7 Essential Rules to Sharing a House with Students
- Philippa DC
- 4 days ago
- 7 min read
Things to Consider When Sharing a House or Flat with Students
Moving into your first shared house or flat with other university students? Sharing a house with other students is a great way to reduce your living costs. You can share the rent, energy bills, groceries and other household expenses with your housemates, which can make life fun and more affordable.
Between dodgy boilers and deciphering energy bills, sharing accommodation with other students can feel like a minefield. How do you avoid explosive arguments and conflicts? Our practical tips will help you navigate house sharing without passive-aggressive fridge notes or WhatsApp group messages! The following rules will help you avoid conflict, save money, and keep friendships intact.
For every "what if?" scenario, get your copy of our 'From High School to Uni' guide which offers valuable insights, tips and tools you never knew you needed. From planning your move out of Uni Halls to spotting accommodation scams, navigating unresponsive property agents and dealing with dodgy landlords, you can trust the guidance given in the book. We've been through it all!
How to Screen Housemates in a Student House Share
Why Compatibility is more important than Friendship
Compatibility matters more than you think. That course-mate who’s fun at parties, or great on your team during a pub quiz might be an absolute nightmare over shared chores or personal hygiene. Before getting caught up in the 1st year buzz of choosing mates to share a house with for your 2nd year, host a “trial chat” over coffee to discuss habits and ask a few key questions.
3 Dealbreaker Questions for Potential Housemates
1. Early bird or night owl? Will they be noisy when you’re trying to sleep?
2. Overnight guests? What’s your tolerance for partners sleeping over?
3. Are they a smoker? Messy or Tidy?
Trust your gut.. Living with your closest friends can strain relationships.
The Contract Every House Share Needs
Get It in Writing (Yes, Even with Friends)
Verbal agreements crumble faster than a digestive biscuit and should never be relied upon. Protect yourself with a written contract that each house mate should sign that agrees on the following:
Rent splits per room size (i.e. the person with the smallest room pays less than the others with larger rooms)
Bills payment deadlines
Exit clauses. If someone drops out of university (yes, it happens frequently), the obligation to find a replacement or continue to pay the rent until the end of the lease needs to be stipulated, to avoid others having to pay the difference in rent.
Inventory photos of the property’s condition (for deposit protection!).
Sparing you the exact details, we've dealt with a case where 3 students sharing a house all agreed on splitting the rent equally on a flatshare where one room was smaller than the other two. We advised the tenants to put their agreement in writing. They didn't.
On move-in day, when the parents of the "smaller room" student helped them move in, they were not happy with the situation and asked for a reduction in rent. Fair enough, and all things considered, maybe they should have agreed to it in the first place. It led to a readjustment of expenses for the other two tenants and some resentment for a while. Hence the advice, GET IT IN WRITING!
Managing Shared Bills in a Student House Share
Best Apps for Splitting House Share Costs
Nothing sparks arguments faster than debts, poor payers, and uneven utility costs. Here are some apps that help track expenses in a transparent way for everyone to see what they’ve paid, and what they owe.
Plum: Automatically saves for annual bills
Set some ground rules: Will the person with the gaming PC pay extra electricity?
Budget for winter: Heating costs in older homes can be expensive with high electricity costs for radiators.
For a foolproof guide to budgeting, check out From High School to Uni’s mini budget training course and download our template spreadsheet.
How to Split Household Chores Fairly with Housemates
The Best Ways to Share Cleaning Tasks When Sharing a House
Nobody likes cleaning. Well, nobody who's paying rent for someone else's house! Having a system in place to share the household chores is important as it shouldn't be down to the person with the highest standards to bear the brunt of the work.
Here are some golden rules to manage the cleaning tasks in a house share:
Use a visible rota (download the roster included our Student Bundles) to see what needs to be done when, and by whom. For example, the bins needs to be taken out every week, so rotate one tenant per week. Stick it on the fridge or front door for visibility.
Assign tasks based on strengths, i.e. techies can fix stuff, creative types can plump the cushions and vacuum. Own the tasks you enjoy doing, and share the load on tasks that are more of a burden, or do them in pairs to make it more enjoyable.
Everyone should wash their own dishes. IMMEDIATELY. No mouldy mug mountain building up in the sink!
Avoid passive aggressive post-it notes. Set the rules upfront. If someone slacks off, set up a penalty that everyone signs up to, i.e. slacker buys the cleaning products or toilet rolls for the next month. If the punishment is great enough, hopefully the motivation to avoid it will help them spring into action.
