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User Support
How Cohabitas works
Cohabitas is a website dedicated to helping people over the age of 40 find shared accommodation.
Simply put, we connect people who have a spare room in their house or flat, with people who are looking for a place to call home, usually for a minimum of 3 months, and often longer-term.
Most of our landlords/owners live in the flat or house in which a room is offered. This means the room for rent ads you find will focus not only on the room itself and the house or flat, but also on the person or people who live there and with whom you'll share a home.
Because everyone is over 40 and interested in sharing (actually you can register if over 35), you are more likely to find a like-minded housemate and therefore have a more successful share.
Read our News & inspiration section for advice and tips on successul house sharing over 40.
To find a room to rent in a house or flat share in a home with others aged 40+, please simply register and add a Housemate listing.
We do not offer a personalised service, only an online listings service, where you can add a listing yourself as a 'housemate' looking for a room.
However, if you don't feel you can do this yourself, or would prefer assistance, then we do have a telephone registration service.
https://cohabitas.com/register-by-phone-service/
What happens after adding a listing?
Responses to your listings ad will come directly to you. You will arrange a viewing with the landlord directly and you will also arrange to provide them with any information required for an identity check, financial check or reference that they may require, before signing a lodger agreement or joint tenancy agreement.
You can read general advice about organising a viewing and getting a lodger agreement in our news section, but you are responsible for organising these things with your prospective landlord / house share buddy.
Start here: https://cohabitas.com/register/
To find a lodger or tenant aged 40+ please register and add a Room for rent listing.
We do not offer a personal service, only an online listings service, where you can add a listing as a landlord or lead tenant with a room for rent to find a suitable lodger or longer-term housemate.
However, if you don't feel you can do this yourself, or would prefer assistance, then we do have a telephone registration service. (Free to landlords/owners who become premium members).
https://cohabitas.com/register-by-phone-service/
What happens after adding a listing?
Responses to your listings ad will come directly to you, and you will arrange a viewing with the person directly.
If you choose to add a phone number to your listing (not compulsory), then you can also receive phone calls, text and Whatsapp messages. If you don't want to receive messages, then this just leave the phone number field blank.
You will also arrange any identity checks required, and create a lodger agreement, also known as a licence to occupy for your new housemate.
Start here: https://cohabitas.com/register/
Availability of rooms depends on who has added a listing in your preferred area. All we do is connect you. Larger cities have more people adding room listings, but of course there are also more housemates looking.
Please keep in mind it can take a little longer depending on your requirements and other people's requirements, as well as the location.
You can use browse or search Rooms for rent listings to find listings for rooms to rent in a shared house and, in some cases, whole properties. You can search by preferred location, preferred age-range, gender, by monthly rent, and a number of other features.
You can also browse or search Housemate listings, to find people looking for a room, as well as those considering buddy-ups in a particular area. You can search by preferred location, budget, and sharing preferences, then view individual listings.
Room listings are marked as Available or Let by the listing owner. We regularly remind listing owners to update their listing, but not all listings are kept up-to-date.
Therefore after 3 months we mark rooms that have not been updated as Let and remove them from all searches, maps and section pages.
It is also possible, but unusual, that a listing is newly added and not marked as available by mistake.
Also, although we do check room listings when they are first submitted, sometimes a room is re-listed a year or so later and the user forgets to change the status back to available.
Good question from a user:
Q. I am completely new to househsaring. What sort of checks do landlords make?
A.
I've never rented or house shared before,, so what sort of reference would landlord's be requiring and from who?
Landlords and homeowners renting out a room have a legal requirement to check you have a UK passport, visa or leave to stay in the United Kingdom, so they will want to see one of those.... But only once you have agreed to take a room normally.
Some will ask for character reference from an employer and others will pay for a 3rd party financial check on you, via an online service such as OpenRent. They will normally pay for that.
