How to split rent between four people?

Selik

Ok so in a few weeks I'll be moving into an apt/house with some friends.

There's me, my best mate and two girls, one of whom is his girlfriend so we are going to be getting a 3 bed place. We're aiming to get a place pretty much in the city centre or in very close proximity so the rent is looking like it's gonna be around €2k per month.

So now to the issue, what's the best and most fair way to split this rent? For the sake of the argument I'm gonnna assume that all the bedrooms in our prospective place are the same size. A friend of mine is living in London with his girlfriend in an apartment there with one other lad in 2 bed place and they all pay £500 each a month - which splits the total rent three ways. Would this be fair to do in our case? I have no previous experience renting with people in this country incidentally. Some peeps have said that for everyone to pay €500 would be unfair but others have said different again so I'm just not sure! There's obviously two sides to the argument. Because we're all friends I don't think it's gonnna be an issue and we'll work things out but I am curious as to what others might think etc....

Thanks in advance for any replies!

the_syco

If two of ye pay €666, and the two sharing the one room pay only €333 each, there may be friction, and/or resentment, so splitting it on a per person basis may be better.

Also, have you lived with your friends before? If not, then you may get a shock, as sometimes people tend to take the friendship thing for granted, in regards to bills, etc.

KdjaCL

Split 4 ways, regardless of couples or bed sharing arrangements.

If the couple say they only have one room, offer to get a 4 bed house.


kdjac

Selik

KdjaCL wrote:

Split 4 ways, regardless of couples or bed sharing arrangements.

If the couple say they only have one room, offer to get a 4 bed house.


kdjac

Is this the way it's normally done then?

4 bed not really an option as we wanna live in the city and max we could afford between us is €2k per month.

I was thinking that if the rooms were identical and maybe I or the other girl had an ensuite the rent could be split as follows (assuming €2k a month):

Me - room 1 (ie ensuite) €540
Girl - room 2 - €510
Mate and girlfriend in room 3 - €950 between them

seamus

That seems pretty reasonable Giles. A 3 way split would be fair if there was nothing but bedrooms, but the fact that you will have to share the kitchen and living area with 3 others means that the guy and his girlfriend have to pay a fair share, and not just the amount that one person would pay.

Selik

seamus wrote:

That seems pretty reasonable Giles. A 3 way split would be fair if there was nothing but bedrooms, but the fact that you will have to share the kitchen and living area with 3 others means that the guy and his girlfriend have to pay a fair share, and not just the amount that one person would pay.

Yeah, in fairness it's not like it's been or even will be an issue. Just good to know what the general done thing is....

Still keen to hear others opinions on this...

Sponge Bob

well judged Giles, /me agrees totally. Box room is cheapest usually.

turbot

If you want to be fussy about it, then you could:

Measure the bedrooms
Measure the rest of the apartment

Charge rent on the square footage of the bedrooms per person staying in it.
Split the rent on the rest of the place 4 ways.

Thus, if you have a 1000 sq foot 3 bedroom place, and there are three equal size rooms of 180 sq foot, and 460 for the rest, and the rent is 2k / mo, you could charge 2 per square foot per month, equalling:

Single Person 1: (180 + 115) * 2 = 590

Single Person 2: (180 + 115) * 2 = 590

Couple: balance split in half = 460 each.

jesus_thats_gre

People sharing a room do not split the rent between them. For example, 3 friends are living in a 2 bedroom house, 1 single room and 1 double room with a couple. They split the rent 3 ways equally on the logic that they share the majority of the house equally.

Selik

turbot wrote:

If you want to be fussy about it, then you could:

Measure the bedrooms
Measure the rest of the apartment

Charge rent on the square footage of the bedrooms per person staying in it.
Split the rent on the rest of the place 4 ways.

Thus, if you have a 1000 sq foot 3 bedroom place, and there are three equal size rooms of 180 sq foot, and 460 for the rest, and the rent is 2k / mo, you could charge 2 per square foot per month, equalling:

Single Person 1: (180 + 115) * 2 = 590

Single Person 2: (180 + 115) * 2 = 590

Couple: balance split in half = 460 each.

Haha that's probably a tad over the top and unnecessary as we're all mates n stuff... but I'll bear the tip in mind if I ever live with complete strangers and things start getting hairy!!!

There's so many factors to consider in a situation like this but at the end of the day we all have to share the same house and common areas so I think that there should deffo not be a difference of more than around €80 a month between any of us.

Victor

Equitable Houseshare

aniascor

Giles wrote:

Me - room 1 (ie ensuite) €540
Girl - room 2 - €510
Mate and girlfriend in room 3 - €950 between them

I would say it would be better to give the room with the ensuite to the couple, since that it usually the biggest room. And then that makes up for the fact that their room costs so much more.

Otherwise it seems pretty fair. Paying an equal amount per room is unfair on the two singles, and paying an equal amount per person is unfair on the couple, so the way you have proposed is a nice compromise.

