Opinions on house sharing

Dexter101

I'm living with my parents and I'd like to move out. Unfortunately I don't even earn enough to even rent my own flat unless I want to spend every penny I earn on basic living expenses.

House sharing on the other hand seems more feasible. I would be able to have my own space yet still be able to slowly save towards a deposit for my own flat or house.

The house shares I've seen seen to be £275-£350 which includes all bills or £250 with no bills. This is only a bit more than I pay to live with my parents and probably less than half what it would be to get my own flat so seems like a bargain for me but someone remarked that this was expensive. Is this a reasonable amount to pay for a house share?

Do house share rentals usually have locks on the individual rooms?

Are there any pitfalls around house shares? Anything I should be looking out for when I arrange viewings?

BitterAndTwisted

Whether £275-£350 including bills or £250 without is a fair rent will depend entirely on where in the country you are seeking to rent. I live in London and those prices seem very cheap to me.

One of the most important things, apart from the rent and utility bills-costs, is that you share a property with people you know that you can get along with. Most new-sharer meetings can be run along the lines of a beauty-contest as the people who are already there will be trying to figure out whether they will be able to tolerate you over the long-term rather than just the other way round, so asking questions about how long previous sharers have been there might turn out to be rather revealing.

If you can establish that the people you might be planning to share with are those you can get along with, the most important things to sort out are what the average utility bills are per quarter and what arrangements are in place for cleaning the shared areas, whether there's a kitty for shared things like milk, cleaning materials and laundry stuff and what the bath/shower rota is in the mornings as in a shared house there's unlikely to be more than one bathroom.

925dancer

The cost is totally dependent on where you live, area, type of property, how many you will be sharing with etc etc.

It would be pretty bargainous here in Edinburgh! Impossible to find it so cheap anywhere in London. Different places, different property prices.

Every house share is different, I have had a couple of great experiences and one absolutely dreadful one. It would be unusual to find locks on room doors as generally when you rent a property with others it;s just a normal property that happens to be occupied by sharers. Bear in mind also, that again with most house shares, you rent the property as a whole and are therefore wholly and severally liable for rent, so if your scatter brained unreliable housemate doesn't pay their rent, the buck stops with you too. Make sure your deposit will protected, just because it's split doesn't make any difference to the law with this.

I would ask as many questions as possible about how bills are handled, is there a housework rota (this can become a real bugbear), look at how clean the communal areas are, try to meet everyone who lives there, including the outgoing tenant as you can pick up a lot purely from their interactions with each other. Make sure they have permission to rent the room to you and if you need to be referenced by the agent. I would want to make sure I am added to the tenancy agreement and would be making sure there is no damage to the property and room that i may be lumbered with at the end of the tenancy.

I think most of us have shared at some point and most of us have had good and bad experiences!

bristol_pilot

What is reasonable to pay for a houseshare depends on the area you live in. £250 would be very cheap round my way.

House shares do not usually have locks on individual rooms. If they do, that can cause issues with the 'main tenant' being liable for tax on your portion of the rent due to 'sub-letting'. If you want an individual lock on your door, that would be classed as an HMO or multi-let - these can be slightly cheaper but IMO the house is more likely to have dodgy types living there as the rooms are let out on an individual basis by the landlord. A houseshare is better, in my view, as you get to choose who you live with. It would be regarded as unfriendly to move into a house share and ask for a lock to be put on your door - if you don't like the look of the people in the house, don't move in.

Living in a house share is lots of fun, you get to meet new people. You have much more freedom than living with parents, but the cost are not astronomic which is the case if you live alone. You can either join together with a group of friends or respond to an advert from someone looking for a person to join an existing houseshare. The key thing is to think about who you want to live with. Generally students should only live in all-student households for council-tax reasons. If you are employed, it might be better to live with other people who are also employed so that your sleep is not disturbed by the non-workers partying; also, if the house is empty during the day then bills will be cheaper. You might want to consider the age of people you are sharing with. In my experience, there is a big difference between early-20s and mid-20s upwards - do you want to be in a party house or a quiet one? Both exist, you just need to be sure you are in the right one. Think about whether you want to live in a mixed house, or with people the same sex as you. Finally, the thorny issue of smoking - if you are a non-smoker you may prefer to share only with other non-smokers. Don't believe smokers who say they will not smoke it the house - they lie! They always do and anyway they smell.

