Eight Key Things to Consider When Moving into a Share House

Moving off campus for the first time and into a share house could be considered as one of the most overwhelming experiences in a student’s life. Although you don’t need to worry! Mr Rental Australia and New Zealand have put together this guide to help with a seamless transition to your new home away from home.

You may arrive to the share flat half way through the semester. In this case you won’t need to worry about signing the lease, as your fellow flatmates would have taken care of this for you. So you’re free to move onto the next step.

If you are taking out a lease on a flat yourself, then you should familiarise yourself with your rights as a tenant, either in Australia or New Zealand. Read the lease carefully and go to your landlord or property manager prepared with questions. You should understand the bond, when the rent is due, whether or not pets are allowed and whether or not parties are permitted.

Look for a share house that’s on a major bus or train route to your University and ensure that it’s close to a supermarket, shopping centre or anything else you will visit on a regular basis like a gym, library, bar, café etc.

Before you sign the lease agreement, take note of the condition of inside and outside of the flat. Take plenty of photos (much in the same way you would if you rented a car). This will help you get your bond back when you move out.

You have several options here. You could purchase all your new furniture, either ready-made or flat-packed and have to get this into your flat. This is incredibly costly and time-consuming. Or you could rent all of your furniture, whiteware and tech from Mr Rental. This involves simply ordering online and then having the goods delivered and assembled in your home on the day you move in. It doesn’t get any easier than that! If you find some of your new flatmates have furniture of their own, it’s simple and easy to get Mr Rental to come and pick individual items up.

Living with flatmates can be great if you have the right mix of personalities. However, living together with random people rarely happens without at least some friction. After all, students are under a lot of pressure emotionally and physically to perform at their peak. Add to this people’s individual idiosyncrasies and habits which all combine to drive housemates crazy.

You can help this by attempting to understand that everyone comes from a different background and has different ideas of what is normal and acceptable behaviour. Always use communication and openness in resolving issues with flatmates. You should implement a household policy of treating each other with kindness and respect, right from the get go.

A common source of friction in a share house is the sharing of household duties. Have a rota of duties so that everyone does their bit to keep the place clean. Keep this pinned to the fridge as a reminder to all in the house.

Another source of friction in the house could be when your housemates eat your food or use your things without asking permission. There are a lot of ways to tackle this issue without it evolving into a full-blown argument. You could hire a small fridge from Mr Rental and keep it in your bedroom and then keep all of your food and drinks in there – problem solved.

If you are concerned that someone is going to wreck all your stuff, then consider renting your furniture, appliances and tech from Mr Rental and then pooling the cost of this. This way there won’t be any need for awkward conversations.

When you initially set-up a share house or join one, you should sit down with your flatmates and work out shared costs of living, such as rent, furniture, utilities and other every day expenses. You should work out whether it’s worth it to split the cost of groceries evenly, or if each member of the home should purchase their own food.

University is all about making connections. Some of these people may become your life-long friends. Like any relationship, you need to nurture it and use good communication to ensure it grows. Good luck with your studies and with living in a share house for the first time! To ease some of the stress in the process of moving out, visit Mr Rental for shared living solutions today.