Suppose you are a staying in paying guest where the rooms are of equal size and amenities are similar. The splitting of the rent with your roommates is a walk in the park for you. The solution of exactly same rent is always to the rescue in such a case.
Now imagine that the same paying guest does not have same room size and same amenities. What will you do now? How will you split the rent?
Well, stop biting your lips in vexation because here are some ways to split the rent along with keeping any kind of quarrel between the roommates at bay.
- On the Basis of Size: You might brand this method as the dirty one but dividing the rent on the basis of square footage is quick and very much fair. In order to get the accurate breakdown, measure the size of each room and divide the same by the total size of the apartment. This will give you the percentage each room occupies. Apply the percentage to the cost of rent and there you have – your fair rent amount.
- Let Amenities be the Judge: This approach to calculating the rent between roommates is also called ‘Perks Methodology.’ Figure out what you get in your room and what your roommate gets in his. Is it a separate bathroom that your roommate rejoices? Is it the balcony that allows sunlight in your room? Is it the closet space in your roommate’s room? Or is it the shelf space of your room which is not there in that of your roommate? On the basis of amenities, pay the rent.
- Utilities will keep the Quarrel Away: As a paying guest, you’d pay differently for the utilities as compared to a resident of a rented apartment in other cities. Every place has different charges for the utilities. It is, thus, better to make utilities the basis of your rent division. How much water do you or your roommate use? What all electronic devices do you or your roommate own? Make the answers of these questions as the base and split your rent fairly.
- Allow the ‘Labour’ to do the Negotiation: It so happens that out of the two roommates, one is a couch potato and another one is a back breaker. If you fall into the former category, buckle up to pay more as compensation for all the services offered by your roomie such as cooking, cleaning, maintaining the place, etc. But if you are a part of the latter category, rejoice the apartment at a low price as compared to your roommate.
- Online Rent Calculators Will Make The Job Easy: If none of the above methods work, then there are available a plethora of online rent calculators which can make the process of rent splitting as smooth as silk. Few of these online rent calculators are splitwise.com, roomiecalc.com, spliddit.com, etc.
Let not rent be the reason behind the conflict with your roommates. Split it in a fair and transparent manner and cherish the moments of living with each other.
