Splitting Rent & Expenses with Housemates

30 Oct 2019
Jon Byrne

Moving in with housemates can be great fun. You have people to chat with after a long day at work, and there are people to share the cost of rent and household bills with throughout your tenancy. Before you move in with housemates, however, you need to make sure everyone is on the same page about splitting rent and bills. How the costs are split will vary depending on the property and what kind of arrangements you have with your housemates on things like electricity usage. Here are the things you need to talk about when you're splitting rent and expenses with your housemates.

Work out How Much Rent Each Person Will Pay
Working out how much rent each housemate needs to pay will vary based on how the property is set up and which housemate has particular bedrooms and access to amenities. For example, the master bedroom with an ensuite is going to be more expensive than one of the smaller bedrooms with a shared bathroom. If there's only one garage space, however, you may choose to let the housemate with the smaller room park their car in the garage. In this case, you may agree on paying equal rent. This all depends on the property and the facilities that each housemate will access.

Discuss the Bills
It's hard to track individual usage of utilities in a property. This is why most housemates will agree to split bills such as electricity and the internet evenly. Before you decide to split everything evenly, however, make sure you have a conversation with your housemates about their usage. For example, if one of the bedrooms in your place has air-conditioning and your housemate wants it on each night in summer, then you may agree that the housemate with air-conditioning will pay a larger portion of the electricity bill. It's all about coming to a fair agreement based on everyone's typical usage of things like electricity and the internet.

Talk About Other Costs
The cost for other things such as staple food items and shared items such as cleaning products could also be split amongst housemates; it just depends on how your house is set up and everyone's preferences. Some people like to have a communal fund for basics such as milk, butter and bread, while other groups of housemates will just do their own thing. It's worth a quick conversation upfront to see what your housemate's preferences are to make sure everyone is happy with how costs are split for shared items.

While the conversation of working out how rent and expenses are going to split can be a bit uncomfortable, getting clear from the start about how you'll organise the house will minimise the risk of disagreements down the track.

For further information about real estate deals in this area, contact No Bull Real Estate, your most reliable and friendly real estate agents in Newcastle. Buying, selling, leasing for residential, commercial, industrial property, contact your local expert to buy, sell or lease today on 49552624 or www.nobullrealestate.com.au

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