How to find a house share
Missed out on student halls or just regretting your original choice of housemates? Here's how to find a room in a house share.
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For all sorts of reasons, during your time at uni, you may find you're in a position where you need to go it alone and find yourself a room to rent.
It may be that you've applied through Clearing and missed out on university accommodation, or you may have realised after a year of living with annoying housemates that you can't stick it another year and need to find a room elsewhere.
Either way, all is not lost! There are plenty of ways to find a house share. We've listed them below to help you. And you may just find the perfect housemates in the best house share have been waiting for you all along.
What's in this guide?
Where to find a room in a house share
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Finding a room in a house share doesn't have to be as difficult as it may initially feel. In fact, looking for a room rather than a whole house may give you the upper hand in your search for a house share.
Your potential new housemates have already done all the hard work finding the best student houses in the area to move in to early on. It may just be that they really liked a particular house and didn't have enough people to fill it, or that one of their group had to drop out of uni later down the line so couldn't follow through with their tenancy agreement.
So, first things first, don't stress! The perfect room is out there for you. Don't feel like you need to jump for the first one that becomes available. Picking the right housemates and environment could have a huge impact on your time at university.
University noticeboards and socials are a great place to start looking for a room in a house share. You may even find someone on your course is looking for a housemate.
However, if this doesn't come up trumps it's also not an issue.
One of the benefits of looking for a room in a house share is that you could end up meeting people you would never have crossed paths with otherwise.
This was my experience at uni:
It became obvious during my second year at uni that the group of five housemates I had met in the first year had become fragmented and we weren't going to be extending our tenancy in the pretty grotty six-bed house we lived in.
After another house I'd found with a friend fell through I decided to go it alone and very last minute found a room in a house share in the area of Brighton I liked the most.
My three housemates were a complete mix, with two studying at the Art College, one at Brighton University and myself at Sussex Uni. It was really refreshing to live with people having completely different experiences of studying and it opened up meeting a whole new group of friends I never would have been introduced to otherwise.
Student letting agents will also often list individual rooms for rent in shared student houses. And there are websites dedicated to those looking for a room in a house share. We've gone into more detail on these below.
Best student house share websites
Googling 'student house shares' or 'rooms for rent' will give you a never-ending list of websites with accommodation and scrolling through them all can be a tedious task.
So, we've narrowed it down for you and put together a list of the best house-share websites:
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SpareRoom
SpareRoom.co.uk is probably the most well-known website if you're looking for a room in a house share. And it even has a search dedicated to student rooms for rent where you can search by university or even university campus.
Students can post and contact room ads for free. According to SpareRoom, the site has seven times more traffic than its nearest competitor, so it's a great place to start your search.
If you're getting desperate or are worried about missing out on the best house shares, you can also upgrade to Early Bird Access. This will give you access to all the newest ads, including free ads posted in the last seven days, which free users cannot contact.
Early Bird Access starts at £12.99 for seven days but you can use our unique code (STS1024) to get a 10% discount.
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Gumtree
Gumtree has been around for years. Not only is it an awesome site for picking up cheap second-hand furniture and goods, but it's also great for finding a room in a house share.
You can filter your search by location, property type and room type. There's also a filter for if you'd prefer to only deal with rooms let by agencies or only see rooms rented directly with the landlord.
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ideal flatmate
ideal flatmate is all about finding compatible housemates. You can either search for a room in a house share, flatmates to rent a house share with, or a whole property to rent.
It has a useful filter for whether the room is suitable for a student or professional and there's a handy flatmate matching tool where you can take a quiz to help you find like-minded housemates.
Once you've done the test you can search through compatible housemates, get to know each other by messaging through the site and find properties.
The site also lists all-inclusive luxury properties if you don't want to deal with the hassle of paying and splitting the bills.
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Roomgo
Roomgo markets itself as 'The world's largest flatshare community' and lists rooms in 69 different cities.
To search for student rooms for rent through Roomgo you'll first need to set up a search profile. This will include details of what you're looking for, plus a description of yourself with an optional photo.
You'll then be able to search through suitable properties available to rent in your selected location and receive daily updates with the newest rooms.
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Roomies
Roomies works similarly to Roomgo.
To search for a room through the site you'll first have to create a free listing. You can then verify your social media account through the site or verify your ID to give viewers extra confidence in your listing.
Once set up you'll be able to check any rooms in your preferred area or simply check 'Rooms near you'.
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Badi
Badi is a rental app and website where you can find rooms to rent all over the UK and Europe.
If you're looking for a room you can search through listings for your selected location, move-in date and budget, then send a chat request to the listing to connect.
If accepted, you can chat and iron out any details directly with the lister to see if it's a good match for you.
The majority of Badi listings seem to include bills. Annoyingly there isn't a student filter when searching for rooms but it does state on each listing what a housemate's preferred age and sex would be.
Top tips for finding a house share
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Whether you've managed to find a house share through your university or found a room online, it's important to check out all the details before making any commitments.
Here are our top tips for ensuring you find the best house share:
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Make a list of your housing requirements
It's easy to get carried away in the search for a room, especially when it feels like all the best student houses are being snapped up.
