One of the biggest changes you experience when you come to uni is that you may be living with a group of people you’ve never met. It’s likely that you’ll have to share communal spaces such as the kitchen, living area, and bathroom with people who might have very different ways of using these spaces. Sometimes it can be challenging, but it’s also a great way of learning what works best for you (like, maybe you’re going to find a revolutionary way of cooking rice)! To make sure that everyone can enjoy the spaces fully, it’s best to start off the year by following these helpful tips. 

Our biggest tip? Have a conversation about preferences really early on so you understand how your flatmates like to live. You can use the below list as a starting point, but we’d also recommend coming up with a way to regularly give each other feedback in a way that works for everyone. It’ll help you in the long-term (trust us!). Don’t assume that someone will approach things the same way as you – even when it comes to raising issues.

Got any other ideas? Comment on this post!

Make the most of your new home

  • Divide your tasks. Try making a cleaning schedule for the communal areas early on. This ensures that everyone is pulling their weight from the start and will make your new home a nice place to live. Having a checklist on a wall in your communal space can be a great way to make sure that tasks have been done! We’d also recommend chatting about what the standard of each task is – you might think that mopping every day is totally normal but your flatmate might be used to doing that once a fortnight because they’re OK with a bit of dirt. Chat about it and find a compromise early on.
  • Share your kitchenware. To make the flat feel more like home, don’t separate things like your crockery and cooking pans. Make it clear your flatmates can use whatever they need – as long as you are comfortable with them using it and they don’t damage it, of course! Feel free to keep any sentimental items separate – just be clear with your flatmates about what those things are. You might also want to think about chipping in to bulk buy any ingredients that you all use, like rice, pasta or cooking oil.
  • Keep it down. If you like listening to loud music, make sure your flatmate is OK with it. Let them know they can message anytime to complain about the noise (and look into some noise-cancelling headphones if you’re someone who needs music on all the time). Just because you can handle loud music doesn’t mean your flatmate will. We’d recommend chatting about this early on.
  • Get to know your flatmates. It can be as simple as leaving your door open so people know they can stop by for a chat. You can even arrange movie nights or invite your flatmates to go on day trips as a way to get to know the area. You’ll be living with them for a year, so building a relationship early on can really help you if you run into any difficult conversations. Plus, living with people you can call friends helps your mental health!
  • Always wash your dishes and clean up after yourself.  Keeping the kitchen and common areas clean are a must, and a big part of it is always washing your dishes. That way, when your flatmates need to use the kitchen, they won’t run into a pile of your dirty plates (and vice versa – it’s so much easier to be happy where you live when you don’t need to wash a spoon and mug up every time you want a cup of tea).
  • Respect your flatmates’ privacy. While it is great to become friends with your flatmates, make sure you never invade their personal space. Sometimes people just want to be by themselves, and we need to respect that. That said, if you are concerned because you haven’t seen someone for a few days and they hadn’t mentioned that they were going away, mention it to someone. 
  • Don’t rush into accommodation for next year. While you can feel lots of pressure to sort out your new accommodation for the next academic year, take some time to get to know your flatmates before arranging to live with them again. While we would love to think you’re going to be besties forever, sometimes it takes a few months to really understand whether you get along enough to live together long-term. You don’t want to be locked in to a contract that you can’t get out of!
A student is speaking with a member of staff at a desk.

Need extra support?

If you are struggling to find accommodation and would like some support, you can find help on our accommodation page. If you can’t find what you’re looking for, contact askUS.

Living with new people in a new place can be challenging. We have wellbeing and counselling support available if you’d like to talk to someone about what you’re going through.

Everyone deserves to live in a safe and inclusive space. We believe that any form of violence, sexual harassment, discrimination and hate are never OK. If you see or experience anything, use our Report It webpage to submit a form anonymously or have member of the team contact you.