Roommate arranged a sublease without our input, now wants us to cover the gap he created — are we wrong?
Some background: my two roommates and I couldn't agree on how to split rent based on room size earlier in the year, so we compromised by splitting rent equally three ways (~$1,117/month each) and rotating who gets the single room each quarter. Total rent is $3,350/month.
My roommate (let's call him X) arranged a sublease for his room while he's away for a summer internship. He chose the tenant, set the terms, and picked an end date of August 15 — none of which he ran by me or my other roommate beforehand. He didn't even send us the sublease contract until June 14th, after everything was already signed. He subleased the single room for $1,650/month — significantly more than his $1,117 share — meaning he's profiting off the arrangement.
In June, me and my other roommate each paid a full third of the rent despite only occupying the double room. Our understanding was that by overpaying in June, we'd effectively be paying the double room rate for July and August, with the June overpayment covering the difference. X is now saying that since he won't be physically present those two weeks, it's not his responsibility to cover his share of rent — and that since we have access to the single room during that time, we're essentially getting a bonus and should pay for it. We never asked for the single room. It's vacant because he left and chose an end date that didn't cover the full lease period. Having access to an empty room we're not using isn't a perk.
To top it off, me and my other roommate physically moved all of his belongings into the single (since my other roommate was finishing out his quarter with the single) to facilitate the sublease after he left. We'll have to do it again when the sublease tenant moves out. Despite this, he keeps framing the situation as him "subsidizing our rent" and doing us a favor.
He's been asking his friends and they all agree with him. Curious what strangers on the internet think.
Are we wrong?