How to split furniture when a roommate moves out

How do you work out what a piece of furniture is worth now?

Take the price, subtract what has been used up, and divide among the co-owners. The simplest way to say “used up” is straight-line: the piece loses the same amount every month over an assumed life. Value = price × (life minus age) ÷ life, with life and age in months.

Say three roommates, Hana, Jonah and Wes, bought a $900 sofa 18 months ago and agree it lasts 60 months. It loses $900 ÷ 60 = $15 a month. After 18 months, $270 has been used up, so the sofa is worth $900 minus $270, which is $630. Each of three co-owners holds $630 ÷ 3 = $210.

The life number is negotiated, not a standard, and it moves the answer a lot. A 36-month life would make the same sofa worth $450, and a 120-month life $765. Agree the life for each kind of piece before anyone says which one they want, so the number does not follow the preference.

What does the person who keeps it pay?

They pay each co-owner their share of the current value. Here are two cases.

• One person leaves and two stay. Hana moves out and Jonah and Wes keep the sofa together. Hana’s $210 is paid by the two who stay, $105 each. Each then holds half the sofa, worth $315.
• The household ends and one person keeps the sofa. Wes takes it. He pays Hana $210 and Jonah $210, which is $420 in total.

Do the payment on the handover day, using the age on that day.

How do you handle several pieces at once?

Value each piece, add the values, and settle only the gap between what each person takes and an equal share. Here are four pieces the three of them bought together.

Item	Price	Age and life	Value now
Sofa	$900	18 of 60 months	$630
Dining table and chairs	$360	24 of 120 months	$288
TV	$240	12 of 48 months	$180
Rug	$90	18 of 36 months	$45

The values total $1,143, so an equal share is $381. Say Hana moves out and takes the sofa and the rug, worth $675. Jonah and Wes keep the table and the TV, worth $468.

Hana took $675 and was owed $381, so she pays the difference, $294. That splits as $147 to Jonah and $147 to Wes, who each end up holding $468 ÷ 2 + $147 = $381 of value. Had Hana taken nothing, she would be paid $381, which is $190.50 from each of the other two.

What are the other ways to handle it?

Pay-outs are not the only way. Three others work when no one wants to buy anyone out.

• Sell it and split the proceeds. Say the sofa sells for $450. Split equally, that is $150 each. If Hana paid $600 of the $900 and Jonah and Wes $150 each, splitting by contribution gives $300 to Hana and $75 to each of the others. Use equal if everyone paid equally, and contribution if they did not.
• Draw picks in a fixed order. Draw numbers from 1 to 3. Each person takes one piece in turn, then the order reverses, so the last picker in round one picks first in round two. With four pieces and three people, whoever drew 3 takes two. Value the picks with the formula and settle any gap.
• Donate it. If a piece is old and nobody wants it, take it off the list and say so in the note, so that nobody wonders later where the rug went.

What goes in the handover note?

Two lines is enough, and it can go in the group chat. Everyone confirms with a reply.

Valued Oct 1 with lives of 60, 120, 48 and 36 months: sofa $630, table $288, TV $180, rug $45. Total $1,143, so $381 each.

Hana takes the sofa and rug ($675) and pays Jonah $147 and Wes $147 by Oct 15. Table and TV stay with Jonah and Wes.

Keep the furniture settlement separate from the deposit, which has its own rules. Roommate moving out: how to handle their deposit share covers that side, and the roommate move-out checklist lists every money item in one place.

How do you record the payment in EvenOut?

Add the buyout as an expense first, so the payment has a balance to settle. EvenOut allows one payer per expense when you add by hand, so make one expense for each person who is owed.

1. Add an expense called “Furniture buyout” for $147.00 in the group, with the Furniture category, and set the “Paid by” chip to Jonah.
2. Open the split picker and choose Exact amounts. Type $147.00 for Hana and $0.00 for Jonah and Wes. The pill reads “All assigned”.
3. Repeat for Wes, with the same amounts and “Paid by” set to Wes.
4. When Hana pays, open Settle up, pick the balance and tap Record payment.

EvenOut records the payments and does not move money, so Hana pays however the house agrees. A recorded payment can be deleted and restored but not edited.

What should you do next?

Before the move-out date, list the pieces and agree a life for each, then run the formula once and send the note. If the piece was bought recently, how to split furniture costs with roommates explains the arrangements that avoid a buyout altogether, such as a monthly use fee. For the rest of the move-out money, see what roommates owe each other when one moves out early.