Two owners of triplex. One moves out. Other pays rent?

[Ivan Santacruz]

Hi BiggerPockets and fellow investors. I have been BP listener and follower for several years, however this is my first post. Currently in a predicament and not sure how to approach it. I co-own a triplex with a friend. 50/50 on everything. We both have been living in the a unit since we purchased 6 years ago. When we bought put the 20% down payment and have shared 50/50 the costs associated with property. 

One owner moves out and the unit gets rented at market rate. If the rental income from two units pay off mortgage and there is a small cash flow. Should the other owner that still lives in one unit pay rent?  no rent ? or Discounted rent , meaning a percentage of what it could rent for? 

 We made the big mistake, as many newbies like us do, to not have an initial property management agreement. 

Appreciate any insight from our BP community! Thank you in advance!

[Chris Seveney]

Quote from @Ivan Santacruz:

Hi BiggerPockets and fellow investors. I have been BP listener and follower for several years, however this is my first post. Currently in a predicament and not sure how to approach it. I co-own a triplex with a friend. 50/50 on everything. We both have been living in the a unit since we purchased 6 years ago. When we bought put the 20% down payment and have shared 50/50 the costs associated with property. 

One owner moves out and the unit gets rented at market rate. If the rental income from two units pay off mortgage and there is a small cash flow. Should the other owner that still lives in one unit pay rent?  no rent ? or Discounted rent , meaning a percentage of what it could rent for? 

 We made the big mistake, as many newbies like us do, to not have an initial property management agreement. 

Appreciate any insight from our BP community! Thank you in advance!

I assume you both were living there and not paying rent but paying whatever the bills are. Now that only one of you is living in the property this creates an uneven situation. Definitely write up an agreement ASAP but if it were me, I would have the person living in one of the units contribute X amount per month rent which is same as other tenants. The positive cash flow should then be agreed on how it is handled.