By the way 2K for the apartment is very expensive. Up to three months ago, myself, my boyfriend, and two others were sharing a three-bed apartment in Smithfield (one of the new ones) and only paying 1750 a month. And that apartment was as nice as you are going to get in the city centre. As far as I know when we moved out, the rent only went up to 1850. And that included a parking space. So I'd look around a bit more for a better price than 2000.

BTW - all bills should be split equally, regardless of how you decide to split the rent. That's always worked for me in the past.

jdivision

turbot wrote:

If you want to be fussy about it, then you could:

Measure the bedrooms
Measure the rest of the apartment

Charge rent on the square footage of the bedrooms per person staying in it.
Split the rent on the rest of the place 4 ways.

Thus, if you have a 1000 sq foot 3 bedroom place, and there are three equal size rooms of 180 sq foot, and 460 for the rest, and the rent is 2k / mo, you could charge 2 per square foot per month, equalling:

Single Person 1: (180 + 115) * 2 = 590

Single Person 2: (180 + 115) * 2 = 590

Couple: balance split in half = 460 each.

This is actually the standard way of doing it on the continent. However, here a scenario like the OP posted of a bit more for the en suite room etc is more common.

Stinkerbelle

I think the couple should definitely have the room with the en suite!

Selik

Stinkerbelle wrote:

I think the couple should definitely have the room with the en suite!

Yeah maybe, thing is I'm prepared to pay a little extra for it. Also, I'm moving out of a 1 bed apt that I live in on my own and have done for years so it will quite an adjustment for me. More so than the couple as they're both moving outta their parents' respective gaffs.

We'll deffo split it all evenly I'd imagine if they have an ensuite...

aniascor

Actually, I disagree with you here about splitting it evenly if they get the ensuite. The ensuite is a smaller bathroom in almost all apartments. It makes sense for the couple to get it so that there are two people per bathroom, but it doesn't really make things even...

Blush_01

From the point of view of someone who once shared a four bedroom, one bathroom house with two couples (unexpectedly), I was a bit miffed when I was paying the same rent as a couple. I didn't expect them to pay an equal share, i.e. split the rent 6 ways, but I did expect that they should have paid more than I did for my room, since they had an equal share of household storage space, bathroom facilities etc. Also, it's hard to live with a couple because arguments and fights (or, worst of all, break-ups) mean that they go from happily sharing a bedroom to trying to get away from eachother while living in the same house, making things awkward for everyone.

Also, have your friends who're moving out of Mammy and Daddy's place ever lived away from home before, even in the past (god help them if they haven't!)? If not, be prepared for a big culture shock for them. And do not, under any curcumstances, make financial allowances for eachother. Be responsible for bills etc. yourselves - you'll be used to that, but they might not be - and don't let anyone "pay you back" or whatever. It only leads to hassle, or one of you being out of pocket and resenting it. Neither a lender nor a borrower be. It's the quickest way to ruin a friendship.

They may be your best mates in the world, but you never really know someone until you live with them. Although you might be friends, that doesn't mean you should ever live together. If it's not working out, don't just put up and shut up. Moving on, or them moving on will be best for everyone in order to preserve your friendship.

Finally, we always had an arrangement that if someone was moving out, they paid the rent for their room until the room was filled. It was never a problem, as the room was always rented on time, but that also meant that nobody was left holding the baby for someone else. It gave the person moving out an incentive to advertise their room in good time, and meant that everyone was financially secure. In the event of that happening, be sure to get references from the new people - both previous landlord(s) AND work. People may claim to be employed, but if rent day comes and they can't pay, you're all up sh*t creek without a paddle.

Victor

aniascor wrote:

Actually, I disagree with you here about splitting it evenly if they get the ensuite. The ensuite is a smaller bathroom in almost all apartments. It makes sense for the couple to get it so that there are two people per bathroom, but it doesn't really make things even...

I don't agree.

The en-suite tends to only get used by whoever 'owns' it and the common bathroom gets used by everyone + guests.

gagalina

This is actually quite interesting. What do you think about my scenario. I live in a 3 bedroom house. Rent is 1000.
My bf moved in a few months ago, which meant that we were paying rent for two rooms. Which was fine for us, as we had lots of room ;-)

Now, next week the landlords sister is moving in, which means that me and the bf are "loosing" one of the bedrooms that we used to have (the small room) and now have all our belongs crammed in my old room - it is the biggest room in the house, but it is still an inconvenience for us - we were going to use the second bedroom as a pc and storage room, but now there isn't room in our big room to even put in a pc table.
So for the moment, I calculated the following:

big room = 420 euro (210 each)
med room = 300
small room = 280

Does that sound fair?

I know a lot of people have written that the rent should be split by the number of people in the house, but this house was not designed for four people and is a big of an inconvenience for us....


Gagalina