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Living in a Sharehouse in London

travoholic | Aug 31, 2009 |

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Finding cheap accommodation in London is almost impossible and if you don't want to be forking over most of your monthly paycheque towards rent, you will need to find some housemates. Fortunately, sharing accommodation is a lot more common in the UK than in other parts of the world.

Because accommodation in London is so expensive, sharehouses are so common that you will often find entire sections on house-hunting websites dedicated to finding a housemate. Many houses are rented out to a group of people initially, but if individuals move on and the rest of their housemates want to stay put, they will rent out the room to a new housemate. This adds a lot of flexibility to finding rooms in London and usually it is up to the departing person to find a replacement and for the rest of the housemates to meet and approve them before they are allowed to move in.

Sharing a house is one thing, but sharing a room is a whole other thing altogether. It is not uncommon in London to be sharing a room with one or possibly even two other people. The more people you have crammed in your room, the cheaper it will be for everyone so if you are on a really tight budget, this is the way to go. You will need to make sure you get along because, no matter how big your room may be, having two other people in there with you will be a test on everyone's patience. It helps if you part of a couple or planning to move in with a friend but even complete strangers will share rooms.

Many sharehouses in London have a lot more people crammed into them than they should. Landlords usually expect one person to a room and many would be mortified to find 15 people living in their 6 bedroom house. However the more people in the house, the less rent and bills will be for the whole group and adding another person here or there is often too tempting to resist. Many landlords don't care as long as they get their rent on time each month, but many do and if the inspect their houses or decide to pop by, evidence of extra people needs to be removed.

The atmosphere in a large sharehouse is usually very social and if everyone gets along it can be a great environment to live in, especially for people who love a good party or like being around people all the time. Finding time to yourself isn't quite as easy and there are certainly privacy issues, but overall, if you are in London to have a good time, living in a sharehouse will add to your experience.