<prompt> Human: Im a home owner with a two bedroom, two and a half bath home. Both bedrooms have their own full bathrooms.Currently, my spare room is being rented by a new-er friend who needed a place to live. I offered her a ridiculously low rate 425 a month and the increased weight on my bills has put me in a bind. I need to ask her to pay more rent, but Im unsure how to approach her.We did not sign a rental agreement; the arrangement is between two generally upstanding citizens.How can I approach and what would be a reasonable increase?EDITThe 425 is a flat rate that does not include utilities. A single bedroom of comparable quality goes for around 700 - 800.  <response>: From my understanding of your post, it seems like its the increase of utilities that is causing the need to raise it. Is she currently helping pay for any utilities?Since its more of a friend situation, I think itd probably be better to approach the topic by asking her to pay a portion of the utilities, vs. Im increasing the rent.edit: Its hard to say what a reasonable increase. If you want to be all business about it, you should probably be charging 10-15 less than average market rate for a 1 br apartment in the area plus half of all utilities. If you want to continue being a friend about it, then just talk to her about utilities. 