Shared living isn’t just about affordability or convenience, it’s about people. The housemates we share our homes with can make or break the experience. In fact, new research from our State of Shared Living reports that 40% of tenants have, or would, move out because of difficult housemates, proving that harmony at home matters as much as rent or location.
The chemistry of co-living.
Most shared living tenants aren’t moving in with old friends. In fact, 86% of people share homes with housemates they didn’t know before, according to our data. That makes shared living a kind of social experiment with strangers coming together trying to create something that works.
The good news? Nearly three-quarters (74%) of people say they get on very well with their housemates. But that still leaves a quarter who experience tension or friction at home. And it’s not always big clashes that cause problems often, it’s the little things.
The small things that make a big difference.
The survey found that messiness is the most common frustration, followed closely by not helping with chores. It turns out that the everyday habits – washing up, taking the bins out, restocking the loo roll – can matter more to household harmony than anything else.
Other points of friction include noise at night, unexpected guests, and even food theft. They might sound small, but when you’re sharing a home, they add up quickly.
Why it matters?
Shared living works best when it’s intentional. When people treat their homes as shared spaces.. The goal isn’t to find perfect housemates; it’s to create the conditions where people can live well together.
When it works, it really works. Shared living can offer community, friendship, and a sense of belonging that’s rare in modern life. But when relationships at breakdown, it can affect everything: wellbeing, productivity, even someone’s willingness to stay.
Our Founder and CEO, Vann Vogstad, commented:
“Let’s be honest, you can be the best of friends or even a long-term couple and you’re still going to have moments where living together causes a bit of friction. Being in close quarters does that to a relationship, but if such instances are few and far between, it’s never really a problem.
The issues arise when you find yourself living with people who do your head in more often than they don’t, and the risk of this happening is much higher when you end up living with a bunch of randoms having been given no proper opportunity to get to know them.
This is a problem that has haunted the HMO market for far too long because so often you have to pick a property before you’ve had any real chance to understand who you’re going to be living with and whether your personalities are a good match.
That’s why we believe putting housemate compatibility front and centre of the property search is vital – allowing potential new housemates to get proper insight into the ages, lifestyles and interests of the people they’re going to be living with. Never again will a student find themselves living with a group of stuffy 9-5ers, and nor will a nursing student be desperately trying to get some good sleep before getting up at 5am for a placement, only to be kept awake by their housemates playing a raucous drinking game in the next room.”
Shared living isn’t just about affordability or convenience, it’s about people. The housemates we share our homes with can make or break the experience. In fact, new research from our State of Shared Living reports that 40% of tenants have, or would, move out because of difficult housemates, proving that harmony at home matters as much as rent or location.
The chemistry of co-living.
Most shared living tenants aren’t moving in with old friends. In fact, 86% of people share homes with housemates they didn’t know before, according to our data. That makes shared living a kind of social experiment with strangers coming together trying to create something that works.
The good news? Nearly three-quarters (74%) of people say they get on very well with their housemates. But that still leaves a quarter who experience tension or friction at home. And it’s not always big clashes that cause problems often, it’s the little things.
The small things that make a big difference.
The survey found that messiness is the most common frustration, followed closely by not helping with chores. It turns out that the everyday habits – washing up, taking the bins out, restocking the loo roll – can matter more to household harmony than anything else.
Other points of friction include noise at night, unexpected guests, and even food theft. They might sound small, but when you’re sharing a home, they add up quickly.
Why it matters?
Shared living works best when it’s intentional. When people treat their homes as shared spaces.. The goal isn’t to find perfect housemates; it’s to create the conditions where people can live well together.
When it works, it really works. Shared living can offer community, friendship, and a sense of belonging that’s rare in modern life. But when relationships at breakdown, it can affect everything: wellbeing, productivity, even someone’s willingness to stay.
Our Founder and CEO, Vann Vogstad, commented:
“Let’s be honest, you can be the best of friends or even a long-term couple and you’re still going to have moments where living together causes a bit of friction. Being in close quarters does that to a relationship, but if such instances are few and far between, it’s never really a problem.
The issues arise when you find yourself living with people who do your head in more often than they don’t, and the risk of this happening is much higher when you end up living with a bunch of randoms having been given no proper opportunity to get to know them.
This is a problem that has haunted the HMO market for far too long because so often you have to pick a property before you’ve had any real chance to understand who you’re going to be living with and whether your personalities are a good match.
That’s why we believe putting housemate compatibility front and centre of the property search is vital – allowing potential new housemates to get proper insight into the ages, lifestyles and interests of the people they’re going to be living with. Never again will a student find themselves living with a group of stuffy 9-5ers, and nor will a nursing student be desperately trying to get some good sleep before getting up at 5am for a placement, only to be kept awake by their housemates playing a raucous drinking game in the next room.”
