Complete Guide to Using a Rent Split Calculator

It is common practice to have multiple tenants in one apartment who pay rent separately. Apartments or homes with different rooms are regularly shared to provide more affordable living for people who are happy to live with others.

Splitting rent evenly between all the tenants might seem like a great solution, but it does not always work out that way. If one room is bigger, someone has a private bathroom, or one roommate has a larger chunk of the monthly expenses, rent split evenly could cause arguments and threaten the arrangement.

The best way to divide rent fairly is to use a rent split calculator. Here are the details you need.

What Is Rent Splitting?

Split rent applies to any rental unit with multiple individual parties living in it. This usually applies to apartments or home-shares where tenants rent one room but share the communal areas. Student housing is the most common example of when this happens.

Paying the same amount is not always fair. Using split rent, people pay based on their occupation in the property and the percentage of the space that is theirs.

How Is Split Rent Calculated?

A rent split calculator takes the total rent amount divided by the total square footage and then considers what percentage of that square footage each person occupies. Room size alone does not determine the rent- it also depends on what space is shared and what is private.

The actual calculation is quite complex, but an online calculator does it for you in seconds.

Rent split is calculated based on the following factors.

The Total Square Footage of the Property

This establishes how much space there is altogether. Once the sizes of the bedrooms are calculated, it leaves an idea of how much area is shared.

The Square Footage of Each Bedroom

Bedrooms are usually different sizes, so you need to determine the total area of each one.

The Total Rent Cost for the Property

How much rent do you want to collect in total? The overall rent figure directly influences how much each room occupant should pay.

What Other Factors Influence the Rent Split Calculator

You will also notice that most calculators ask how many people are in each room and whether or not any of the bedrooms have private bathrooms. Both of these things influent the fair rent amount you should be charging.

Example of What a Monthly Rent Split Calculation Looks Like

Let's calculate the rent split for each person based on the following example.

An investor owns a 1000-square-foot house that has three bedrooms. One room sleeps two and has a private bathroom. The other rooms share a bathroom- one room sleeps two people, and the other only sleeps one.

The rental property owner would have to input the square footage of each bedroom and decide how much rent they want to take. To use an easy number, let's assume the owner wants $2,000 a month in rent combined between the three rooms.

They input the following details:

• Bedroom One: 190 square footage, two occupants, shared bathroom
• Bedroom Two: 140 square footage, one occupant, shared bathroom
• Bedroom Three: 200 square footage, two occupants, private bathroom

The rent split calculator returns these results:

• Bedroom One: $301.59 per person
• Bedroom Two: $476.19 per person
• Bedroom Three: $444.44 per person

Although bedroom two is the smallest, the occupant has it to themself, so they pay more. The two shared rooms are very close in size, but one has a private bathroom, and the other does not. This is reflected in the cost.

When Does a Rent Split Calculator Help?

Any landlord with a shared unit with multiple tenants needs to ensure they are splitting rent fairly to avoid arguments or vacancies. Utilizing this calculator makes that possible.

What Does DoorLoop Do?

DoorLoop helps in every area of rental property management- from sending rent reminders to collecting payments and finding the best tenant for your vacancy to helping you keep your leases in check.

It also provides a few different calculators to help you manage your investments.

Schedule a free demo to learn more about how DoorLoop makes it easier, more convenient, and more manageable to scale your property business and take it to new levels of success.

Summary

Managing real estate numbers is much easier with the help of online calculators. Don't risk getting your monthly rent split wrong- take a few seconds to find the perfect divide and keep everyone happy!