Fair division of rent in student house with different sized rooms?

[LindorDoubleChoc]

This is a Victorian terraced house with 3 double bedrooms upstairs, 1 box room, and 1 double bedroom on the ground floor (it would be the front living room in a traditional family living arrangement).

What percentage of rent do you think is fair for each room?

Just to recap - 3 double bedrooms upstairs, 1 double bedroom downstairs, 1 box room.

I had the box room for 2 years. Can’t remember now whether I paid less - might have been a bit of a reduction. Wasn’t a great hardship to have a much smaller room. I preferred to work in the library in any event as I could focus better.

Depends. If one person wants the box room, they negotiate a lower price that everyone thinks is fair. If no-one wants it or more than one person wants it, everyone pays the same and names out of a hat.

But if the "shared space" is a small galley kitchen and one communal bathroom a floor away then the boxroom person has a far worse deal than those with large doubles and that should be priced in.

If there's lots of shared space and amenities then having a smaller room to sleep in is less of a big deal and a more equal price split would be ok.

First up is to check if anyone wants the smaller room and to pay less.

If not then names out if a hat.

the issue with everyone paying the same is that the box room won’t be able to fit in a desk to study.

We had this scenario and rotated rooms each term, the person in the box paid a little less each month.

Divide it up by square foot. Sounds long drawn out but fairest imo
Bedroom 1 is 200 sq ft
Bedrooms 2 is 200 sq ft
Bedroom 3 is 150sq ft
Bedroom 4 is 80 sq ft
Bathroom is 100 sq ft
Kitchen is 100 sq ft
Total space is 830 sq ft
Total rent for house per month is £2000
Total rent per sq fr is £2000*12/830=£28.92 psf.
Add a quarter of the common space to each bedroom and multiply by is 200
Bedroom 1 - 200 + 50 * £28.92. £602.50
Bedroom 2 - 200 + 50 * £28.92. £602.50
Bedroom 3 - 150 + 50 * £28.92. £482.00
Bedroom 4 - 80 + 50 * £28.92. £313.30

Box room normally pays a fair amount less ime.
All double rooms pay the same unless any are en-suite.

We had this set up. We agreed that the person in the box room pay a fair bit less. Can't remember the actual rates as it was so long ago.

Dd pays less due to having a smaller room. It was mentioned when they were first shown round the house. Sorry I can't remember how much less.

Box room should pay a lot less if there is no shared living space other than the kitchen. If there is a space they have a reasonable share of, where they can study and have friends round, then a bit nearer the same.

I'd say they pay around 40% for the former and about 60-70% if there is a living room and bathroom downstairs.

Box rooms pay less (of course!) It is unfair otherwise.

I had a similar house share where we drew lots for the upstairs v downstairs doubles. The box room tenant was charged the same, I thought it was a bit unfair but others outvoted me. She wasn't arriving for a few weeks so she got last call. In fairness we had sourced the place, spent weeks going around viewing places and organising the lease etc and she just got to show up. After a year the rent went up a little and she raised the issue so she paid the same and we paid the increase.

When i lived in house shares, the single room was always lower rent

Thanks for all input. I don't know where some of you got the idea I'm going to interfere or get involved ... that's not going to happen. My child asked for my advice so I suppose I could have said "nah, work it out for yourself" but instead I thought I'd ask Mumsnet for ideas, I nearly always find it useful.

The rooms have already been decided. The student who has volunteered for the box room is less well off and is expecting to pay lower rent, I think that's fair.

I agree op. They should pay less rent and need to be assertive about addressing it with the other students. Navigating CF students that want large double rooms for the same price is all part of growing up, good practice for them - good luck!

I have an update if anyone is still here?

I've now found out that it is infact a 7 bedroom house (2 bedrooms in the loft conversion) all the rooms are double except the box room. There is a small shared living room on the ground floor off the kitchen.

The rent is £170 pw per room if it's all equal. So that's £5157 per calendar month (nice way to make a living, btw, hmo landlords ).

It is being proposed that box room student pays £50 per month less and front living room student pays £20 per month less and everyone else in a double room pays a little bit more. And yet some of the double room students are kicking off. How would it affect double room students monthly rental payment? My maths is shocking and I can't work it out. But I think it's a very small amount.

Why are you making this so complicated? Just work out each rent proportional to the room's square footage.

I think that's fair.

Why is one person staying in the ground floor bedroom when there are two loft bedrooms available?

All the rooms are filled.

We drew lots. Luckily the guy in the tiny room was shagging another housemate. Win win.

If 7 bedrooms and rent reduction on two rooms is £50 (boxroom) plus £30 (front room) then reduction = £80 split 5 ways (7 bedroom house so 5 double rooms)... so each double room pays £16 more per month than they would if everyone paid the same rent.
So, boxroom pays £66 less than double rooms (£50 + £16) ans front room pays £46 less than double bedrooms.

So they need to decide who wants what room at those costs.

If utilities are included in the rent then the amounts paid should not relate directly to size of room. The box room dweller will use as much water, gas and electricity as every other occupant. I would say box room slightly less and everyone else the same.

If the box room is a tiny single I think the difference should be pretty big.

I'd go with something like box room pays £650, other rooms pay £750.

That's a very similar set up to my second year house. The 2 small single basement rooms were cheapest at 250 each. The 4 equalish sized doubles were 300 each and I had the master bedroom (needed the space for subject) and paid 350. Happy to pay personally. It was a great space.

If utilities are included in rent then why should box room occupant pay lots less than everyone else? They are presumably going to shower and cook and be heated as much as every other occupant.