Most flatmate fights aren't about the rent — they're about the split feeling unfair three months in. Pick the method that matches your flat before anyone moves in, write it down, and the argument mostly never happens. Here are the four methods that actually get used.
1. Equal split
Everyone pays the same. Right choice when the rooms are roughly comparable and everyone uses the common space the same way. It's the simplest to run month after month — and simplicity is itself a kind of fairness. Default to this unless something about the flat is clearly unequal.
2. By room size or quality
The person with the en-suite master pays more; the person in the box room next to the kitchen pays less. A quick version that avoids measuring floors: each person bids what they'd happily pay for each room, and you assign rooms to the highest valuations, scaling so the total equals the rent. Even a rough conversation version of this ("the big room is worth ₹3,000 more, agreed?") beats resentment later.
3. By income
Common for couples sharing with friends, or when incomes differ a lot. Each person pays the same percentage of their income rather than the same amount. It requires more openness than most flats have — use it when the alternative is a roommate you like being priced out.
4. Rotating extras
Rent split equally, but one person covers a recurring extra (parking spot, storage, the balcony they claimed) as a fixed monthly adjustment. Works well combined with method 1 — the base stays simple, the adjustments carry the fairness.
Utilities: where good splits go to die
Rent is one number a month. Utilities are five numbers on five dates — electricity, water, internet, gas, cleaning — usually paid by whoever got the reminder SMS. Split utilities equally regardless of how you split rent (metering per-person usage isn't worth anyone's time), and track them in the same place as rent so the "who paid the WiFi in March?" question has an answer.
The mechanics
Whatever method you pick, the system that keeps it alive is the same: one shared group where every expense lands the moment it's paid, running balances per person, and a way to settle that takes seconds. A group in NoDuedoes exactly this free — all 5 split methods (equal, exact, percentage, shares, adjustment — method 4 above is literally the adjustment split), running balances, reminders that nudge the late payer so you don't have to, and direct settle-up: copy your flatmate's UPI ID and pay from your own UPI app, or use Venmo in the US.
If your flat runs on recurring bills, NoDue.Living auto-generates rent and utility expenses every month on their due dates and splits subscriptions like Netflix and Spotify — up to 4 flatmates per property get it free when one person hosts.