How to split rent fairly with flatmates

Which method should you use?

Whichever you choose, the shares must add up to the full rent the owner asks for. The owner gets the same amount; only the way it is shared inside the flat changes. "Swalpa adjust maadi" works for a lot of things in Bengaluru, but rent maths is better settled on day one.

Method 1: split the rent equally

Divide the monthly rent by the number of people. A 3BHK in HSR Layout at ₹48,000 a month, shared by three, is ₹48,000 ÷ 3 = ₹16,000 each.

When the rent does not divide evenly, round to the nearest ₹10 and let one person pay the few rupees left over, or take turns each month. For ₹50,000 between three, two people pay ₹16,670 and one pays ₹16,660, which adds up to ₹50,000.

Method 2: split rent by room size

Everyone uses the hall, kitchen, balconies and common bathroom the same way, so that part of the rent is split equally. Only the bedrooms differ, so the rest is split by bedroom area. Measure each bedroom's floor (length × width, in feet) with a tape.

1. 1

   Agree the shared percentage

   Take the same HSR Layout 3BHK at ₹48,000 and agree that 40% is for the shared spaces: 40% of ₹48,000 is ₹19,200, or ₹6,400 each.

2. 2

   Measure the bedrooms

   Ananya's room is 15 × 10 feet (150 sq ft), Karthik's is 12 × 10 (120 sq ft) and Meera's is 10 × 9 (90 sq ft). Together that is 360 sq ft.

3. 3

   Split the rest by area

   The other 60% is ₹28,800. ₹28,800 ÷ 360 sq ft is ₹80 a sq ft, so the bedroom parts are ₹12,000 (150 × ₹80), ₹9,600 (120 × ₹80) and ₹7,200 (90 × ₹80).

4. 4

   Add the two parts

   Ananya pays ₹6,400 + ₹12,000 = ₹18,400, Karthik ₹6,400 + ₹9,600 = ₹16,000 and Meera ₹6,400 + ₹7,200 = ₹13,600. Check: ₹18,400 + ₹16,000 + ₹13,600 = ₹48,000.

How to choose the shared percentage

The shared percentage decides how much the room sizes matter. At 0%, the whole rent follows bedroom area. At 100%, it is an equal split. There is no right number. You can use the share of the floor area everyone uses (if the bedrooms are 360 sq ft of a 900 sq ft flat, that is 60%), or simply agree a round figure such as 40% or 50% that everyone thinks is fair.

Karthik's room is exactly the average size, so his share stays at ₹16,000 whatever percentage you pick. The bigger the shared part, the smaller the gap between the largest and smallest rooms.

Rent split calculator

Enter the rent, the deposit if you want it split too, and each bedroom's area. The calculator rounds every share to whole rupees so they add up to exactly the rent. Nothing you type leaves your phone or computer.

Method 3: charge extra for a better room

Sometimes the rooms are a similar size but one is clearly nicer. Agree a monthly extra, or premium, for each feature. The premium is not extra money for the owner: the better room pays more and the others pay less, so the total stays the same.

Say three friends rent a 3BHK in Koramangala for ₹54,000. Room 1 has an attached bathroom and a balcony, Room 2 has an AC the owner installed, and Room 3 has neither. They agree on ₹2,000 for the attached bathroom, ₹1,000 for the balcony and ₹1,500 for the AC.

1. 1

   Add up the premiums

   Room 1 has ₹2,000 + ₹1,000 = ₹3,000 and Room 2 has ₹1,500, so the premiums come to ₹4,500.

2. 2

   Take them off the rent and split the rest equally

   ₹54,000 − ₹4,500 = ₹49,500, and ₹49,500 ÷ 3 = ₹16,500. That is the base share for everyone.

3. 3

   Add each room's premium back

   Room 1 pays ₹16,500 + ₹3,000 = ₹19,500, Room 2 pays ₹16,500 + ₹1,500 = ₹18,000 and Room 3 pays ₹16,500. Check: ₹19,500 + ₹18,000 + ₹16,500 = ₹54,000.

Compared with an equal ₹18,000 each, Room 1 pays ₹1,500 more, Room 2 the same and Room 3 ₹1,500 less. The gap between Room 1 and Room 3 is exactly the ₹3,000 premium they agreed.

How to split the security deposit

Split the deposit in the same ratio as the rent, so whoever pays more rent also has more of the deposit at stake. In the HSR Layout flat the owner asked for ₹2,40,000, five months' rent. Each person pays five times their monthly share: Ananya ₹92,000, Karthik ₹80,000 and Meera ₹68,000, which adds up to ₹2,40,000.

Some groups split the deposit equally instead (₹80,000 each here) because people change rooms often. Either is fine if you write it down. Bengaluru owners often ask for a much bigger deposit than owners elsewhere; see security deposit rules in Bangalore. How each person's deposit passes to the next flatmate is covered in our guide to a flatmate agreement.

What happens when a flatmate moves out?

• A replacement moves in: they take over the outgoing flatmate's room and share as it is. They usually pay the outgoing flatmate's deposit share to that person directly, so the owner's deposit stays untouched.
• Nobody replaces them yet: the outgoing flatmate pays until their notice to the others ends. After that, the empty room's share is usually split equally until someone moves in. If Meera leaves, her ₹13,600 becomes ₹6,800 each, so Ananya pays ₹25,200 and Karthik ₹22,800, still ₹48,000 in all.
• The flat now has fewer people for good: work the split out again from the start, for example by room size with the empty room counted as shared space.

For a move in the middle of a month, the prorated rent calculator works out the part-month amount. How much notice to give the others is a house decision; when the whole group leaves, the notice period for vacating a flat in your rent agreement applies.

What happens when the rent goes up?

Raise every share by the same percentage, so the split you agreed stays the same. If the HSR Layout owner raises the rent by 5% at renewal, ₹48,000 becomes ₹50,400. Ananya's ₹18,400 becomes ₹19,320, Karthik's ₹16,000 becomes ₹16,800 and Meera's ₹13,600 becomes ₹14,280, which adds up to ₹50,400.

If the owner also asks for a bigger deposit, split the top-up in the same ratio. Renewal is a good moment to ask whether everyone is still happy with the method; the rent increase calculator shows how a yearly rise adds up.

Bills, the maid and the Wi-Fi

Fixed costs such as Wi-Fi, the maid or cook, and gas cylinders are usually split equally, because everyone uses them about the same. Electricity is harder when one room has an AC: some flats split it equally in winter and give the AC room a bigger share in summer. Whatever you choose, put it in the same written note as the rent.

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