Tips for students living in a share house

Whether it’s to live closer to campus, expand your social network, or simply try something new, moving out for the first time is super exciting. Shared accommodation with other students is a great first step, because even though you’re not living entirely on your own, you can still get a taste of independence by learning how to budget for bills, pay rent, and manage your time, your way.

In a share house arrangement, each individual tenant is responsible for paying a portion of the rent and other bills. This can include utilities like water, electricity and gas, but can also extend to other services you might like to share, like home internet and access to TV streaming services. 

Some share houses have a set up where one housemate handles paying the utilities, another handles home internet, and another handles the rent, and so on. This allows the responsibility of collecting money and paying for bills to be shared. 

To help manage what you owe and what others owe you, you can kick it old school with a weekly meeting and run sheet, or you can consider using apps like Splittr, Splitwise and Beem to help you split up and track group expenses.

Rule number one of living with other people is to clean up after yourself and do your bit around the house. When you don’t, you’re bound to run into conflict. A roster can be a real life saver, outlining things like whose responsibility it is to vacuum, mow the lawn, clean the bathrooms, take the bin out and everything else needed to keep the house in order. It can be done weekly, fortnightly or monthly, and can play to everyone’s strengths or preferences. You may also like to consider rotating jobs and duties to keep things fair.

Living with others is great for socialising, but sometimes, you need your privacy. If your room doesn’t already have a lock (and your landlord agrees), you may be able to add one on your bedroom door to keep others from popping in unannounced. Alternatively, you could consider a door jammer or security bar that doesn’t require installation, to protect against uninvited visitors. 

Remember, if you do add additional locks or bars to a room, ensure they are easily accessible, retractable or removeable in the event of a fire. Fire safety is just as important as home security.

Another great idea to help protect your belongings is to label them and keep an inventory of everything that belongs to you. This can help prevent mix-ups if people have similar items to you.

You may also want to consider getting contents insurance for renters. It can help provide cover for the items you keep at home in case they’re ever stolen, damaged or destroyed by an insured event (i.e. an event your policy covers, such as theft, fire or storm). 

All sorts of items can be covered, like your clothes, bed, and laptop, as well as entertainment devices like a gaming console and chair. Contents insurance for renters can also cover temporary accommodation if you can’t live in your share house due to an insured event. Just remember, different limits and conditions can apply depending on the policy and the insurer, so you should always read the Product Disclosure Statement (PDS) for all the ins and outs of what is and isn’t covered.