Venmo is great for splitting dinner. It is terrible for splitting rent. I learned this the hard way in Apartment 5, the "Good One," which was good in every way except how we handled rent payments.
We used Venmo because we were millennials and that's what millennials do. Sarah paid the landlord via check, and the rest of us Venmo'd her our share. Simple, right? Except Venmo has this feature where you can request money back. And my roommate Tom discovered this feature in the worst possible way.
We'd been living together for four months. Rent was $2,800. Tom's share was $700. He Venmo'd Sarah on the 1st of every month like clockwork. Then on the 5th of month five, Sarah got a notification: Tom had requested his $700 back. The note said "mistake."
Sarah, being a trusting person, accepted the request and returned the money. Then Tom didn't re-send it. He "forgot." Then he "was going to do it tomorrow." Then he "had an unexpected expense." By the 15th, Sarah had covered Tom's $700 out of her own savings to make sure the landlord got paid.
Tom moved out two weeks later. In the middle of the night. With my favorite coffee mug. Sarah never got her $700 back. Venmo's response to her dispute was basically "this is between you and the other party." Because that's what Venmo is: a casual payment app for casual payments. Not a rent collection system.
Here's what I learned: rent money needs a paper trail that can't be reversed by clicking a button. Zelle is better because transfers are instant and generally irreversible. A joint bank account is better still because everyone can see the money move. A physical check is actually the best because it's a legal instrument with a date, amount, and signature.
But the real solution isn't the payment method. It's the agreement. Before you move in, agree on: who pays the landlord, how everyone else pays that person, what date the money needs to move by, and what happens if someone is late. Write it down. Sign it. Not because you don't trust each other, but because memory is terrible and "I thought you said the 5th" is not a valid excuse when rent is due on the 1st.
After the Venmo incident, my current apartment uses Zelle with a hard deadline: rent money moves by 11:59pm on the last day of the month. If it's not there, the person who's short covers the late fee. We've been doing this for 8 months and nobody has been late once. Because the rule is clear, the consequence is clear, and there's no "I forgot" loophole.
Venmo is for pizza. Zelle is for rent. Checks are for people who want maximum legal protection. Pick one, write down the rules, and never let someone "request back" your rent money.