I've had some great times living in houseshares over the years (too old for it now, though). Have fun!

split_second

Dexter101 wrote: »

I'm living with my parents and I'd like to move out. Unfortunately I don't even earn enough to even rent my own flat unless I want to spend every penny I earn on basic living expenses. yep thats pretty much the reality

House sharing on the other hand seems more feasible. I would be able to have my own space yet still be able to slowly save towards a deposit for my own flat or house. yep, agreed. i nearly did it as a tenant before doing it as a landlord

The house shares I've seen seen to be £275-£350 which includes all bills or £250 with no bills. This is only a bit more than I pay to live with my parents and probably less than half what it would be to get my own flat so seems like a bargain for me but someone remarked that this was expensive. Is this a reasonable amount to pay for a house share? government rent a room scheme allows homeowners to earn up to £350 a month inclusive tax free, this is what i did, i gave up at the end of last year

Do house share rentals usually have locks on the individual rooms? mine did, yes. the other landlords i know do the same

Are there any pitfalls around house shares? yes, but there are pitfalls in crossing the road, as long as you know how to protect yourself then its all good Anything I should be looking out for when I arrange viewings? yes, people being nicer than they really are

my replys are in red

bimbo84

£350 including bills seems fairly reasonable, at least you don't have to worry about the heating bill through the winter.

You'd probably be best off going for a house share where each tenant has a separate contract so that you can't be liable for other peoples rent.

House shares can be great if you get on with your housemates or an absolute nightmare if you don't! I wouldn't sign anything until you have a chance to meet everyone you'll be sharing with and preferably go for a drink with them to see if you'll get on.

MobileSaver

bristol_pilot wrote: »

if you are a non-smoker you may prefer to share only with other non-smokers. Don't believe smokers who say they will not smoke in the house - they lie! They always do and anyway they smell.

I've never shared but my girlfriend has and if you're a non-smoker I can't second enough what bristol_pilot says, smokers always lie about this.

BitterAndTwisted

Even if they don't smoke in the house, smokers invariably manage to smoke outside open windows so the place can reek of cigs any way. My downstairs neighbours smoke on their balcony which my kitchen overlooks and I can always tell when someone's lit up down there. it's a pain in the backside to have to remember to close that window when they're at home.

My advice would be to not take a room directly above the front or the back doors.

mostlycheerful

“Do house share rentals usually have locks on the individual rooms?”

Some do, some don’t. If there’s already a lock then perhaps change the barrel or the whole lock for your security otherwise the previous occupant or anyone else who might have got hold of the key will be able to get in and burgle you and thieving does happen occasionally in shared houses. Then if you want to play things by the book give a copy of the new key to the landlord. However, you may decide that you want privacy and so don’t give the landlord a key although if they find out that you’ve changed the lock without giving them a key or if they need to get access to the room and find that they can’t without kicking the door in then they may be annoyed. In the event of an emergency that could be a serious issue.

If there’s no lock but you want one then ask if the landlord or agent can put one on or alternatively if you can put one on yourself. Or don’t ask and just stick one on yourself although, as above, doing stuff without being professional and polite and asking permission first could lose you goodwill. And worse case possibly even get you chucked out if the landlord or agent is tight about such things. However a laid back landlord or agent may not care either way and may be more concerned about your happiness than being petty about dos and don’ts. It varies a lot from tight to loose.

“Are there any pitfalls around house shares?”

A few. Yes, bad residents, bad landlord and or agents, bad neighbours in the area, bad area. Yours and other people’s food being nicked out the fridge and cupboards is a common problem. If this is occurring then as long as you’ve got a lock on your door then sometimes it’s best to keep your stuff in your room. And some people have their own fridge and microwave in their room for this reason - small second hand fridges are cheap, again if you want one then probably ask the landlord or agent and a relaxed one will normally be ok about it but a tight one may not.

Dirty bathroom, dirty bog, dirty kitchen, one or two selfish slobs spoiling it for the clean people. I once lived with loonies who repeatedly blocked the bog with newspaper which I was the only person willing to clean out, an awful job, I can tell you.

And the other way round, obsessively “clean” people being excessive and irritating and saturating the place with stinky toxic cancer causing chemicals all the time and getting right in your face unreasonably any time you leave anything out in the kitchen or forget to clean out the bath or shower after you’ve used them.

Some people’s cooking stinks like you wouldn’t believe it, like they must be boiling rotted roadkill or biohazard material or something vile and alien.

Yes, there are some downsides to communal living with strangers.

“Anything I should be looking out for when I arrange viewings?”

When I used to live in rented places I didn’t bother checking the other residents before I moved in but I’m relatively tough and can handle myself and all oncomers and any situation arising. And I’m fairly self contained and got a lot of my own friends so who else was in the house didn’t matter much to me, whether they were good or bad. With bad people I just avoid conflict as much as possible and I generally just ignore and put up with them being bad people. But I’m quite thick skinned like that, bad stuff mostly doesn’t really bother me. It’s irritating, sure, but I’m focussed on enjoying myself elsewise so a bit of rubbish is normally just water off a duck’s back to me. But that’s me. But if you could adopt this kind of mentality then it will stand you in good stead if push comes to shove at some point.

