Rental Home Division of Cost

[Halloweenqueen]

I was wondering if how most people divide the cost of a rental home between family or friends. We are looking at renting a 5 bedroom house. I have parents sharing the master. My two single sisters each want their own bedroom with shared bath. That leaves the last two bedrooms for my family of seven. We would share one bath and everyone shares the half bath in the main area of the house.

I don't want any hard feelings, but I've been asked to pay 7/10th of the rental. What is the traditional method? We have, in the past, usually paid for the rental in full ourselves, inviting our extended family. My sisters are in a better financial status now and they wanted to pick the rental and divide the cost. Of course, this house is much more expensive than we usually rent. We usually get more bedrooms so my kids do not have to sleep in the common areas, but my sons will now have to sleep in the living room. (sisters wanted a house with a tennis court)

Anyway, just wondering if most people divide by bedrooms or by people?

 

[firecracker725]

We haven't done this in a while, but when we went with friends, we split the cost evenly between three couples.

If your sisters have input in the decisions (own bedrooms, tennis court), they need to pony up the cost. I'd split it by bedroom, personally. Parents, sister, sister, two for your family, and the common area makes six parts. You're using 3 of those parts, so...half the rental.

 

[Halloweenqueen]

I guess I should have noted my sisters are single. (no significant others or children)

 

[powellrj]

Not sure how they are getting 7/10 split. We have always charged by the person or paid it all ourselves. It would be 11 divided by cost of the house. But since your boys are sharing the living room and you have 7 people sharing a bathroom, that way really isn't fair. I agree with PP poster, go with cost of the bedrooms. Too bad you can't find a bigger house. 7 with one bathroom doesn't sound fun at all! This is coming from someone who had a family of 5 growing up with one bathroom!

 

[Ksquared]

Somehow I don't think it ends up being fair that you would be paying 7/10th of the rental and your kids have to sleep in living room and you all have to share 1 bathroom.

I think the cost should be divided into thirds (your parents pay 1/3, your sisters split 1/3 and you pay 1/3).

Or, if you are paying per bedroom, then split the rental cost by 5 and you pay for 2 portions since you have 2 bedrooms -- this might be the fairest way to do things.

If your sisters want to pick the rental property and are requesting certain amenities (like tennis court) and if they each want a private room, then they need to be willing to take a bigger share of the cost.

 

[Gr8t Fan]

I think the rental should be split by number of bedrooms. You should pay 2/5 and the others 1/5 each.

 

[Jedimom]

Oh heck no! I can't believe you should be expected to pay that if you're stuck with kids out in the common space, and one bathroom for you all to boot. As a family of 7, it's your needs which should hold more weight than accommodating everyone else. Tennis court, hmpff!!

Split it by bedrooms. Or better yet, skip renting the house and rent a couple of condo units at Windsor Hills or something similar. One unit for your family of 7 and another for their party of 4. That way you get the space and bathrooms. And you just pay for what you want.

 

[Halloweenqueen]

Thanks for the replies. I think we dug ourselves a hole paying for the rental through the years.

 

[Upatnoon]

I was wondering if how most people divide the cost of a rental home between family or friends. We are looking at renting a 5 bedroom house. I have parents sharing the master. My two single sisters each want their own bedroom with shared bath. That leaves the last two bedrooms for my family of seven. We would share one bath and everyone shares the half bath in the main area of the house.

I don't want any hard feelings, but I've been asked to pay 7/10th of the rental. What is the traditional method? We have, in the past, usually paid for the rental in full ourselves, inviting our extended family. My sisters are in a better financial status now and they wanted to pick the rental and divide the cost. Of course, this house is much more expensive than we usually rent. We usually get more bedrooms so my kids do not have to sleep in the common areas, but my sons will now have to sleep in the living room. (sisters wanted a house with a tennis court)

Anyway, just wondering if most people divide by bedrooms or by people?

I would have your family of 7 stay in one house and everyone else in another house. You pay for your house and they pay for their unit. Why cram 11 people in one place? You can find plenty of places where you can be in the same resort or subdivision, but each have their own space.

 

[aaarcher86]

I'd either do 1/3 splits or go buy number of bedrooms.

7/10, basically charging for kids is crazy. If they won't budge I'd rent something for yourself.

 

[erij11]

I'd totally rent my own place for my own family and let the others share a separate rental. I think you'd come out cheaper and your family won't be in 2 bedrooms with the common areas and sharing one bathroom. 7/10 is unfair to you and your family.

