Sharing with Housemates
House-sharing is ideal for young professionals in the early stages of their career. It especially suits those new to a city.
It allows them to rent a more expensive home in a better location than they could afford on their own
It means they split the cost of utilities and other bills
It gives them flexibility to move if their job location or personal circumstances change
And they make new friends and enjoy social experiences outside work. At a time when folk are working away from offices, our properties are ideal for home-working in a social environment.
Our Business Model offers young professionals the chance
to live together in superior comfort at an affordable price
1. who will you live with?
You will live with young, single, non-smoking intelligent professionals - people like you.
We accommodate students if they are mature and responsible and happy to live in a professional houseshare.
Your housemates might have lived in the property for a while, or be moving in at the same time as you. Either way, they want to live with decent, kind, tolerant and considerate housemates and be free to enjoy their home space in a convivial atmosphere.
2. how do we select our tenants?
We advertise for new tenants on www.spareroom.co.uk/rainbowcapital and it is at that point we start our screening process to find the best possible housemates for the property we have available.
Just as tenants are rigorous in searching for the right property with the right landlord, so we are looking for tenants who have the right 'fit' for us and the housemates.
We look for some common qualities: -
Intelligent - generally educated to degree level but above all folk with their wits about them
English-speaking - able to communicate to a good level in spoken and written English
Professional - usually in the early stages of their career
Courteous - kind and considerate with social skills; good values and standards, respect for others
Personable but not loud - we do not want party-animals - we want people with substance who will be interesting to live with but who are not over-bearing
Non-smoking - we cannot rule out tenants having a secret habit but we do not permit smoking in any part of our properties ever. Drug-taking or excessive alcoholism are equally unacceptable
Legal status - we are required by UK law to ensure all our tenants have the right to abide in the UK
When we find the right tenant, they stay for the long-term. They become an asset to the house and a pleasure for their housemates to live with. The wrong tenant however can be a right pain!
We know we are not for everyone. Some folk want to live in a party house. Others want fewer rules and regulations. Or are happy to live in a mess. Different strokes for different folks. But we want housemates who are more on the side of the side of the angels than the devil!
Our record length of tenure is 10 years and counting. We have had numerous tenants who have lived with us for five years or more.
3. what you can expect from your housemates
You can expect your housemates to have passed through our screening process, just as you will have. We will have met them, liked them, and deemed them a good fit for our business model and your property.
Your housemates will have agreed to the same Terms and Conditions that you will - terms that commit them to looking after the property and a code of conduct requiring them to be kind, considerate and tolerant.
We are surprised how few instances we encounter of housemates not getting on. If tension ever arises we encourage the housemates in the first instance to talk things through and listen to the other's point of view. If discord remains we are happy to chair a ‘round table meeting’ to resolve things. Our ultimate sanction is we will ask a troublesome housemate to leave the property and find a new home.
4. What your housemates should expect from you
Whilst we want to be landlords that are 'hands on' in terms of maintenance we want to be 'hands off' in terms of dictating how our tenants live.
We do not want to be like some landlords - complaining and intervening continuously - and generally intruding into tenants' peaceful enjoyment of their home.
We respect our tenants as responsible mature professional adults. We feel we have an insight into their characters as individuals and we trust they will contribute collectively to a friendly atmosphere in our properties.
Consideration to Fellow Housemates
A shared house has close quarter living conditions. It is important everyone makes an effort to get on and shows tolerance, respect and consideration to fellow housemates.
Being messy, dirty, loud, noisy or smelly, causing a general disturbance, or taking up a disproportionate part of the common spaces is going to grate on nerves. It is vital to “do as you would be done by”.
Special consideration needs to be shown at night, when housemates are sleeping. You need to be quiet in the common parts after hours. You need to ‘tread quietly’ with soft footsteps and not slam doors. The same goes for activities like using the bathrooms, the laundry facilities, the dishwasher, cooking in the kitchen and socialising in the lounge.
There are no hard and fast rules. Just think of your fellows and be easy to live with.
No co-habitation
We do, however, have strict rules against couples sharing their room, co-habiting and sub-letting. It’s one person to a room.
We have no objections however to friends, girlfriends and boyfriends staying over from time to time. We even understand this may become a regular thing - i.e. every other weekend. But the general rules are:
The partner continues to have their own house and does not actually live at ours’
The staying over is 'less of the time' rather than 'more of the time’
There is a pattern of reciprocation so if a partner is staying over regularly at our house, then you should be staying over an equal amount of time at theirs'. Net / net it should even out
The partner is deferential to the actual rent-paying tenants, giving them priority in bathrooms and not occupying the social areas unduly
If a friend or relative is going to stay for an elongated period of time (e.g. your mother is visiting London for a week) you ask permission from your fellow housemates if it would be ok - and generally we hope folk will say yes - we certainly don’t mind
Communication
Like many things in life, all of the above comes down to good communication. You should feel comfortable talking issues through with each other.
Naturally issues are going arise. Not everyone will get on with everyone all of the time. Some habits will be fine to some folk but not others. And what seems reasonable to someone will not seem so to someone else. One person’s quiet is another’s noisy.
It all comes down to talking things though, making an effort to understand how others feel and see life from their perspective as well as your own.
5. making new friends
Whilst no one should feel obligated to socialise, most of our properties see the creation of a great network of friends who enjoy their social time together. Due to the long-term nature of our tenancies, tenants quickly become friends and get to know each other well.
Most properties have a WhatsApp group or similar for communications and will often make time to cook and eat together, play games or watch TV and movies.
Your room is your own private space for work, rest and sleep. But the kitchen, lounge, dining areas and gardens are great places to come together when you want company and conversation.