AskImamDarul Iftaa Mahmudiyyah (AskImam)

Is it permissible for my roommate to charge me 60% of our monthly rent.

· 14 Rabiʻ II 1433 AH1 min readFatwa 19809English
Finance and Commerce

Question

My roommate is making me pay 60% of the rent. Before me, he shared the room’s rent equally with the previous roommate. Just because he was in the room before me does not justify him to pay less. I think in Islamic point of view its haram, as the room rent should be shared equally among the two of us. Please advise and Jazakallah Khair.

Answer

In the Name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.

As-salāmu ‘alaykum wa-rahmatullāhi wa-barakātuh.

In order for us to issue a ruling kindly elaborate on the following;

1) Who is the official tenant?

2) Does the tenant have a right to include anyone in his room?

3) Do you have any recourse to the landlord?

4) Did you approach your roommate on the issue?

And Allah Ta’āla Knows Best

Mawlana Ali bin Cassim

Student Darul Iftaa

Los Angeles, CA (USA)

Checked and Approved by,

Mufti Ebrahim Desai.

www.daruliftaa.net

Answered by
Mawlana Ali bin Cassim
Checked & approved by
Mufti Ebrahim Desai
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