 

[HopperFan]

I would have your family of 7 stay in one house and everyone else in another house. You pay for your house and they pay for their unit. Why cram 11 people in one place? You can find plenty of places where you can be in the same resort or subdivision, but each have their own space.

My first response is that if you are stuck with the house you are talking about then it gets split by bedrooms. The rest of the house does not matter and you can't always get a bath for each bedroom but part of what makes a house it's value is the number of bedrooms. You pay for 2, the sisters pay their own since they want their own rooms and the folks pay their own. Rent divided by 5 bedrooms and you will pay for 2.

But if you are not obligated to a house right now I would be looking for two units, one for the sisters/folks and one for your family. I honestly can't imagine sharing a home with that many people especially when you are the only family with kids. You get space, beds and more bathrooms. Your kids can be more relaxed and enjoy themselves and your folks/sisters can rent a tennis court. Plan shared meals. We did that once and we took turns making meals so the others had the night off. We just met in the cook's unit to eat.

PS I get you fear you set a precedent but everything is subject to change. Tell them to be fair it needs to split by bedroom or you can not afford to stay with them in that home. They can make the choice of splitting by bedroom or looking for two smaller homes.

 

[carmelhp]

Oh heck no! I can't believe you should be expected to pay that if you're stuck with kids out in the common space, and one bathroom for you all to boot. As a family of 7, it's your needs which should hold more weight than accommodating everyone else. Tennis court, hmpff!!

Split it by bedrooms. Or better yet, skip renting the house and rent a couple of condo units at Windsor Hills or something similar. One unit for your family of 7 and another for their party of 4. That way you get the space and bathrooms. And you just pay for what you want.

Having your own place seems fairest of all, and probably cheaper too.

 

[tobikaye]

They want you to pay 70% of the house. That does not even make sense since there are 11 people. At most, if the divide was per person, you should only be responsible for 64%. Since some of your kids are not even going to be in a bedroom, I would think that they should not be charged a full portion. I would think 50% would be a fair trade if they would not go for the per bedroom which should be 40% for your family.

I do agree that if you are able to cancel the rental, it might be better to see if you can find something else that might fit the group better.

 

[Kae]

by 1/3's if my sisters shared a room then I would pay 1/2. I like the idea of 2 houses. Or house and Condo

Kae

 

[AliceIn]

I would divide it up by bedrooms. You pay 40%, and they split the remaining 60%.

You should pick up 70% of the groceries though, that seems fair.

 

[Mrs Doubtfire]

I agree with pp, pay 40% fir the 2 bedrooms. In terms of costs how does it all equate with what you have paid in the past when you covered the full rental fees?

However, if I only had 1 bathroom for 7 people I wouldn't be happy to take the lions share.

 

[Halloweenqueen]

Frankly we have always paid in the past as an incentive for traveling together. My kids enjoy the time they have spent with their aunts, but they have never visited us on their own. Sad, I know.

This trip is a celebration of my parents 50th anniversary. Years ago we agreed to split the cost of my parents expenses. The 7/10 is for my family alone. We are splitting the 1/10 of my parents part of the house. Plus we still need to split the other expenses (air, tix, etc)

It is becoming quite the expense for my family.

It is my parents' wish that we all be together. My sister has asked to be in charge this time. I suggested many places, yes Disney was one of them. My sisters had a dinner with my parents and they decided together that the anniversary would be in Vegas. Not really tons of fun for my kids. We have been many times and have done the usual spots, Hoover Dam, etc. They decided on a "high roller" mansion.

We realize this trip isn't about us, but I want the costs to be fair.


I appreciate everyone's input!

 

[sharona]

Speak up to your sisters and let them know that you're not going to pay for 70% of the house if you're only going to be getting 40% of it to use. Nothing you can do about their choice of destination although I think it stinks of them to choose an adult location when they knew 5 kids would be along. Also if the house was rented at a premium because of the features your sister's wanted, they should be paying for that upcharge. THIS is exactly why we had only 1 multi family vacation where we rented just 1 house. Now, if we want to travel together, everyone gets their own space.

 

[SirDuff]

I'd suggest going by bedrooms - so you pay 2/5ths. As the "single sister", I'd find being asked to pay 1/3rd of the cost (when I'm 1 person out of 11) to be somewhat unfair to me.