Moving into a house share as a couple

92203

Hello everyone,

My girlfriend and I are living in Nottingham and are currently renting a flat in a nice area of town. We are hoping to save up to purchase our own house, and currently have £7k in the bank.

Neither of us have any desire to stay in Nottingham, so are looking at saving as much as possible to put down on a house in a location we actually want to live in. Our flat is costing £880 a month to run (This includes rent, Electricity, TV Licence, Broaband, Council Tax and Water), and we both feel that we could make significant cost savings by moving into shared accommodation.

Does anyone have any advice on on doing so, or which sites are particularly good for finding decent house shares please?

Cheers

92203

dawyldthing

depending which part of Nottingham try the chad, nottingham evening standard and gumtree. i've seen house shares at 60 per week including bills before, so could give you a substantial saving. Or alternative head to the outskirts of Nottingham as living in the centre always comes at a premium

ruggedtoast

92203 wrote: »

Hello everyone,

My girlfriend and I are living in Nottingham and are currently renting a flat in a nice area of town. We are hoping to save up to purchase our own house, and currently have £7k in the bank.

Neither of us have any desire to stay in Nottingham, so are looking at saving as much as possible to put down on a house in a location we actually want to live in. Our flat is costing £880 a month to run (This includes rent, Electricity, TV Licence, Broaband, Council Tax and Water), and we both feel that we could make significant cost savings by moving into shared accommodation.

Does anyone have any advice on on doing so, or which sites are particularly good for finding decent house shares please?

Cheers

92203

I would advise you not to do so at all. Why not just move to a cheaper flat? You are already effectively sharing.

While couples house sharing was glamourised in certain late 90s dramas like This Life, the reality is that as a couple in an HMO you will be viewed with suspicion and resentment by your house mates, who will retaliate by insisting you pay twice as much rent even though you are only occupying one room.

You will have no privacy either. Really, dont do it.

thegirlintheattic

You will struggle to find a house share as a couple and as the previous poster said, will often encounter problems as a couple including paying twice for one room (although IMHO this is correct as you will be both using the shared areas and utilities).

When looking for house shares on my own most had rules about even having boyfriends/girlfriends over, let alone living as a couple.

Strapped

I agree with the above - no-one wants to share with couples so you'll be hard pushed to find one. A studio flat would give you more privacy.

Brallaqueen

How about renting a two bed flat, and getting a lodger? That way you would already be in situ and in control of the proceedings, and can pick and choose who you want to share with. Lodger pays a set price for their room and 1/3 of the bills.

Not all LL will be happy, mind.

Annisele

I lived in a house share as part of a couple, and it was fine. However, the sweetener for the others was that we paid for two rooms, used one of them for both of us to sleep in, and then made the other into a living room that everybody could use (the property didn't otherwise have a living room).

When it came to splitting rent/bills/assorted costs, we always counted ourselves as two separate people.