If you are renting from a landlord who does not live at the property then you are entitled to ask for a deposit protection scheme to be used and you'll have a tenancy agreement. If it is a live-in landlord with a room, then you can ask, but this is not required legally and you'll have a licence or agreement to rent a room in a property. You can see about these in our news/advice section if you need to. The Govt pages are indicated there.
Getting Started
If you cannot enter an email address this means that the email address is already registered and you need to login-in instead.
If you have forgotten your password since registering you can reset your password.
Am I already registered?
- If you click on the Cohabitas homepage in the menu does it say 'You are logged in'. If so you have registered and can add a listing.
- You will have received a Welcome email from Cohabitas when you registered. Check your Spam folder if it is not in the Inbox.
- Lastly, if you try to register again with the same email address and the form says the 'email address is already registered', then you are already registered and can use the site.
Your username or email address can be used to login. Try the other if one doesn't work.
If you have forgotten your password since registering you can reset your password using the link just under the password field on the login page.
It is also possible that you did not register.
If you have requested a password reset, then you have been sent an email with a link to a page where you can adadd a new password. This normally arrives in your email Inbox, but can sometimes go into your Spam folder. Please check there.
If nothing arrives, it is also possible that you registered with a different email. Try that.
If you still cannot find the reset password, please get in touch.
If you think you registered but are not sure you are logged in, there are two ways to check:
- If you click on the Cohabitas homepage in the menu (or Cohabitas logo) does it say 'You are logged in'. If so you have registered and remain logged into your account. You do not have to login each time you visit, only if you chose to log out previously.
- If you cannot see the login link in the menu, only the logout link, then you are already logged in. Click on another menu liink to start browsing.
You can use the menu to browse all areas of the site. You can check or update your account details in Account.
Managing your account
Adding a listing is the way you tell others about your your sharing preferences. It includes things like your budget/rent needs, preferred age groups, your preferred location and other things you are looking for.
More than that, without a listing you cannot be found by other users and they cannot see your sharing preferences.
This means that if you message a user without a listing, they will be unlikely to respond, as they cannot see what you are looking for or whether you are a possible candidate.
If you do not have a listing already then add a listing now:
Advertise a room for rent (offering a room in a shared house or flat)
Advertise yourself as a Housemate (looking for a room or house share, or a buddy-up)
Uploading photos to a listing will attract more attention and improve interest. You can add up to 8 photos to a Room for rent listing, but only one to a Housemate listing.
Upload or Edit your photos by going to Account then choosing the Account and listing details option. Click on your listing to View/Edit just below the link to your listing (Example of housemate listing link shown below).
Edit Listing Link
This takes you to the listing detail page, where you can edit your listing using the Edit link just beneath the title. This Edit link is only visible to you if you are the listing owner.
Scroll down to find the Add a photo section of the form. Click on Select File to find the photo on your phone or laptop device.
Add Photos To Listing
If photos are rotated, then this is probably because you had the phone or digital camera at an angle. Take another photo with the phone held up more and uoload that one.
If we noticed roatted images we do rotate them for you.
When you have completed your listing and submitted it you will receive an email confirming reciept and advising you that we are reviewing it before publishing.
Reviewing you listing usually takes less than 2 hours, but after 19:00 hrs will not be reviewed until 08:00 hrs the next day.
Please do not add a duplicate listing and be patient. If you click to add a listing again, the system will tell you that you alraedy have a listing awaiting review. You can delete it and start again, but this is not advised. Please wait for pulication and then edit the original listing.
Your user photo is part of of you Account. The room for rent or housemate listing requires different photos. It is best to have both user and listing photos, but you need to add them separately (sorry!)
To add a user photo go to Account and select Add user/landlord photo.
This takes you to your User Profile page of you account. Here you will see a circular image saying Awaiting Photo, or showing silhouette or yourself. Roll-over the grey cog symbol next to it to add, remove or edit a photo of yourself. To use select Edit Profile and then click on the circular photo once. You will see two options Upload photo/Cancel.
Select Upload photo and then browse your phone or computer before clicking the Upload photo button to choose your photo.
