Shared apartments and houses

When you stop over in a place for longer than a few weeks, it will often be cheaper to find a place to rent. Flats, houses and apartments can be leased for anything from a week to six or 12 months. Most places that are geared for tourism will have a ready supply of empty, or part empty properties. Just waiting for you to make them your temporary home. In more organised places, you can even get short let tenancy (usually with a week's notice for departure) although this can be expensive.

The biggest words in sharing a place are:
Consideration, Tolerance, Communication and Volume

With these you will have:
Good times, Fond Memories, Friends and an Easy Life

Without these you will have:
Discomfort, Arguments and Unhappiness

In a shared home you can allot certain areas 'communal' and other areas 'personal'.

Communal areas include:
Kitchen, TV (front) room
Bathroom, toilets and hallways
Yards and gardens, parking space

Personal areas include:
Private bedrooms, private cupboards


Keep in mind that you will need to show more consideration for others than you may be used to staying at home or by yourself - generally anything goes for your personal areas, although hygiene can be an issue if you dont clean every so often - but more importantly you will need to take certain measures with communal areas to maintain the peace.

In general you will want to keep as much of your personal things out of the communal areas as possible - don't leave your shoes, jacket, coffee mugs, books and so on lying around, and in the case of kitchens make sure you leave everything clean. There is very little as annoying as needing a certain saucepan only to find it needs day old scunge cleaned out of it before it can be used.

It's really surprisingly little effort to clean dishes after you have finished cooking (or even while you are doing so) and the little extra effort will really make things smoother.

With bathrooms, similar applies - make sure you clean the bath or basin out when you are done with it, and if you do have to use someone else's soap (not recommended!) DON'T leave any hairs behind in it. Eurgh!

Tips:

• Put a list of everyone's mobile numbers by the door in case of emergencies.
• If you do get a shared phone line, you can often get the phone company to give everyone a 'pin' number (alternatively you can have the phone blocked for all but 0800 numbers, and then buy phone cards) in order to keep the bill straight.

Many Hands = Light Work

Alongside communal areas come communal tasks and responsibilities including cleaning, leaving tidy, sharing of facilities and buying shared products such as toilet roll and washing up liquid.

Tips:

• Some form of rota system can solve many problems, and a piece of paper stuck on the fridge will have a record for all to see of whose turn it is to clean the kitchen or put out the rubbish.
  
• Allocate someone to buy these shared items, maybe everyone else subsidises their share.

Jobs that need to be done by everyone:

• Cleaning floor space and work surfaces in hallways, stairs and common areas.
  
• Emptying bins and putting the rubbish out, ashtrays.
  
• Kitchen - worktops, appliances (fridge, oven, microwave) floor, sink and walls
  
• Bathroom - toilet, bath, shower, sink, floor, bath mats and walls

Money, Money, Money

When it comes to money things get touchy, many people have strict budgets and will lose their temper if they feel they buy more bog roll than someone else, it happens!!

Tip: In my experience if everyone pays a little extra rent to cover the basics, then it gives no opportunity to forget who's paid what and when they paid. Another way to do this is with a 'communal fund' that buys condiments, butter, ketchup, loo paper etc... everything that everyone uses.

Generally, shared items include:

Dish-cloths, bin bags, washing up liquid, mop heads, bleach, toilet rolls,
hoover filters, toilet cleaner, tea towels.

Shared items that can cause problems:

Milk, butter, tomato sauce, detergent, shower gel, shampoo, tea bags, coffee, sugar - these can cause problems because everyone uses different amounts and it can lead to arguments, better safe than arguing.

Rules are made for breaking

No one particularly likes rules, but it is undeniable that they keep things from breaking into anarchy. Here are some rules that may help keep the peace.

Kitchen:

• Clean up after yourself, including sink and worktops.
• If you are running low on a shared product ask the nominated person if he/she can get some more.
• Don't eat other people's food without asking. This goes double for milk!
• Turn off all appliances after use.

I remember many times coming home from the pub, looking hopefully at my shelf in the fridge only to see a shrivelled up courgette and 1/2lb of lard. But it is natural that your eyes fall upon the land of plenty, someone else's shelf.

Cheese, coke, chocolate, mmmmmmmmhhh. But it is a big NO! of course that is in principle, too many beers and many of my principles get lost.

The bathroom:

• Flush (duh)
  
• If you get water everywhere mop it up
  
• Clean the bath after use
  
• Use your own towel, soap, shampoo
  
• Try not to use all the hot water or spend too long in there
  
• Guys - leave the seat down if you are lodging with girls (in general this is a great habit to get into!) Imagine the joys of a sleepy loo visit coupled with sitting on a seat that isnt there, and you will know why this annoys the ladies
  
• If you have any antisocial foot blemishes (plantar's warts, athlete's foot etc) then don't inflict them on your mates - a bit of detergent in the shower once you are done (dettol is great) keeps things nice and healthy for all.

Rush hour in the bathroom can fray the strongest of nerves - is it too much to expect a shower before I go to work???? Everyone will have different routines, it is best to learn the routine and work around it, if what you are doing is important, get there early.

TV Room

• After a certain time keep the volume down.
  
• Clean up spills when they happen.
  
• Does everyone want to inhale your smoke?

The TV room is a place to relax, chill, get drunk or listen to music. Some people may want to sit around and drink and sing whilst others may want to watch a weepy movie, there is no easy way to solve problems except through communication and perhaps a vote, or a TV booking form.

Shared Bedrooms

• Do you snore?
  
• Do you have smelly feet?
  
• Will you be getting up early in the morning? If so how can you reduce disturbance?

If you share a bedroom with however many people, it is important to show consideration. If you don't then you will be rudely awakened in return. If you snore then sort it out, I have seen people wearing a bra backwards with tennis balls in the cups to stop them from sleeping on their back, will you go this far.

FAQ's

A group of friends and I would like to rent a property, how do we go about finding a place?

The best places to look for rental properties are: letting agencies (though these can sometimes cost more than private rentals and need more down payment,) community notice boards (supermarkets, coffee shops, hostels, though it is not generally in the interest of the hostel to send their trade someplace else.) Things like tourism centres and travellers contact points are a good source of information. Ask around, you don't know what may turn up.

Tips:

• Make sure everyone in your group of friends is serious about getting a place, there is nothing more annoying than finding a place only to find that one or two have decided to move on.
  
• Make sure you see a property before signing up, if your uncertain of the safety of gas appliances or fire escapes leave it alone.
  
• Try to make sure everyone has the cash ready for a deposit, if you find a decent place and cant get the money quickly, someone else will!!
  
• Do you get on with these people? Do you want to find out?
  
• What is the area like you are moving into, public transport, close to work, local and cheap supermarkets etc?

If I am travelling alone and decide to get a job, which is better, paying weekly discounted rates in the hostel or looking for a place to rent?

It is all personal choice, hostels are sometimes loud and busy. Do you want that atmosphere at the end of a day's work? Sharing a place with others can offer more security and perhaps the chance to forge better friendships, but will it be lonely if you don't get on with your housemates? There is no right and wrong, don't rush into anything and generally something will come up. If you stay in a hostel for any length of time, certain faces will become familiar and perhaps they are looking for a quieter/cheaper/closer to the city centre property to share.