How to Split Rent with Roommates – Useful Tips

For a single person, it is too hard to afford a whole apartment, and in a city like NYC. Where rental prices are touching the sky, which seems impossible. As rents have outpaced incomes, New Yorkers prefer to share their living space.

Sharing saves money but at the same time, it also needs proper management as anything that involves money can create differences. So, how you can split the rent between roommates and make sure everyone has their fair share?

If you are scratching your head for the same reason, don’t worry, stretch your legs and give this guide a few minutes and you would be all good to split the fare with a calculator in your hand.

Splitting Rent Equally

If rooms of your apartment are of equal size and every part offers the same amenities, then you can split the rent evenly. However, in NYC you won’t find an apartment with equal-sized rooms and every room possess different amenities like an extra closet, scenic views, etc. But still, if your roommates agree that everyone’s room is the same in terms of size and amenities. You can simply divide the total rent by the number of people sharing the apartment.

Splitting Rent by Size

Another way to split rent fairly is by square footage. For this, assign a value to commonly used space in the apartment and then calculate the fare of each room according to the size.

Let’s understand the scenario with a real-world example. Suppose, you are renting a two room apartment and one room is 120 sq/ft and the other is 80 sq/ft. And we can say that we assigned a value of $300 to the common space. The formula for calculating the rent would be:

Room Rent (Total Fare – Rent of Common Area) / Combined Room Size = Price Per Square Foot

Room Rent = Price Per Square x Room Size

As per our example, the price per square foot would be $3.50 and then we will multiply PPSQ by the size of each room to get room rent. So, the rent for 120 sq/ft would be $420 and for 80 sq/ft, rent would be $280.

Now split the rent of the common area among roommates to get a final share of each individual. In our case, the rent would be $430 and $570 for both rooms.

Splitting Rent by Income

You can use income as a parameter to decide how much everyone would be paying for rent. However, this method is not very popular among roommates and friends but works well in couples.

For example, if you are earning $60,000 per year and your partner is making $40,000 annually, then you would be paying 60% of the rent and your partner would be responsible for the rest of 40%.

Splitting the Rent – Best Practices

• Your lease is in writing and does the same while splitting rent. Once everyone is on the same page, document the findings so you don’t need to renegotiate every month.
• The biggest headache while sharing an apartment is a timely payment to the landlord. Discuss with the owner, if he/she is comfortable with online payment. And if you are volunteering the entire rent, make sure you pay on time.
• If a roommate can’t afford his share, you can volunteer him/her for extra duties like managing repairs & maintenance, handling trash, etc.
• Discuss your rent sharing policy every so often just to make sure if they still think the same.

Seek Technology Help

If you don’t want to mess with the numbers, don’t worry, there are many online tools available to figure out how much rent should be divided among roommates. The tool which tops the list is the rent calculator. Just enter the figures and you are all set to go.

Don’t Forget Shared Expenses

Other than rent, an apartment has many other expenses that can be shared among roommates like cable, groceries, etc. So, also decide who will be bearing these expenses.

Don’t Hesitate with Awkward Conversation

To many people, it is awkward to discuss who owns what and who brings what. But believe me, this nasty conversation will have long-term benefits. If you follow the tips mentioned above, not only you will get rid of rent headaches but also enjoy each other’s company and build longstanding relations with your roommates.

Be realistic, sit together, and negotiate which technique covers the concerns of everyone and let your landlord know how cool you and your roommates are.

Related Article:

Living Alone or Living with the Roommate
How To Protect Yourself From Roommate Scams In NYC
Top 10 Questions to Ask Potential Roommates