What is a One-Bedroom Split?

If you’ve looked for a two-bedroom apartment in a city known for small apartments like Boston or New York City, you may have come across listings advertising a “one-bedroom split” apartment in your search. If you were confused on why you were seeing “split” apartments that seemed to be smaller than what you were searching for, you aren’t alone.

In this article, we explain what that means exactly, go through the differences between one-bedroom splits and other apartment layouts with similar names, and list out pros and cons of this unconventional floor plan.  

A one-bedroom split apartment (which may also be advertised in real estate as a “split-style apartment’) is a unit where the living room can be converted into a second bedroom. So, it is essentially a one-bedroom apartment where the landlord is allowing the tenants to turn it into a two-bedroom apartment by removing the living room. In a unit with an open floor plan, this could look like renters putting up a room divider that you buy online or hanging a curtain to close off the living area, or even the landlord putting up a divider wall on behalf of the tenants. In an apartment with an older-style, closed floor plan, the living room may already have four walls and a door that separates it from the rest of the unit.

Not all landlords are willing to have two tenants who aren’t a couple share a one-bedroom apartment, so that’s what differentiates a one-bedroom split apartment from a true one bedroom apartment. 

Similar to a one-bedroom split apartment, a two-bedroom split is an apartment where there are two true bedrooms a third bedroom made out of a converted living room or dining room. So, a two-bedroom split apartment can be made to have three bedrooms. Though less common, a three-bedroom split apartment could have up to four bedrooms, and so on.

The most similar floor plan to a one-bedroom split apartment is a studio or one-bedroom flex apartment — and for that reason, a realtor may use the two terms interchangeably. A flex apartment is a unit where a temporary divider wall (called a flex wall) has been put up either by the tenant or the landlord to help the tenant divide one larger room into two smaller rooms. This could look like a stationary floor-to-ceiling wall, a dividing wall structure on wheels, pocket doors, or a barn-style door that’s hung on hinges on the ceiling. For example, a large studio apartment could be turned into a one-bedroom home with a flex wall.

A one-bedroom with a flex room would look like a true one-bedroom apartment, with a large living room that has been divided into multiple rooms with a flex wall (so, totaling at two bedrooms, with a smaller living room). This would be very similar to a one-bedroom split — though the split would have no living room space. The flex wall could also be used to create a home office area rather than another bedroom.

A split-level apartment is a unit with multiple floors. In a split-level one-bedroom apartment, the living room and kitchen will likely be on one floor while the bedroom would be on another. The bathroom could be on either level. This layout can be preferred by renters who don’t mind stairs because it gives the illusion of a more spacious apartment. This is very different from a one-bedroom split apartment, which converts a living room space into a bedroom.

A split-bedroom apartment is a unit where the bedrooms are separated from each other in the floor plan, so they are on the opposite sides of the house. In a split-bedroom floorplan, the master bedroom will be on one side of the apartment and the other bedroom (or bedrooms) will be on the other. The two areas will be separated by the living room and/or kitchen. This is different from a one-bedroom split apartment, which does not technically have any living room space at all — so the bedrooms will have very little separation.

If you’re debating whether or not to sign a lease on a one- or two-bedroom split apartment when looking for your new home, consider the following pros and cons. 

A one-bedroom split apartment isn’t for everyone, and may be more ideal for roommates who don’t mind being in close quarters with each other. Because it affords renters a much cheaper living space, it can be worth it to sacrifice the extra living space.