to ask her to pay more than us

[inneedofgoodideas]

My bf and I are planning on moving into a flatshare with a friend and trying to work out the fairest way to split the rent. We currently live in a houseshare and pay £100 more a month for our room as it is slightly bigger - this rent was decided by landlord.

However, if we move into a 2 bed flat where the bedrooms are the same size, should we split the rent down the middle?

I don't think it is fair for my bf and I to pay 1/3 of the rent each, when we are sharing a room and the friend has a room to themselves. However I realise we take up more room in the kitchen/living room, so am happy to keep paying £100 more (this would be approx almost 10% of total rent if that makes sense). I think this is more than enough (too much?)

what do you think? AIBU to expect to only pay half the rent when I'm only using half the bedrooms?

Obviously if our room ends up being much bigger then i understand we would pay more but most flats we have looked at have equal-sized bedrooms which basically means we are paying more so that the friend can get a cheap, big room.

we will split all bills between 3.

opinions pls!!

You need to split it 3 ways. Why should she pay more than you?! If her bf suddenly moved in you'd be expecting the bill to be split 4 ways wouldn't you?!

Split 3 ways. You aren't being forced to share a room with your BF, so it's your choice to have half a bedroom.

What 3 monkeys have posted looks fairest and most scientific. It's also a formula that would change and be easy to work out if she moved a bf in or one of you moved out for any reason

3littlemonkeys82's way is a fair calculation. I'd go with that.

I lived with a couple for 2 years and we split 3 ways but we had 3 bedrooms and they used the spare room for their things which I think made it fair. If it had been a 2 bed house I would have been happy to pay more rent as I would have had the bedroom to myself and they shared.

Never had any problems living with them though we were all good friends.

Just get a flat by yourselves?

I have been in this situation. We did this:

Rent was split in half.

Half was considered rent for the living space and split 3 ways.
Half was rent for the rooms and split in half.

So, singleton essentially paid 1/3 of 50% plus 1/2 of 50%.

Bills split 3 ways.

DD and her boyfriend share with a friend. Everything is split 3 ways.

3 way split

You lose out by sharing by a room / wardrobe (but benefit by living with your BF)

She loses out by having to share with a couple (but benefits by paying off not a third of the rent)

If you are all mates then 3 way split is best.

I never knew there were so many people that were so nippy about money until I joined Mumsnet.

3 adults rent the flat, therefore each adult pays a third. Expecting your friend to pay more because you have half a bedroom is ludicrous. You say you get on well, I would expect that to change really soon if you start this with her.

missbatten That comes to 41.66666% so pretty close to 40%.

I was also the "friend" in this situation.

My flatmate and I paid 50/50 despite the fact she had the biggest bedroom. I didn't mind as the tenancy was in her name and she was effectively subletting to me.

Then she moved her boyfriend in and he paid fuck all. She thought we should still pay 50/50.

I moved out.

Given that the bills are paid separately I would expect each room to be a share of the rent not each person.

I'm in a similar situation. We have a 30/30/40 split. We considered splitting the cost 25/25/50 as we would only have half the bedroom space each, but realised that it's really about all the shared areas not just the bedrooms. Also I quite like my partner and don't see sharing a room with him as something I should be compensated for.

It works fine and our friend still feels they've got a decent deal as they would otherwise be paying 50% not 40% if they lived with another single!

I agree with @SmileSweetly 's logic, I think three ways is fair. When I was in this situation we split it equally between three of us.

The single person is saving money compared to having just one flatmate, the couple are saving money compared to renting a one-bed. Everyone's a winner.

You've said none of you spend much time in your rooms, so why base rent on that?

The rent is for the whole flat. You should split it equally. I would feel taken advantage of if I were your friend and paid 50%.

You are using more utilities. If you want to pay halves rent a three bedroom place and keep the second bedroom for your wardrobe.

There is two of you in the rest of the living space though - you should be paying more.

It’s easy - three people = 1/3 each.

Split everything 3 ways; rent and bills.

I'm confused as to how you getting a much better deal is not being unfair on your friend!

Oh and three people waiting for the toilet!

Another vote for 60:40 here.

Split three ways. She might be choosing to live with you, but you're choosing to share a room.

It's the only fair way

Why 1/3 each? Two of the three are sharing a room. It's never 1/3 each when it's just normal flatmates if 2 are sharing.

I felt a bit cheesed off when the couple split and I ended up paying half the rent while still having the smaller room and shared shower room!

yeah that's not fair, you should have said something