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Tenants begin to get choosy about who they house or flat share with, report shows

Some renters prepared to pay hundreds of pounds more a month to be with ideal house or flat sharers.

The Negotiator

flat shareArguments among tenants over unwashed dishes, late night partying and dirty pants left on bannisters are clearly taking their toll, reveals research out today into the house and flat share market.

It shows that 70% of house and flat sharer tenants in the UK are willing to pay on average an extra £112 a month to secure a home with more ideal cohabiters.

But some told researchers they would stump up even more; £201 a month, which seems a lot just to avoid unflushed loos, stolen orange juice and waiting ages for a shower in the morning.

The research found that being clean and tidy was the most important attribute of being a good flatmate among those polled, that men prefer sharing with three others and females two others.

Face-to-face

Commissioned by utility company Spark Energy, which is a specialist supplier to the lettings market, the research also reveals that half of all tenants still believe the most effective way to meet people to share a home with is face-to-face, despite the best of efforts of websites such as RoomBuddies.co.uk to convert this into a digital interaction.

Spark Energy’s spokesperson Shaun Burnett (pictured) also suggests that a ‘behavioural’ trend may be emerging in the lettings industry akin to TripAdvisor, in which tenants seek out well behaved fellow renters with good profiles to live with.

The research also revealed some good news for sales agent – Spark Energy reckons that only 18% of tenants it spoke to believe they will never make it on the property ladder, considerably lower than the two thirds of renters that online only agent House Network feared they would not get on the property ladder.

As they say in research, it’s all about who you talk to.

March 24, 2017

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