entertain the idea.
She says then maybe I can pay half her rent. Or my option is to move out. She says I am being unfair and unwilling to compromise.
I said I don’t understand why I should worry about being fair when she is the one who decided she needed to move after our bad falling out. I didn’t make this choice. She then said I DID make a choice by deciding to stay and not break the lease, so now I have to help find a compromise since my decision is screwing her over financially.
I am trying hard to see her perspective, and to understand if it is reasonable for me to compromise. I really don’t want to move and break the lease (which would also be costly) when it makes no logistical sense for me to do so.
Is this a situation where I am expected to try to reach a compromise, because I decided to stay put? Or should she be held responsible because she decided to move? I just am unsure of the social expectations and what would be acceptable or fair.