Moving into a shared flat: the first-week money checklist

Your first week in a flatshare is the cheapest time to sort out money. Nobody owes anybody anything yet, everyone is still being polite, and any rule you agree now is just "how we do things here", not a complaint about someone. Leave it three months and the same conversation comes with a backlog attached.

Before you sign: what should you check?

Is it a joint tenancy or an individual one?

This decides what you're on the hook for if a flatmate stops paying. The descriptions below follow the rules in England; other countries differ.

• Joint tenancy: everyone signs the same agreement for the whole flat. Shelter England is blunt about what that means: you're all responsible for the whole rent, even if you pay different amounts, and the landlord can ask the rest of you to cover a share someone else hasn't paid. The agreement may call this "joint and several liability".
• Individual tenancy: each person signs their own agreement for their room, with shared use of the kitchen and bathroom. You're generally responsible only for your own rent, but you usually get no say in who moves into the next room.

Two more things Shelter flags for joint tenants in England: a valid notice from one joint tenant ends the tenancy for everyone, and someone who simply moves out without ending it is still a joint tenant, so the landlord can still pursue them for unpaid rent or damage.

Tenancy law differs by country (and in the US, by state), so don't assume any of this transfers. Read your own agreement for words like "joint", "jointly and severally" or "individually liable", and ask the landlord or agent in writing if it isn't clear. If you're on a joint tenancy, read the section of the flatmates guide on a flatmate who doesn't pay now, while it's hypothetical.

When is rent due, and who sends it?

Get the exact due date and how the landlord wants to be paid: one transfer for the whole flat, or one per person.

One transfer per person is safer if the landlord allows it. If they want a single payment, one flatmate ends up collecting everyone's share and passing it on, and that person carries the risk whenever someone is late. If that's you, set the household deadline a few days before the landlord's, and never send the full rent out of your own pocket hoping to be paid back.

Also ask how much you need up front. In England, since 1 May 2026 a landlord can't take rent before you sign, and can then ask for at most one month's rent in advance. Elsewhere the upfront amount can be much larger, which brings us to the deposit.

Where is the deposit held, and is it protected?

Ask three questions before you hand any money over:

1. What's each person's share? Shelter suggests asking for each person's contribution to be written into the tenancy agreement. Joint tenants often pay one deposit, protected under one "lead tenant", so keep that person's contact details.
2. Is it protected? In England, a landlord taking a deposit on a standard private tenancy must put it in a government-approved scheme within 30 days. Scotland and Northern Ireland have their own schemes, and many countries have none. Where there's no scheme, get a signed receipt that states the amount, who paid it and the conditions for getting it back.
3. Who do I pay? If you're replacing someone in an existing flatshare, Shelter's advice in England is to pay your share to the landlord or agent, not to the person leaving, because it's much harder to prove you paid otherwise. Make sure your name goes on the agreement and on the deposit record.

How much cash do you need for the first month?

Add it up before you commit, because everything lands in the same fortnight. Say your share of the rent is 12,000 and the deposit is two months' rent:

• Rent for the first month: 12,000
• Your deposit share: 24,000
• Your share of set-up costs (cleaning supplies, kitchen basics, an internet installation fee): around 3,000

That's 39,000 before your next payday, and the first electricity bill hasn't arrived yet. If that would wipe out your savings, it's worth knowing how big an emergency fund should be before you sign.

Move-in day: the money admin

Photograph everything and get the date on record

The inventory, or check-in report, is what protects your deposit at the end. Go through it room by room, only sign it when you're happy it's accurate (Shelter England's advice), keep a copy, and photograph cracks, marks and scratches even when they're already listed.

A few things make the photos far more useful later:

• Do the shared areas together. On a joint tenancy, deductions for a stained sofa or a burnt worktop usually come out of the deposit you all paid, so everyone should agree what state the kitchen and living room were in.
• Email the originals to the landlord or agent, and to yourselves, in the first few days. Messaging apps can compress photos and strip details like the date from the file, while a dated email is easy proof.
• Film a slow walkthrough too, opening the oven, fridge and cupboards.
• Test every appliance and report anything broken in writing that week, so it can't be blamed on you in a year.

Read every meter

Photograph each meter (electricity, gas, water if it's metered) with the date visible, and send the readings to the suppliers on day one. It's the only way to make sure you don't pay for the previous tenants' use. If there's a prepayment meter, photograph the balance it shows too.

Decide who holds each bill

Spreading bills across people is covered in the main flatmates guide. What gets missed is the contract itself. The person whose name is on an account is usually the one the supplier chases, and a fixed-term internet contract can easily outlast that person's time in the flat. Before anyone signs up, check the minimum term and agree now what happens if the account holder leaves early: the account transfers to someone staying, or any exit fee is split.

Write it down in one place everyone can see:

Set up a shared expenses record on day one

Move-in week is when shared spending is highest and most chaotic: cleaning supplies, a shower curtain, bin bags, light bulbs, the first big shop. Start logging it the same day, before anyone's memory gets selective. A simple rule helps: things that stay with the flat are shared; things that leave with a person are personal. For the weekly shop, a shared grocery kitty keeps the staples fair.

Bigger buys like a sofa or a washing machine need more than a log. Agree who owns what share before you buy, as set out in buying shared furniture and appliances.

Fix the settle-up day while you're all in the room

Pick a date a few days after most people are paid and put it in everyone's calendar. How settle-up day works is covered in the main flatmates guide. The point of choosing it in week one is that it becomes routine before anyone has a reason to dread it.

Move-in week checklist

Move-in week money checklist

Copy checklist

• Confirm whether the tenancy is joint or individual, and keep a copy of the signed agreement
• Write down the rent due date, each person's amount and how it's paid
• Get written confirmation of each person's deposit share and where it's protected
• Check the inventory room by room before signing, and keep a copy
• Photograph or film every room, including marks already on the inventory
• Email the photos to the landlord or agent and to yourselves, so they're dated
• Photograph every meter and send the readings to the suppliers
• Test every appliance and report anything broken in writing
• Agree who holds each bill and note when each contract ends
• Set up the shared expenses record and get everyone added
• Log every shared move-in cost, with receipts
• Agree the monthly settle-up day and add it to everyone's calendar

0 of 12 done

Once that's done, sit down and agree the house money rules from the flatmates guide: how bills are split, what counts as shared, guests and notice. If someone's partner is likely to be around a lot, it's worth reading when a flatmate's partner practically lives there before it becomes an issue.

Key takeaways

Copy

• Find out before signing whether it's a joint tenancy, where each of you can be pursued for the whole rent, or an individual one.
• Know the exact rent due date, how much is needed up front, and where the deposit is protected, with each person's share in writing.
• Email dated photos of every room and every meter to the landlord and yourselves in the first few days.
• For each bill, record who holds it, how it's split and when the contract ends.
• Start logging shared costs on day one and fix a monthly settle-up day before anyone needs it.