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► Housemates Advice

By January, you will have only known your flat mates for 3 months and, although they are hopefully some of your best friends, it is important to think carefully about who to live with the following year. Obviously, it is great if you all get along, but can you really stand the smell from the room next door in your living room!? On the other hand, you may not get on too well with your flatmates and perhaps hold some concerns about who you will live with next year.

This section shall hopefully allay those fears and help you find the right people to live with.

It is very easy to get carried away and decide that everyone from your flat and the flat next door is going to live together. Add in someone’s course mate they want to live with and all of a sudden there are 14 people in your house hunting group.

Don't go for one huge house. You will not be able to recreate halls by living in a big house and larger houses are hard to find, as well as being very difficult to keep tidy and maintain. If you have to pay bills on them, they will also be expensive to heat. If you want to stay together as a floor, look for two or three smaller houses in the same area.

Also, think about exactly who you can handle living with.

For example, your best friend might not be the best person to live with; they may great fun when out socialising, but are they too messy or noisy for a small 4 person house? Remember, a house will often have more shared spaces than halls, especially if you are used to en-suite bathrooms! Think carefully and be prepared to say no to people, as you probably aren’t the only person with concerns.

Smaller houses will normally be slightly cheaper and give you loads more room as there are fewer people sharing a limited space.

Take your time deciding on groups as there will always be houses available, so you really don't have to rush this kind of decision. Saying no might cause minor conflict for a little bit, but you will find it a lot worse if you have to live together - and you will both get over it!

Think beyond your floor. If you really can’t stand your housemate, then is there anyone you get on well with from your course, society or sports club?

Just because you don’t live with someone in your first year, don’t assume that you won’t be able to live together in your second year. It can often be best to have a bit of a mix of people within a house as it is easy to have too much of someone after the first year.

Don't worry if you have nobody to live with. Don't panic and don't get depressed as this happens to quite a few people. There is some single person accommodation available through the University in its halls of residence, as well as numerous private agents. Often, through the summer there are lots of single rooms in shared houses advertised to be filled for the start of term and people can often negotiate a good deal on these.