Flat fees, not flat chaos: how Flatly charges you (without rinsing you)

You know when the Wi‑Fi dies and someone drops “btw can you all chuck me $240 for rent today” in the chat… then disappears?

Now you’re chasing screenshots, doing maths on a cracked iPhone screen, and trying to guess if you’re getting shafted on “fees or whatever.”

Kia ora flat boss. Let’s actually talk money. Not vibes. Not “it’ll be roughly this.” Real numbers. Real simple. Sweet as.

The short version

• Pay your landlord or power? Max $2 fee per payment.

• Pay your flatmates back for dinner or an Uber? Usually just $1.

  
  

That’s it. Two lanes. No gotchas. No “+ random platform fee” hiding at the bottom.

Lane 1: Rent, power, Wi‑Fi, all the boring adult stuff

This is the “external” lane: money going out of your flat to someone who’s not on Flatly – landlords, property managers, Spark, Mercury, whoever.

Here’s how it works:

• Fee is 1.75% of the amount

• But never more than $2

• And never less than $1.20

  
  

So:

• $25 Wi‑Fi → $1.20

• $52 bill → $1.20

• $100 power → $1.75

• $200 rent → $2

• $500 rent → still $2

  
  

Big takeaway: once you’re over about $114, you’re capped.Send $200, $400, $1000 in rent? Still $2 fee.No “oops that’ll be $6.10 actually” nonsense.

Over a year, if you’re paying weekly rent and a couple of bills through Flatly, you’re looking at roughly $139/year in fees for all that grown‑up admin, versus something like $317/year with stuff like PayPal on the same payments. You keep the difference. Not your bank. Not us.

Lane 2: Flatmate splits, dinners, Ubers, random “I’ll grab it now”

This is the “internal” lane: money bouncing between people in the same Flatly house.

• Fee is 0.95% of the amount

• Never less than $1

• No max cap (but most flat stuff isn’t huge anyway)

  
  

So:

• $15 takeaway night → $1

• $52 groceries → $1

• $100 Uber split → $1

• $200 shared expense → $1.90

  
  

This lane is cheap on purpose.We want you to just tap pay, not go “eh, I’ll sort you later” and then ghost each other for three weeks.

“What if we try to game it?”

You might be thinking:“I’ll just pay my flatmate, they pay the landlord, boom, cheaper right?”

Not really.

Example:

• You pay flatmate an average bill like $200 for rent (internal) →which is $1.90

• Flatmate pays landlord $200 (external) → $2

• Total: $3

  
  

If you just pay the landlord through Flatly yourself? It’s $2.So yeah, the “hack” costs more. Plus double the faff.

Why we charge anything at all

We’re not here to pretend everything’s “free” then sting you later. Flatly has real payment costs in the background, plus boring stuff like fraud checks, infrastructure, and keeping the lights on so your rent doesn’t bounce at 11:59pm on a Sunday.

So instead of subscriptions or surprise add‑ons, you get:

• One clear fee per payment

• Hard cap on bills at $2

• Flatmate‑to‑flatmate splits starting at $1

  
  

No mysteries. No reading a pricing table like it’s your law exam.

How this actually helps your flat

Here’s what the two‑tier thing does in real life:

• The “rent and bills” lane is cheap enough that it’s a no‑brainer to run everything through Flatly instead of juggling bank accounts and screenshots.

• The “flatmate splits” lane keeps the “who owes who” mess inside one app, not spread across six payment requests and three different bank descriptions.

  
  

Result: Less chasing. Less “yo did you pay that?” Less “sorry I thought I already sent that” when they absolutely did not.

Wanna run your flat like it’s sorted, not a side hustle?

Set your flat up once, agree you’re doing rent + bills through Flatly, and then let the app be the boring adult in the room.

• Bills to your landlord or utilities? Max $2 per payment.

• Splitting dinner, Ubers, groceries with flatmates? Usually $1.

  
  

Flat life stays fair, simple, and way less awkward.

Join your flat or See Flatly and let the fees be the least dramatic part of your week.