Once the photo is selected you will see a pop-up window Change your profile photo where you can adjust the image, before clicking Apply to save your image as your user photo.
Free listings
When you register, you will be invited to add a listing. This listing includes a summary of your sharing preferences, including things like your budget/rent, preferred age groups, your preferred location/address and other things you are looking for.
The listing you create can be viewed by any user of the site, but only registered users can see the full listing details and can see the private messaging system.
Free listing members can message Premium members and can alos be contacted by them, but Premium members can send messages to anyone and importantly, can receive messages from anyone. See Membership options.
Premium listings
A Premium listing is created when you buy a premium membership (starting at £14.90 for one week). Your listing will then be featured at the top of relevant sections and searches and marked as Premium.
If you buy a 1 month or 2 month Premium listing then you are included in one of our newsletters (as long as you have a photo).
This also enables you to send messages to any other listing owner and importantly, to receive messages from any user.
This means that a landlord receives more attention and interest, and that Housemates advertising themselves, will be able to contact like-minded housemates and any landlord listing a room. View Membership options.
Free Listing Example
Example of a Premium listing allowing you to contact the listing owner directly.
Premium Listing Example
Example of a Free listing, requiring you to upgrade to contact the listing owner.
You can find all of your messages on your Account page using the main menu link.
Sometimes we get reports of people being notified of a message, but then they cannot find that message in Messages.
If you haven't logged in for a while, then this is usually because the user sending the message has since deleted their account (or admin has had cause to delete the account).
The notification messages are triggered at the time the user sends the message, but are not deleted when the user deletes their account some time later.
Edit a listing
To edit your listing, go to the menu and click on Account, then choose the Account and listing details option.
At the bottom of the page is a link to your listing. Click on the photo or on the View/Edit link to go to your listing page.
Click on Edit just below the photo on your listing to edit the from as required. (Only you can Edit)
When finished push Submit at the bottom of the page.
Delete a listing
You have to delete your Account to delete your listing. Select the Account and listing details option to delete the listing. Deleting your account deletes all of your data.
Alternatively you can keep you listing and set the status to 'Let' for a room listing, or to 'Paused' for a housemate listing.
If the page will not save, look at the fields above to see if there are any warning messages. Make an adjustment then submit.
Once submitted you can see a link to View your listing. Repeat the process to make more changes.
Arranging a viewing
To view a room you have to contact the listing owner.
You can find the link to the owner at the bottom of the listing detail page (to the side on your laptop/PC).
Please note, Cohabitas does not arrange viewings and will never offer you a room directly. We are only a community / online website where people can advertise rooms and find lodgers or housemates using our directory and seartch service on the site.
Once you have made initial contact with a landlord (about a room) or housemate (about a possible buddy-up), you will want to arrange a viewing or meeting.
Meeting in person is essential in order to see if the person is someone you could live with. You can prepare a checklist of things you want to know in advance. You can look at our Room Viewing Checklist to get an idea of what you need to know.
When arranging a viewing, you must never pay any money in advance until you have seen the room. When you view the room you can ask questions about everything before agreeing to anything.
You will need the time and address and can arrange this using the private message service. But having the other person's contact phone number for when you get nearby is useful.
If you view a room, do check they live in the property and have permission to let the room. We have heard of a few cases where someone has gained access to a flat and did not own it or live there. Normally this is obvious, but if you view an empty flat be especially careful.
If you suspect anyone of trying to ask for money before a viewing or of not owning a propoerty/room, please report them to us and we will investigate.
You can read our Room Viewing Checklist before you view a room.
If you are asked for money to view a room or believe a person is behaving fraudulently in offering a room, please report the user to us immediately using the contact link below. We will deactivate the listing and invesigate.
Thank you. Your feedback helps save others the same difficulties and concerns.
Further advice
You can see further advice about how to write a listing and also read the News and Inspiration stories to see if House Sharing could work for you.
Not found what you need?
If you really cannot find the help you need here then you can contact us by email.