Where should I advertise to find a new flatmate?

mr_fishbulb

Hi all,

I've got to get in a new flatmate to take over from one who is leaving. I'm a tenant and the landlord is cool with this person leaving mid-contract as long as we find a replacement.

I'm after a couple of websites to put the advert up on. Which ones are decent? Spare Room? It's in London if that makes a difference. Don't want to use gumtree - that place gives me the creeps.

Cheers

anselld

Spare Room seems decent enough.

DKLS

Spareroom is good, also if you have a hospital nearby its well worth advertising on the staff notice boards, as there is usually a consultant or two that needs a share.

benjus

Gumtree is full of carp, but there are plenty of gems to be found. I've found two beautiful flats (both converted early Victorian buildings with large rooms, high ceilings, shuttered sash windows etc) on there at very reasonable prices, direct with the landlord.

You may have more concrete reasons for not wanting to use it, but I personally wouldn't rule it out.

BigAunty

If you are well situated for travel and its a really nice property, you may be able to find a business person stay there on a Monday to Friday basis and give you the weekends to yourself, paying the conventional rent for their partial stay as it still works out a lot cheaper than hotels or short stay apartments. There are Monday to Friday lodger sites specifically for this.

duchy

I always put cards in newsagents windows and on canteen noticeboards at the local hospitals (I found nurses were the best flatmates as most had a reasonable amount of commonsense and worked shift so we both got the flat to ourselves sometimes) -it meant I got people already familiar with the area rather than someone arranging a viewing and then realizing it was further from where they wanted to be than they realized and timewasting.

Worst experience was an estate agent who rented the room. Nearly burned the place down, turned everything on -including loud music (upsetting the neighbours) and the iron and would go out without turning anything off. Oh and brought some dead dodgy blokes back too.Fortunately she was rubbish with money and was soon behind with her rent so I got rid.

Prothet_of_Doom

I've used spare room to get 3 room rentals in the last 4 years, plus work has an intranet chat area, with lots of adverts for overpriced tat that people want to sell to thier unsuspecting work mates. Usually there's a flow of rooms for rent (big company, lots of grads, moving about). I've found a couple like that. (On both I negotiated hard on the price, due to them being a bit steep)

Son's student house, lost two housemates (out of 8) last year due to exam failure, and new people came about via facebook, and university message boards (as in a card on a board written with a pen)

getmore4less

When I was looking for a short term -6months

I searched

Spareroom
easyroommate
gumtree
airbnb(more short term visitor types but some have places up for longer)

As others have said if there is a local source of people try more direct advertising, asking around, even local pubs where people hang out.

gnimia

As well as the above - Moveflat is good and london focused

ellecarumba

Spareroom. Have used it a couple of time to find flatmates for young professional shared flat in London. Costs a couple of quid but worth it. Also used moveflat which was fine, only covers London, I think but well used there.

Don't write off gumtree though. We also used that without problems. Just use a different email address (set one up on gmail or something) so you don't get too much spam into your regular account. Lots of people still use it to find rooms. You will presumably be meeting and interviewing the person before you accept them and they will possibly need a reference check so that would weed out any scammers.

be clear in your advert about what the deal is with rent/bills/council tax and whether the person needs to be working/a student etc. Also state your other requirements like age range, gender, smoking, party lifestyle, working shifts etc up front. Do they need to sign a minimum six month tenancy? is there a reference checking fee? is there an admin fee to change your tenancy documents to include them?

You'll have no trouble filling a room in London, you just don't want to bother having viewings with potential flat mates who are 45 year women if you are all male university students aged 21. (or waste their time either)

Don't send out the address of the property to people until you have corresponded with them and perhaps checked them out a bit. (facebook/linkedin or something perhaps). When we were advertising, we had numerous responses from middle aged men despite making it very clear in our advert we wanted a women in her 20s, as we all were. I would definitely recommend speaking to someone on the phone first before giving out your address for a viewing. Had some pretty creepy messages even via spareroom from men

I would also recommend not having people visit for viewings while you are alone, particularly if you are female - this was not an issue for us as we were a four person household - but if it is just you, maybe get a friend or the departing tenant to be in too. Plus they can give you another view on whether the person seems like a good fit for your flatmate.

orangeslimes

I've always used gumtree for that sort of thing (also Spareroom), but gumtree works fine if you are cautious. I never put up a phone number - so people have to email me. I then only reply to people who write decent emails, and demonstrate that they have read my advert.
Once it gets to the viewings I would offer the person coming round a cup of tea and if they don't sit down for a cup of tea and chat I probably wouldn't offer them the room.