How to split rent fairly between housemates

Split rent equally when the rooms are roughly the same; split it by room when one room is clearly better, by agreeing what the premium is worth in dollars before anyone moves in. The fairest quick method is to price the differences, not the rooms: decide the master with the ensuite is worth $40 a week more than the others, subtract that from the total, split the remainder evenly, and add the premium back to the big room.

Updated 2026-08-23.

When should rent be split equally?

When nobody would swap rooms for money. If the rooms are similar in size and light and the house shares everything else, equal is right and anything cleverer creates arguments that cost more than the dollars involved.

Method one: price the premium

Agree a dollar figure for each advantage: ensuite, extra size, balcony, a second window. Say the house is $900 a week across three rooms and the master is worth $60 more. Remove $60 from the total (leaving $840), split that three ways ($280 each), then add the premium back: $340 for the master, $280 for the other two.

Method two: by floor area

Measure the rooms and split rent in proportion to square metres. A 16 m² room against two 12 m² rooms on a $900 week: 16/40 of $900 is $360, each 12/40 room is $270. Clean, but it ignores quality and treats a cold south-facing room the same as a sunny one.

Method three: the envy-free auction

Everyone writes down what each room is worth to them, with their bids adding to the total rent. Assign rooms so that nobody prefers someone else’s room at its price. This is the fairest method in theory and the most effort in practice; it works well for four or more people who do not know each other yet.

What about couples?

A couple in one room pays more than a single in the same room, because they use more of the shared house. A common split is the room price plus half again, or simply treating the couple as two people on the utilities and one and a half on rent.

Keeping it fair after move-in

Rent is usually paid to the landlord directly, so it stays off the household ledger. What goes on the ledger is everything else: bills, shared groceries, the gas bottle. Settle those monthly.

Start a ledger