How to Split the Rent Fairly Amongst Your Roommates

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How to Split the Rent Fairly Amongst Your Roommates

Staff Writer · Feb 5, 2010

One of the first things you need to decide when you share a space with one or more people is how you are going to split the rent. There’s really no right or wrong way to do it. You all have to collectively decide what works best for your living situation. Since rent is a pretty straight forward subject, it’s not as likely to lead to arguments later on (compared to noise level, cleanliness and other common roommate issues). Consider the following as you begin calculating how much each individual will pay.

Keeping It Simple May or May Not be Fair

It’s not uncommon for roommates to simply split the cost of rent right down the middle even if one person inhabits the larger bedroom or has access to an individual bathroom. If you’re the type of person who isn’t a stickler for “fairness” and generally doesn’t give much thought to the details, splitting the rent right down the middle is probably your best option. However, if you want to keep things as fair as possible, it’s probably best to negotiate a lesser rent amount for the individual who ends up with the smaller bedroom.

Especially in cases where one roommate gets his or her own room and the other two have to share (or one person has to sleep in a common area), rent should always be divided so that the person with the non-shared bedroom pays more than the other people in the apartment. While other scenarios can be handled on a case by case basis, this is the one situation where a rent scale is truly only fair.

Determining the Price Each Roommate Pays

Again, there’s really no right or wrong way to do this and most of the outcome will depend on what seems fair to you and your roommates. As a general guideline, however, a roommate living in the master or larger bedroom typically pays anywhere from $25 to $100 more for his or her share of rent. Having a separate bathroom is a great luxury in a roommate situation, and you may want to negotiate a similar rent scale when one person has his or her own bathroom and the others don’t.

Understanding Situations Where All Rent Should Be Equal

For the most part, situations where one person has more space or amenities in the apartment are really the only situations where you want to divide the rent unequally. Don’t negotiate if one person offers to pay all of the utilities in exchange for a lower rent–it could lead to trouble down the road if the utilities aren’t being paid on time or at all.

Also, never charge one roommate more or less depending on how much time he or she spends in the apartment. You pay rent for the space-not for the time you spend inside of it. There shouldn’t be any variance.

Splitting rent fairly among your roommates isn’t a difficult task. Sit down and discuss what you all think is fair to ensure the best possible arrangement.

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