Choosing who you should live with

Choosing who you should live with

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Living with friends is always a popular choice for second year students – it's cheaper than renting alone, you can split the bills and best of all it's the most fun!

Before you begin to look at properties with your friends it's important that you carefully consider which of your friends, if any, would make suitable house/flat mates. Thinking sensibly about your future house/flat mates could help to alleviate any tensions in the future and will help ensure your next year at University is as great as the first!

In order to determine how 'living' compatible your friends are, answer these 5 questions:

• What is their attitude towards housework?
• Are they a night owl or an early bird?
• Do they have any bad habits which could annoy you over time? E.g. Smoking, laziness, poor hygiene.
• Do you have common interests such as music, cinema, sport etc?
• How sociable/private are they? Does this mirror what you are looking for in a housemate?

Remember: Most contracts will run for a full year and so it is important to ensure you can live with these people (albeit not always harmoniously). Though it can be hard telling a friend that you don't want to live with them, it is often much easier than losing the friendship altogether because of lifestyle and personality clashes.