Make a list of the things that are most important to you in your search, whether it's the room size, the atmosphere in the house, the kitchen arrangements etc. Then stick to it.
Just because 'Alex' seemed like a good laugh, it doesn't make up for the mould in the bathroom and the week's worth of dishes piled up in the kitchen.
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Always view the house first
Photos can be extremely deceiving, especially when it comes to those taken by professional photographers for letting agents.
Don't get carried away by a photo of what looks like an amazing room and jump in without going to see it in person. You may be extremely disappointed when you get there. Check out our list of what to look for in a viewing.
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Meet potential housemates
Another reason why it's so important to view a room in person is it allows you to meet your potential housemates and ask questions. You'll then get a better idea of whether they're a good match for you.
If you're looking for a quiet house where you can get on with your studies in peace, you're not going to want to move in with a crowd who likes to party all night.
You can ask the housemates how they would describe the house – loud, busy, sociable, relaxed etc. Even if the room is perfect, you need to make sure the housemates are too.
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Take a friend with you
Not only is it always helpful to have a second opinion, but taking a friend along with you for viewings will help you feel safer.
If no one is available to join you, let someone know the location of the viewing and when you're going to be there.
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Beware of scammers
As with any online dealings, there's always the risk of scammers.
Never sign or pay for anything without checking ID, whether it's with an agent, landlord or potential housemate. If you're searching with a lettings agency you can do a Google check to make sure the company is reputable.
And always make sure you see a copy of the tenancy agreement so you know the terms of the tenancy. You need to be sure that everything is legit before moving in. SpareRoom has a really useful list of scams to watch out for.
House share FAQs
What type of tenancy is a house share?
There are two types of tenancy you may get in a house share.
A joint tenancy is the most common type of tenancy for a house share. You and your housemates will all be on the same agreement and will be equally responsible for the rent. This can cause issues if one or more of you have a habit of being late with rent payments.
If you're on an individual tenancy you will have an agreement separate from your other housemates and you will only be responsible for your individual rent in the agreement.
This can be an easier option as you don't need to worry about your housemates missing payments. However, it does mean that you won't be so in control of who is moving in and out of the other rooms in the house.
Who pays the utility bills?
In most house shares you will need to split the utility bills between housemates. These will include the cost of gas, electricity, water, broadband and council tax, though if all your housemates are full-time students, you don't need to pay council tax (more on this later).
It's therefore important to be conscious of what you're using. We have some great tips on how to keep your water and other energy bills down.
Sometimes the rent for a house share will be inclusive of bills. This can make life easier as you don't need to go through setting up accounts and splitting the bills. However, it often works out more expensive this way.
Can I share a house with professionals?
When you are looking for a room to rent in a house share you will normally find it states if they are looking for students or professionals.
There's nothing to say that you can't share with a mix of professionals and students. However, it can sometimes cause problems with the payment of council tax.
As we explain in our council tax guide, if your house share is occupied solely by full-time students, then no one will need to pay council tax. But, if you're sharing with professionals, you'll receive a council tax bill and the professionals will be expected to pay it.
This makes it more expensive for them as if they were sharing with other professionals rather than students, the council tax would be split equally between tenants rather than only between the professionals. And this is why, unless you're willing to share the cost of the council tax, finding a house share with professionals is less common.
Can couples share a room in a house share?
Many house shares will accept couples and it's a great way to save money on rent. However, it can be a little more difficult to find a room as a couple.
Sometimes landlords don't like the idea of two people sharing a room and may try to charge more rent. And sometimes other housemates don't fancy the idea of sharing with a couple with all the potential extra disagreements.
Some of the house share websites above have dedicated pages for couples and if not, you will usually see mentioned in the listing 'couples allowed' or 'couples accepted'.
What's the difference between a lodger and a tenant?
The main difference between a lodger and a tenant is that if you're a lodger you'll be sharing with your landlord.
This can have its benefits. If anything goes wrong your landlord will be more inclined to get it fixed as s/he is living there also. It can also be a nice living situation if you're inclined to get homesick as it may have more of a family home feel than your typical student house. You'll often find it also saves you money on rent.
But as a lodger, you won't have the same tenant rights. Tenants usually have an AST agreement with set notice periods in their contract, whereas the 'license' you get as a lodger means you can be given 'reasonable' notice to leave. This is usually 28 days but can be less.
What happens if you want to move out early?
When you move into a house share you will have an Assured Shorthold Tenancy agreement for a fixed term (normally six months but often 12 months for students). You are liable for the rent until the end of your fixed term. After the initial six months, there will sometimes be a break clause where you can end the contract by giving a two-month notice period.
If you're on a joint tenancy and you or one of your housemates decides to move out things can get complicated, as ending your contract effectively ends the tenancy for all of you in the house.
However, landlords can be understanding of this and will often allow you to find a replacement. If the landlord and other housemates agree, you can find someone to replace you in the house, take over the contract and sign a new agreement.
House shares are also a great way to keep your rental costs down if you don’t fancy moving back in with your parents once you’ve graduated.
