House or flatsharing is become more and more common, given the state of the property market today. People are constantly looking for a room, or waiting for a special someone to fill it – and everyone wants to find the perfect houseshare. We’ve put together a few resources to help you in your flat-share search.
Top Websites for Finding a Flatmate
SpareRoom
SpareRoom is probably the most well-known housemate finding platform. Becoming a spare wheel for an existing houseshare might seem daunting but, with SpareRoom, you have the extra option of “buddy ups”, where you can find other people looking for accommodation. You’ll have a greater say in building a house or flatshare from scratch with like-minded people.
SpareRoom is not only easy to use, but it has a focus on safety, regularly vetting property listings. It also encourages people to rent out rooms to increase the availability of affordable rental accommodation. Plus, it partners with Crisis to help support homelessness and has a competition for someone to win a month’s rent per month – so, if you’re feeling lucky, you might want to give it a try.
ideal flatmate
ideal flatmate’s focus is helping you find flatmates that have a strong chance of becoming your friends. It serves more as a social network for flat-hunters rather than just a flatmate hunting tool. You start by taking a survey about your living habits to help quickly connect you with the right new flatmate.
From there, you can easily message other flat seekers from their profiles to ask them questions to see if you’d get on well together. You can then create a group and browse for your perfect home. You’re also able to list an empty room in your flat for flat hunters to discover.
Badi
Originally launched in Spain back in 2015, Badi offers a free app that uses AI to help you to find your next house or flatmate. You share some information about your age, gender, personality and other details, such as whether you’re a student or in full-time work.
Then, the algorithm filters through and matches you to housemates, rather than simply a property, as is normally the case. Once you’ve found a place and flatmates you like, you can pay your deposit securely through the app to reserve it.
Coliving.com
Coliving.com leans on the “co-living” concept which puts the emphasis on finding a like-minded community of people to live with. An international platform, Coliving.com can help you find this type of accommodation all over the world. It’s a great way to meet new people, especially if you’ve relocated.
You’ll of course get your own space – sometimes with your own ensuite and private kitchen – but with larger shared spaces where everyone can come together to socialise. It’s all-inclusive too – plus, you can rent on an individual basis, rather than committing to a joint contract with people you don’t know.
Once you’ve found a room that looks good to you, you share some basic information, then reserve it. The Coliving team will then check your profile to make sure that it matches the community you’ve applied to join.
Cohabitas
There are some slightly more niche sites out there too – such as Cohabitas. Renting and house sharing can make financial and social sense at any age, and plenty of people may have a their own home with a spare room that they’d like to rent out. Cohabitas helps match over-40s with compatible potential housemates.
It’s free to register your details and have people contact you – but, to have full freedom to find the right home, you may need to upgrade to the Premium version of the service. This will allow you to contact anyone on the platform, rather than simply those that have already upgraded.
What’s next?
Once you’ve found the right property – and perfect housemate – for you, there are other ways to make sure that you make a success of living in your househare. You can look into how to set up some simple house rules, where you can save some money, and find out how to to split your bills in the best way so it’s fair for everyone. You could even get a free app like acasa to help you manage those bills or get some of the key services that you’ll need in your new home set up for everyone’s benefit.
