Renting a room

Renting a room is is the most easily organised type of co-living and sharing. Finding a room in a house share where there are already people living and where they are looking for a new housemates makes things much simpler. You can choose your housemates and choose a room in a suitable house or flat.

You can also choose the area in which you would like to live and the standard of accommodation you are after, but availability may be limited and competition for the best rooms can be fierce, especially in popular areas.

When renting a room, you also need to consider that the live-in landlord or householder will have their way of doing things already established and they are looking for someone to fit in. You can expect to use some of the communal areas including kitchen and lounge and in many cases you may have access to a garden or parking space. This story is about how a landlady feeling comfortable with a lodger in your home – as shown, it is by no means a bad thing to discuss each other’s needs and sharing preferences in advance.

Room rents often include all utilities and broadband bills and if you’re lucky pay TV, but make sure you check what is included and the basis for sharing any excluded household bills. Cohabitas rooms for rent listings tell you all of this but please check with the listing owner if unsure.

Some live-in landlords might offer a rent reduction for things like dog walking or cleaning. Look on their room listing to see if this is offered. It’s not normal, but can be helpful to both parties. We do not accept any ‘rooms for favours’ type offers unless it is a simple household chore or companionship.

Use our ‘Rooms to rent’ pages to find people with a room to rent near you and make sure your own housemate listing captures the key points of why you would make a good housemate. Finding the right housemate match is key, so try to complete as much of your housemate listing as possible, in order to give the person renting the room a good idea of what you are like and looking for.

What about renting a whole house or flat? >>>