House/flat sharing with strangers - have you had good experiences?

gettingready

Cubanista wrote: »

The area i live in is quite poverty ridden and is known as a bit of a dump lol, well most parts anyway.





Cubanista

So look for a room to rent/house share out of the area. Simples.

Loz01

Could you look at being a lodger in someones home? Then you've moved out but youre in someones family home which means they're more likely to keep it clean and be fairly quiet (I should imagine anyway!) I guess sharing with flatmates is just a bit of pot luck really, you could get someone quiet and introverted or someone who invites a hoard of mates over for a party 3 times a week (aka my idea of hell, that's why I still live at home :rotfl: )

ciderwithrosie_2

House shared a few times when younger from when I was at art college up until I was pregnant with DS2 and the home owners were returning to the area. I've shared with some great people with whom I am still friends and some very strange people, who I was glad not to have to see ever again!

My advice would be:

• Agree some ground rules e.g. if one person has to be up really early for work, then no loud music, tv, hoovering, friends round after say, 10pm.
• Make sure you pull your weight around the place, cleaning etc. - don't make your presence create extra work for others, house-mates are not your parents!
• Sort out the bills - what needs paying, when. One house-share, 4 of us covered the rent and the 5th put an equal amount aside to cover the bills and also bought communal stuff like toilet rolls, bin bags and washing up liquid.
• Don't have a girlfriend/boyfriend staying over all the time and not consider how your house-mates will feel about it (less space in the lounge, more electricity used etc.)
• Try and fit in - don't shut yourself away in your room all the time or just socialise with existing friends.

Indie_Kid

ciderwithrosie wrote: »

House shared a few times when younger from when I was at art college up until I was pregnant with DS2 and the home owners were returning to the area. I've shared with some great people with whom I am still friends and some very strange people, who I was glad not to have to see ever again!

My advice would be:

• Agree some ground rules e.g. if one person has to be up really early for work, then no loud music, tv, hoovering, friends round after say, 10pm.

And if they want a party or something, ask them to let you know beforehand.

• Don't have a girlfriend/boyfriend staying over all the time and not consider how your house-mates will feel about it (less space in the lounge, more electricity used etc.)

When I lived in halls, there was someone who would either have her boyfriend over of a weekend or she'd go home. We'd always get a warning about this though.

sofarbehind

I really wouldn't do it, it's very unpleasant. I think it would be sensible if you were moving away to further your career, otherwise don't.


I appreciate you want to be more independent but you are so lucky to have family to stay with until your financial situation improves. I think it's perfectly acceptable to be living at home still and it's more common now that housing is so expensive. Living with family is a compromise but living with strangers is a horrible compromise! I feel very unhappy because of one self-centred person I'm trapped living with and can't wait to live alone. I could afford to rent my own flat but that would limit my deposit saving so I'm sticking it out for a better future. Stick it out at home and save for your future.

Gloomendoom

I shared with other people or lodged from when I left home at 18 until I was 34. A couple of places were a bit grim but, as has been said, you don't have to stay. Overall, it wasn't an unpleasant experience.

cyantist

I shared with 3 other people who were all a few years younger than me and that was ok but we didn't have an awful lot in common and there were some nights I was kept up until 5am when I had to be up at 9 the next morning.

I then moved and was sharing with people who were plain weird. I had to sign for 12 months and it was really difficult to get out of it before the 12 months was up. I then lost loads of deposit money.

It might be better to try to live in a place with a live-in landlord and then you can easily move out, and generally the deposit is less and the person is less likely to be a thieving scumbag than most letting agents are!

System

I've houseshared for 10 years, but have only lived with strangers since January 2014

When i moved in, there were 2 other girs, and a guy who was barely here. The girls i never had a problem with, i could alays talk to them and got on with them. The guy, well he moved back permetly, smoked weed all day and was a nasty piece of work, he as eventually evicted. One of the girls moved out and a Turkish guy (mid 40's, the rest of us are mid 20's) moved in, He has been a pain in the !!! since day one. he has complained to the landlord about anything and everything, i think he averages at least one complaint a week. He even compalined to the landlord that he hadn;t seen me much and i wwas anti social! :eek: I did polietly chip in that actually i work late shifts and just prefer to keep myself to myself so that's why he might not see me much. Anyway things are so bad now we don;t even speak to each other none of the other housemates like him either. We then had a lovely guy from Columbia move in, he wwas quiet and keot to himself but alwasy friendly and bless him even got me a card and little present when he left. After him we've had another guy move in, he's not too bad, except for when he brings his toddler back in the early hours of the morning, i;ve been woken up a few times by said child :mad: And now my last remaining female housemate who i got in with has moved out so i'm currently awaiting her replacement.

You're probably asking at this point why i still live here. Well to be honest, its cheap, very chepa and all bills inclusive, and its easy to commute to work from here. Plus half the time i'm staying at my boyfriend's anyway so i put up with twatty housemates. And even if i did move there's no guarantee it would be better elsewhere.

I say all of this not to put you off, just to share my experience which has been different to sharing with friends (though over the years there were bad points to that too). Personally i survive by keeping to myself. My room is my space and my sanctuary and i'm quite happy when i'm in here. Some days its even possible to imagine i'm not sharing :rotfl: And one thing i remind myself is that it's not forever.

Cubanista

carefullycautious wrote: »

Hi, what about advertising for someone who may be in the same situation as you to rent a property together. You can then meet up with any applicants and see who you hit it off with. Do you have friends who are thinking about moving out?

Hey,


No, not really. I have a friend who is still living at home but he is unemployed at the moment and he doesn't seem to be working on getting job any time soon.


I don't have a big group of friends unfortunately, so it's near on impossible to get friends to move out with me.


Thanks,


Cubanista.

Cubanista

gettingready wrote: »

So look for a room to rent/house share out of the area. Simples.

Hey,


The surrounding areas are all dumps lol. I am in a lose/lose situation.


Thanks,


Cubanista.