Money

Bills in a sharehouse: who pays what, whose name it goes in, and what happens when someone leaves

Most sharehouse arguments about money are not about the amount. They are about a decision nobody made in advance — whose name the account is in, and what happens to it when that person moves out.

The Roomfolio Team16 August 20265 min read

A utility bill being split into four equal shares

Rent is the easy part: one number, one date, everybody knows. Bills are where sharehouses actually fall apart, and almost always for the same reason — a decision that was never made, only assumed.

The decision everybody skips

Every utility account is in somebody's name. That person is legally responsible for the whole bill. Not their share — the whole thing. If a housemate leaves owing $180 of electricity, the retailer does not know that person exists; they know the account holder.

So the first question is not "how do we split it" but "whose name, and what does that person get in return". Reasonable answers exist — rotate accounts so no one carries them all, or let the account holder hold a slightly larger buffer — but the answer has to be said out loud.

What each bill actually is

Bill	Usually split	Worth knowing
Electricity	Evenly	Bills arrive quarterly in much of Australia — a $600 bill after someone has already moved out is the classic dispute.
Gas	Evenly	Only some homes have it; winter-heavy, so a housemate who leaves in spring has used more than their share of the year.
Internet	Evenly	Usually a fixed monthly amount and a contract with an exit fee. Check the contract length before signing — it can outlast the lease.
Water usage	Evenly, if charged at all	See below — you cannot always be charged for it.
Water supply / service charge	Not yours	The fixed supply charge is the owner's cost, not the renter's.

Water is the one with real rules

In New South Wales, a landlord can only pass on water usage charges if three things are all true: the property is separately metered, it meets the water efficiency standards, and the amount charged is no more than the landlord was billed. Since 23 March 2025 those standards include dual-flush toilets with a minimum three-star WELS rating — so a property with an old single-flush toilet cannot pass water usage on at all.

You must also be given a copy of the bill and at least 21 days to pay, and it is billed separately from rent. Other states have their own versions of the same idea. If you are being charged for water, it is entirely reasonable to ask which of these boxes the property ticks.

Splitting evenly is not always splitting fairly — decide which you want

An even split is simple, and simplicity has real value in a house of four people who did not know each other last month. But it is worth saying out loud where it does not match reality:

A room with the only air conditioner, in a Brisbane summer.
Someone who works from home every day while everyone else is in an office.
A couple sharing one room, counted as one share or two.
Someone away for six weeks who is still paying full internet.

There is no correct answer to any of these. There is only an answer you agreed on before it mattered, and an answer you argued about afterwards. Pick the first kind.

When someone moves out

This is where the money actually goes missing, because utility billing periods do not line up with move-out dates.

Take a meter reading on the day, or ask the retailer for a special reading. A photo of the meter with the date is enough to settle an argument later.
Estimate and settle the outstanding portion then, rather than waiting for the bill. Chasing someone for $140 two months after they have moved interstate is a different task from asking them for it while they are handing back keys.
Change the account name if it was theirs. Leaving a former housemate on the account means they keep receiving — and remaining liable for — your bills.
Do not confuse this with the bond. Bills and bond are separate money and separate processes; the bond stays lodged with the state authority until the whole tenancy ends.

A ten-minute conversation that prevents most of this

Before the first bill arrives, agree on and write down — a pinned message is fine:

Whose name each account is in.
How each bill is split, including the awkward cases above.
When bills get settled: on arrival, or monthly into a shared pot.
What happens to the internet contract if the house breaks up before it ends.
What happens on move-out day: meter reading, final settle, name change.

None of this is legally binding, and it does not need to be. Its job is to make sure that when the $600 quarterly bill lands, nobody is discovering the rules for the first time.

Where these numbers come from

Every figure on this page was read off the official source below on 16 August 2026. Tenancy rules change — sometimes more than once a year — so if money is about to change hands, spend two minutes confirming against the original.

This is general information to help you ask better questions, not legal advice. If something has already gone wrong, your state tenancy authority and your local tenants advice service will both help you for free.

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