List every chore so that each house mate understands the full extent of responsibilities, and clarifies each person's role to balance the workload.
Host Regular House Meetings
Hold monthly 'house meetings' to air any grievances, or reallocate tasks, if necessary.
Send an agenda ahead of time, to allow all housemates to contribute to the discussion.
Vote on any contentious issues. Majority rules.
Have snacks at the meeting. Nothing good comes out of hangriness!
Student House Share Privacy & Noise Etiquette
Boundaries to be Respected
Always knock before entering others' rooms - even if the door is ajar.
Never go into someone's bedroom when they're not there.
Never 'borrow' anything without permission FIRST. Not clothes, their laptop charger, their straighteners, or their heater. Nothing. Text or call them and respect the answer if it's a no.
Same goes for food. Midnight munchies can happen if it's YOUR food. Don't go raiding your flat mates' cupboards or fridge shelves if yours happen to be empty.
Agree on quiet hours during exam season, and set a noise curfew, i.e. between the hours of 10pm to 8am.
Put a House Guest Policy in place
Discuss the rules for having guests in advance. This includes roommates as well as friends or classmates you invite over for the evening. None of them are responsible for your shared house, so invite them at your own risk.
Imagine this scenario:
You invite a bunch of friends over after class for "pre's" before going clubbing. One thing leads to another, and you all get drunk at pre's and end up ordering pizza, watching a movie, and drinking at home. One of the guests throws up, another accidentally breaks a chair leg, and everyone leaves their beer bottles on the table, leaving stains and cigarette butts in a glass before leaving you to deal with the consequences.
Visitors, whether romantic or otherwise, can disrupt the house ecosystem. It is best to agree on a few rules upfront to avoid arguments with your house mates.
Give advance notice to other housemates before inviting friends over.
Agree on a limit of visitors in one go. Otherwise, over 5 classifies as a party!
Frequency limits: sleepovers more than three nights could imply an additional house mate. Should they then contribute to the rent or bills as they're using electricity to charge their phone, or taking hot showers?
Avoid Deposit Disasters in Shared Student Housing
Get Organised with Move-in and Move-out Checklists
And look no further than our Student Resources. Our moves in and out of numerous student accommodation across Europe has enabled us to create accurate checklists and tips to help you move in and out of your accommodation in the most efficient and stress-free way. Read more on this in our guide and our blog.
Beware the Deposit Disaster
Getting your deposit back shouldn’t feel like a heist movie.
Document everything during check-in (scuffs, stains, broken blinds) and take photos as proof, that should be registered with the landlord.
Deep-clean together before moving out – splitting the cost hiring a professional cleaner can be the most cost-effective dispute-free method to avoid wasted time and additional expense.
Know your rights: In most countries, deposits must be protected under a government scheme.
When House Shares Go Wrong: Exit Strategies
How to Leave a Toxic House Share
The most common issues students experience with a shared house are:
paying rent or bills on time
household chores and a lack of respect for sharing the duties
antisocial behaviour and unreasonable noise levels
dealing with the guests of housemates
If you have been trying to hold house meetings and discuss problems before they become more serious, and nothing is working, consider the following:
Talk to a university student support advisor. Some universities have mediation services that can help get issues resolved or at least give you some advice.
Discuss asking a problematic housemate to leave. But then you'll have to deal with their broken tenancy agreement and potentially an increase in rent to cover their share.
If you involve the landlord, know that you cannot evict one joint tenant without the tenancy being dissolved and you all being evicted, so think carefully.
If you are the one who wants to leave, you will need to respect the notice period in the tenancy agreement. You may need to find a new replacement tenant.
Make sure your name is taken off the lease otherwise you may be liable for end-of-tenancy repairs / cleaning, etc. Your replacement should pay your share of the deposit.
Settle up any debts from bill-splitting, up to the date when you move out.
Try and leave on civil terms.
Navigating your first student house share is equal parts thrilling and daunting – a crash course in adulting where you’ll master everything from diplomatic conflict resolution to deciphering kWh rates.
While these rules lay the groundwork for a harmonious home, remember that living together is rarely perfect. Clogged up sinks, leaky taps, mysteriously vanishing cutlery, and that one housemate who “forgets” bin day are just rites of passage in your adult life.
For every situation and curveball, From High School to Uni is your 24/7 companion, offering checklists and templates for accommodation contracts, and strategies for keeping your sanity (and security deposit) intact.