I'm finding this thread really confusing, but I want to chime in on a few things.
First...I think there are lots of irrelevant details, namely this.
My boyfriend (27) is a PhD student and I'm (24) a social worker that is working with a company that's just had a major budget cut AND I have "hair on fire" student loans. I fear that I'll lose my job or experience a MASSIVE paycut come October and haven't had much luck finding a new one. I used to bartend on the side but it's winter where I am so no work left anymore there. We don't make much combined as my wage is unstable, his is low, and my freelancing side business has yet to take off. We live pretty much completely mustachian (literally no more corners to cut!). Somehow we've managed to save over 40% of our incomes but like to keep it this way and work hard at it for a reason! This could also change since yeah, I might lose my job soon.
Sorry, but how much rent you pay in a shared space is
not determined by your income, the stability of your situation, your debts, or any of the above. These are factors that YOU alone must consider before entering into a lease agreement with others, and frankly as a roommate, I would not consider these things when I'm figuring out how to split rent. It is one thing to say, "sorry, but we can't afford to be paying $X per month in rent" and for your potential roommate to offer to cover the difference (instead of trying to find a new roomie), since this is mutually beneficial. It is another to try and rationalize your portion of rent based on how much you make/how stressed your finances are, rather than the space you occupy. Similarly, job loss wouldn't be justification for not paying rent.
That being said, the amount you pay should be determined by how big your private space is (bedroom, bathroom, garage spaces) and how many occupants there are. As others have said, it should be more for a couple than a single, living in the same space. You are adding one more person to the common space and contributing to utility/internet costs.
Finally, I don't think it's good justification to say "but you used to pay less, so we're saving you $60/mo". That was their agreement; this is yours.
Anyway, I think you should only go with option #2 under the following conditions:
- You were transparent about the
total rent cost ($2200) with
all occupants,
who was living in what room, and what each person's share would be. From the description, it does sound like tacit agreement (he transferred money and didn't raise an issue with the rent portion until after the lease was signed), but if there is a severe language barrier, that may not be the case. Perhaps he thought it was $740 for the first month only? (That doesn't make much sense, but...) I encourage you to really look at this as objectively as possible. Did he know that you would
both be living there? How are the bills and groceries being split, if at all? Did he understand that everyone would be paying $740? Was anything mis-represented or misunderstood?
I do find it weird/unfair that all three rooms are paying $740, when one's the master with a private bath and twice as many occupants...but if that's what they agreed to before the lease got signed...
Anyway - meeting halfway wouldn't be the worst thing. You can stick to your guns and ask him to cough up the $740, but I would err on the side of "let's have everybody feel that this is a fair agreement" and discuss it ONCE, then stick with that amount for the remainder of the lease.