So, if you want to be careful and try to avoid rubbish people then, as other posters here suggest, perhaps ask to meet the other residents or at least ask for a description of what they’re like. Hopefully they’ll be nice and your kind of people or at least people that you’ll be ok with. But if there’s any rough sorts or people you don’t like then perhaps think twice and maybe look at some other properties as well, don’t just take the first one. You may not particularly be able to form an impression of what you want or what’s good or bad until you’ve seen a few different ones. I generally used to look at 6 or 8 or even 10 before I made my choice.

Of course, as other posters suggest, sometimes it’s hard to tell quite what someone’s like just from one meeting or a mere description so even if they seem ok you might then find that they’re not. Yes, houseshares vary from nice to awful, largely dependent on the people. One of the best ones I was in was with three mates and we mostly had a right laugh and cooked dinner for each other and hung out together and most of the time it was great. So if you’ve got any friends to go in with then that can be good. Although alternatively sometimes living together with friends brings out the worst in people and you find out stuff about your friends that didn’t come out before. Some friendships go down the pan when they’re put to the test by living together. So living with friends doesn’t always work, sometimes it’s a disaster. The whole thing’s fairly hit and miss.

If your first houseshare is no good then try a different one. And the same with that, if it’s nice then all well and good, if it’s not then look for something else that’s decent. A lot of young people move about a lot, don’t be surprised if you want out fairly quickly with the first one or two or three until you find a good one, it’s quite common.

I’ve always wanted to be reasonably near bus, train and or tube lines so consider if this is important to you. Maybe not if, for instance, you go everywhere by bicycle, motorbike or car but if you’re on foot then consider whether a long hike to the transport is acceptable to you or not. For me it’s not, an important thing for me is to be near.

I’ve always wanted a big room so I never accepted titchy rooms, I always kept looking till I found a big room fairly cheap.

Whether there's a living room and whether it's nice and big is another thing to consider. My houseshare with friends had a nice big one which was great for entertaining and hanging out. However, it was a big old draughty house so extremely cold in winter. Other houses I was in didn't have a living room available, but that was ok at the time. So decide how important a living room is and whether you want a big one. Also garden? Some have gardens which can be very nice in summer and for having parties. Again, is this something you'd like? Or not bothered?

Washing machine and drier? Most places have got them but some don't so decide how important this is to you. If you take a place without them then you'll have to go out to use a laundrette which is costly and time consuming and a bit of a pain in the neck. And even worse if it's a long way away. So perhaps put this on your checklist of things to tick off.

Internet already available? A lot of places will have it already on but if not then if you want it you'll have to get your own put on which therefore may also require getting your own phone line installed if there isn't already one available, which most landlords ought to allow but possibly some might refuse, so ask. Or maybe you could use your own wifi key as long as there is a signal available to use, otherwise you'll have to use net cafes, the library or other people's houses - doable, but much nicer to have it laid on in the house and available for you to plug into, either free or cheap.

Yes, draw up a checklist of all the points to remember, it's quite hard to remember everything as you're walking round looking so take a written list with you and tick it off as you go through it.

If you want good quality then keep hunting till you find it. As I already mention, normally I used to look at about 6 or 8 or 10 places then chose the best one, or perhaps the least bad one.

Good luck.

bristol_pilot

I didn't put this in my original post because to me its a statement of the blooming obvious, but others posts have reminded me - never move into a houseshare without meeting ALL the other housemates first! Indeed, if THEY are willing to let someone move in without all the existing housemates having met you - take that as a bad sign too!

It is really important that if you intend fitting the door of your room with a lock that you mention this BEFORE taking the room. If you just move in then go ahead with a lock it is likely to offend your housemates (essentially accusing them of being potential thieves) and the landlord (putting him in a difficult position on fire safety). If you go in with the 'wrong attitude' you will not make friends and influence people! Living with parents you may not have needed to be concerned before about how others perceive you - in a houseshare you will, which is one reason it can be such a good experience. Part of growing up.

Food being pinched and housework not being done is only usually an issue where the housemates are all really young, like under 22 or whatever. New graduates seem to be the worst!

loops87

It really depends on the house, your room, and the area the house is in... house prices and so house share prices vary massively. In Oxford last year I saw people advertising house shares for upwards of £500 but property there is extortionate. When I was living in liverpool houseshares there were around £200 a month.

Pitfalls around house shares entirely depends on the people, I had some great times living in house shares when I was at university but it can be awful if you live with someone you don't get on with - I had a housemate once who stole money from me and my boyfriend! Nightmare. Also you might find it difficult if you are a clean freak as not everyone might share your obsessions (I was the messiest one in our house so annoyed everyoen else!) I've only lived in student houseshares though, not tried it since becoming a "proper adult" so my experiences there are limited.