These days many more people than before are unable to afford a place of their own to rent, and so are turning to renting a room and having to house share..
Prices are increasing for everything but increase in people’s pay is not keeping pace with inflation. This means, many people are unable to have the luxury of renting a flat or a house to themselves and are forced in house sharing.
Here we will go through the pros and cons of shared accommodation so you can decide if it’s right for you.
Pros
1. Cheaper than renting by yourself
Sharing an accommodation and paying rent collectively is cheaper than staying in a place by yourself.
Less of your monthly income will go towards paying rent. This means you can either save this money or spend it elsewhere.
2. Share the cost of energy
In a shared property, you will be sharing the energy costs. Gas and electric have become very expensive, so sharing this cost with everybody in the household will enable you to spend less.
3. Independence
If you are living with family, then moving out and staying somewhere by yourself will give you independence.
4. Bills might be included with rent
Any bills or household related expenditure will be shared by everybody in the household. Thus, saving everybody involved some money.
5. Share council tax
In a shared house, everybody will also contribute towards the council tax.
6. Ready made friends
If you share a house with people, you will have ready made friends and people that you can get to know.
It must be said that you might not get along with everybody; but you might also make some good friends.
7. Not be alone
If you share accommodation with people, then at least you will not have to be alone. You will also not be isolated as you will have people around you.
8. Problems shared
If there are any household problems, this will be shared between people. For example if the toilet breaks down and you are at work, somebody else in the household might have contacted the landlord regarding this matter.
9. Better location
Sharing rent with people, might mean you can rent in a better location.
10. Borrow from housemates
If you share a house with people, sometimes you might be able to borrow things. For example milk or sugar. This might be useful at times.
However, don’t forget to give it back or they might not lend to you next time.
Cons
1. Privacy
If you are renting in a shared house, you might not get much privacy, apart from just keeping yourself in your room. You will be sharing the common room, kitchen and the toilet.
This will also depend on how many people are in the household. The more people you have staying there, the less privacy you are likely to have.
2. Noise
Another con will the the noise. There might always be people making noise somewhere in the house. This could include talking loudly, listening to music loudly or watching television loudly.
If you need to study or do some work where you need to concentrate, you might have to learn to do this with noise around you.
3. Arguments
If you are sharing accommodation with people, there is likely to be lots of arguments and disagreements.
Arguments could lead from people not cleaning up after themselves or doing their share of the tasks.
Arguments and disagreements might lead to tensions within the household.
4. People moving in and out
When lots of people share a house together, there might be people constantly moving in and moving out.
This might make it hard to develop friendships or relationships with people. Sometimes people move out because they have changed jobs or find cheaper accommodation.
5. Cleaning
When you share a house with people, you might not be able to leave any cleaning for later such as the washing up in the kitchen.
You will have to clean up straight after yourself as your housemates might want to use the kitchen after you.
6. Unsociable housemates
You might find some of your housemates to be unsociable. They might just want to keep to themselves.
That is their right and you have to respect that.
7. Unruly
You might find some housemates to be unruly and not want to follow the rules. This can be frustrating for everybody else within the household. This can also often lead to arguments.
8. Theft
In a situation where there are lots of people at the same place, there will sometimes be people who will carry out theft.
You will have to be careful with your belongings and valuables.
The reason for people house sharing?
Many people are not able to buy their own place or be able to afford renting by themselves.
Prices are constantly going up because of inflation and a lot of people do not make enough income to enable them to pay a lot of money towards rent.
This inevitably, leads to more and more individuals having to rent a room and share a house or a flat with people.
Now-a-days, there are many individuals who find themselves not even being able to pay for a room in a house and are having to move back home with their parents
There are lots of people in the UK in their 30’s and 40’s who are having to move back with their parents due to financial constraints.
Additional Information
Money Advice Service
For debt management and advice on how to pay for bills go here: Money Advice Service info page.