Do Brits split their bills fairly?

Bills can be one of the worst and most frustrating parts of renting or owning a home and can become a lot more confusing if you need to split them amongst family, friends, roommates, or your partner. How do you decide which is the fairest way – by how much you earn, by how much room you have, or just completely down the middle?

In our survey across 1,500 Brits, the discourse around how we decide to split our bills looked at whether we felt that bills were split fairly, how you should decide how to split your bills in individual households, and whether Brits feel it’s fair to split bills based on how much money each housemate makes.

How are Brits most likely to split their bills?

To find out what the landscape of bill splitting looks like right now in the UK, we asked our participants how they split their bills in their household, and looked at the split between men and women, and those who live with a partner vs those who live with friends or housemates.

We discovered that 34% of Brits pay all the bills for their household, whilst 37% split their bills equally. Those who live with a partner were most likely to split the bills equally (40%).

22% of women said that their bills were split depending on income, compared to only 17% of men – and 67% of those who live with friends or housemates are also most likely to split the bills evenly, followed by 14% splitting on income. Those who live with dependent family members were the most likely to have one person paying all the bills at 40% whilst those who live with parents are likely to split the bills equally at 38%.

Which factors should determine how much a person should contribute towards the bills?

How to split bills fairly in your house

When you’re sharing a house with other people, whether it’s your partner, a friend, your family, or a group of friends, it’s best to sort out how you want to pay for your bills from the very beginning – it can save you a lot of stress and potential arguments as time passes, so here are our top tips to help make bills less of a hassle:

• You could use a bill splitting service if there are a lot of different people contributing to the bills – these services take all of the organisation off your hands, and you only have to pay one monthly payment each for every bill you owe.

• Calculate your combined bill payments for the last month and pay this total into a joint account – this can be if you live with a partner or friend, because at the end of the month, if there is money left over, you can treat yourselves to a takeaway!

• New couples may find it awkward to set up a joint account together, so having one person pay and the other set up a standing order could work out smoother.

• Differentiate between rent and utilities – you all likely share the utilities equally, but some people may have a larger room, or an ensuite bathroom, or they might have work while another housemate does not. You can always reference back to your renting contract to figure out what rent portions people should be paying, or discuss this with the landlord.

So, you’ve nailed down how you think you should approach paying your bills, but how are you going to split the payments? Here are our three best ways to split bills:

1. Equal amounts

Creating equal payments across your household works best in households where everyone is in similar positions economically – e.g., all students, or all working professionals, and if there are fewer rooms.

2. Income-based

Splitting your bills based on how much different house members make can also work well for some households, although you should ensure that everyone is comfortable with this method and disclosing how much they make. This method works best for those who have a significant difference in their income – any more than £10,000 of difference should be worth considering this way of bill splitting.

3. By room

In a larger house with multiple rooms, paying by the quality of room that you have is often the best method for ensuring everyone feels like they’ve been treated fairly. You will need to determine which amenities will cost more, such as having more space, having a nicer view, being on a quieter side of the house, or if you have more amenities like built-in wardrobes or an ensuite that others don’t have. This rent calculator by Splitwise is particularly helpful for figuring out which space should cost more – just replace the dollar signs with pound signs!

Splitting your bills shouldn’t have to be a hassle, and by following these steps, hopefully you can have an open and easy conversation with your housemates or partner that will suit everyone. Check out more money saving tips and hacks from Moneyboat to find information on how to work to a budget, how to have a cheap night out and more.

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