Dear Abby: Relationship finances, sorta

[cereta]

DEAR ABBY: My girlfriend and I each own our homes and have about the same mortgage payment. She ends up staying with me most of the time because I live closer to where we both work.

I recently found out that she has been Airbnbing her condo a lot of the weekends when she stays with me. I feel taken advantage of even though it doesn't really affect me whether her place is empty or she's getting rent.

What is the etiquette on such an arrangement? Should I be getting a cut? I feel if I told her I wanted to stay at her place and rent out mine, she would want some of the money. -- WEEKEND ROOMIES

DEAR WEEKEND ROOMIES: There is no rule of etiquette governing whether you're entitled to some of the income she receives from renting out her place while she's visiting you. Discuss this with your entrepreneurial girlfriend and see how she feels about sharing the wealth. Her reaction will give insight into her character.

Comments

[kaberett]

Yeah -- though equally, I'd sort of expect it to depend a bit on whether they have an existing income disparity, and of course how much of the housework she's ending up doing for him*...

* ... pronoun isn't specified, but.

[kaberett]

(Like: I'm currently not in a position to pay the partner I'm spending a lot of time with rent/utilities. When a benefits back payment comes in, I will pay them for both -- but equally, exactly how we end up dividing things is going to take into account the fact that I do most of the cooking and a lot of the housework.)

[ambyr]

Thank you for reminding me that pronoun isn't specified! I should be more careful about my gendered assumptions.

[vass]

This, yes.