Splitting the rent
December 5, 2010 11:34 AM   Subscribe

How do I split the bill with family members when renting a holiday house?

I am taking a holiday with my sister and her three kids for a week or so. The holiday house costs a set amount for the period no matter how many people stay. The kids--who are all under ten--will take one room, my sister and her husband will take another, and me and my girlfriend will take the third. In this situation what is the most fair and equitable way to split the rental fee?
posted by dydecker to Work & Money (19 answers total) 1 user marked this as a favorite
 
Your sister and her husband pay 2/3, you and your girlfriend pay the remaining 1/3.
posted by jayder at 11:40 AM on December 5, 2010 [3 favorites]


I'd split it 50/50 just because it's about you & your sister getting together with loved ones, but since there's an extra bedroom involved then you paying 1/3 and your sister paying 2/3 might be more "fair."
posted by headnsouth at 11:40 AM on December 5, 2010


There's no mathematically correct answer here. I'd propose 2/3 for them, 1/3 for you, and see what your sister says. The most important thing is to get an arrangement that everyone is satisfied with so that you can enjoy one another and your vacation.
posted by decathecting at 11:41 AM on December 5, 2010


whenever we share a rental cost is always split by how many families, not how much space each family takes up, so i would say 50/50.

If it were a long term rental situtation my answer would be different, but for a vacation this is how i would handle it. I would feel weird punishing my sister because her family is bigger than mine.
posted by domino at 11:48 AM on December 5, 2010 [1 favorite]


I'd ask your sister what she thinks is fair rather than suggesting 2/3 to her and 1/3 to you and hopefully that's the ratio she'll come up with. If she suggests each paying half then just go with that as long as it's not too much of a hardship, as it isn't worth making a big deal of.
posted by hazyjane at 11:50 AM on December 5, 2010 [1 favorite]


If the money isn't an issue, 50/50 is the way to go. If the difference is significant to you, 1/3 and 2/3.
posted by Geckwoistmeinauto at 11:53 AM on December 5, 2010 [2 favorites]


We do this every year. I think you should propose 1/3 you, 2/3 her, and here's why.

Some of my family members have taken advantage in the past when we had a 50/50 rule. For instance, one relative invited a friend and brought her daughter, daughter's husband, and one grandchild. This was 5 people who required 3 bedrooms. Meanwhile, my side of the family with our 50% got one bedroom and one living room pullout for 4 people.

The idea that "each family can split evenly" sort of denies the reality of the vacation house experience, where it's not how many families, but how many rooms each family requires, that's the limiting factor. They're using 2 rooms; they pay 2/3. You're using 1 room; you pay 1/3. Anything other than that just isn't fair, as you're subsidising the requirement for additional rooms for someone else's larger family.
posted by Miko at 11:57 AM on December 5, 2010 [3 favorites]


(because if the additional room wasn't needed you'd get a smaller house and the whole shebang would cost less, in other words).
posted by Miko at 11:59 AM on December 5, 2010


With my family, the person in the best financial situation arranges our vacation rentals, and the rest of us pay him what we can afford. Realizing that the ideal would be for all siblings (regardless of family size) to split the cost equally, we try to get as close to this as we can. This arrangement has worked out well for us since we all have about the same understanding of what's appropriate financially, and the one who is well off does not mind paying more.
posted by philokalia at 12:02 PM on December 5, 2010


Oh, and this only works if you don't have people bringing random non-family members as in Miko's example. If that happens, each person should pay a share.
posted by philokalia at 12:04 PM on December 5, 2010 [1 favorite]


You're going on vacation with your sister. As her, "How do you want to handle the house rental?" and see what she proposes. If she proposes 50/50 and it would decrease your enjoyment of your vacation to do it that way, suggest 2/3, 1/3 and see what she says. Good communication about this ahead of time = a vacation that everyone enjoys.
posted by arnicae at 12:15 PM on December 5, 2010


I'd go with the 2/3 for them and 1/3 for you and your SO, base it on the number of bedrooms. Also, I'd try to spit food (and other stuff you have to buy) the same way. Their kids (you didn't say how many) are getting their own room and will be eating as well.

Or go 2/3 and 1/3 on the rental and then go 50/50 on food if you feel bad about the 1/3.
posted by NoraCharles at 1:54 PM on December 5, 2010 [1 favorite]


When my family did this, the price was spilt among adults -- so in your case it would be 50/50 for two adult couples. But if she or you were to invite another adult, then each adult would pay a 1/5th.

Not entirely equitable if one doesn't have children, but as it was my mom who set it up, I think her goal was to see all of her grandkids without any of their parents being unable to afford to come.
posted by MeiraV at 3:49 PM on December 5, 2010


I'd split it 50/50 between the two families who are on vacation together, especially as the number of people sharing the house does not affect the price. (To split 1/3 and 2/3 based on bedroom usage makes it seem to me like the young children are being considered full partners in the house-share arrangement.)

For food, I think it's fair for your sister and her husband to pay a greater percentage, since the total cost is affected by their larger family.
posted by desuetude at 4:04 PM on December 5, 2010


the number of people sharing the house does not affect the price.

I'm not sure where we're looking, but around here it does. A 3-BR is priced differently than a 2 BR. There's an increase based on how many the house sleeps.
posted by Miko at 5:16 PM on December 5, 2010 [1 favorite]


I meant that the price of that particular house is not affected by the number of occupants (unlike, say, hotel rooms.)

Number of bedrooms aren't the only criteria for price differences in house rentals, and we don't even know if it was the most important factor here. Would it make a difference in the way the cost should be divided if they had decided to rent a 2BR and the kids slept on couches/air mattresses? Would it make a difference if the OP preferred to choose a larger house than the sister? Should it make a difference to future shared house costs if the OP has a child, or do they then calculate the relative cost of each child to the mix? Eh, why open the door to nitpicking.

In my experience, it's best to split this sort of basic set cost in a simple way that presumes everyone's intentions are grounded in fairness. There should be plenty of other variable-cost expenses to let the participants to find their own little ways to be generous. Maybe the sister and her husband cover more of the grocery bill, or have her kids be the official dishwashers for the grownups, or whatever.

My experience does not extend to splitting vacation costs with folks that I don''t trust to not take advantage of the situation, so I can't advise on that.
posted by desuetude at 6:05 PM on December 5, 2010


I was in pretty much the exact circumstance as you this last summer. We ended up splitting 50/50, but me and my boyfriend got the master bedroom while my sister and her kids had the two smaller bedrooms. It felt very fair. Maybe your proposed house has one room that's more desireable than the rest?
posted by chowflap at 6:13 PM on December 5, 2010


I think you need to take into consideration how well-off you and your sister are relative to each other, how much it matters to you to be mathematically precise about this, etc. In similar situations, family members might decide for one party to pay rent while the other buys food. The point is more that everyone is contributing than to make sure that everyone is contributing precisely equally.

If you're going to do it mathematically, then other people have offered several good options above.
posted by bardophile at 2:34 AM on December 6, 2010


Can you could figure out the difference between a two and three bedroom rental? Ask your sister pay the difference between them plus half of the two bedroom rate. Then if you pay the other half of the two bedroom rate, it all adds up to the three bedroom rate.

You may end up paying somewhere between 1/3 and 1/2 of the three bedroom rate. In fact, that is another option: 5/12 is the average of 1/3 and 1/2, so it would also make sense for you to pay that much and have your sister cover the remaining 7/12.
posted by soelo at 3:06 PM on December 6, 2010


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