• 3-minute read
• 5th March 2016

House Share Troubles: 6 Perils of Shared Accommodation

For many, university life is their first time away from parental authority. This taste of freedom is an essential part of preparing for adulthood, giving students the independence needed to forge their own way in the world.

However, freedom always comes at a price, especially when living with other people. Does anything on this list of six house share issues ring a bell to you? If not, you’re either very lucky, or the responsible party.

1. Culinary Anarchy

The anarchist Pierre-Joseph Proudhon once famously claimed that ‘property is theft’, implying that ownership is an infringement of the liberty of others. Presumably this is why some people act as if it’s ok to eat other people’s cheese without asking.

2. Washing-Up Cold War

The Cold War was a decades-long standoff between the USA and the Soviet Union, each waiting for the other to make the first move before unleashing a nuclear apocalypse. Thankfully, global fiery doom was ultimately avoided.

However, similarly tense situations pop up in shared houses all the time; the main difference is that nuclear weapons are replaced with teetering piles of dirty dishes and warring nations with housemates refusing to do the washing up. Will you be first to break?

3. Mystery Guests

Those times when you get up in the morning and find a stranger unconscious on the floor in the living room. Is it a friend your housemate invited round? Or some crazy man who broke into your house at night? The fun lies in finding out!

4. Note Leavers

There’s no form of communication more fantastically passive-aggressive than a politely worded note pointing out another person’s shortcomings. It’s unlikely to have its intended effect on the recipient, but it’s a great way of annoying people if you like to avoid direct conflict.

5. Party Dude

You thought living with party dude/dudette would be great fun. After all, she/he’s the life and soul of a Saturday night.

But it turns out being fun in social situations doesn’t necessarily equate to paying bills on time, helping with chores or playing music at a reasonable volume after midnight. Who knew?

6. Borrowers

Not the little people who live in the skirting board, they’re fine. It’s the housemate who borrows our clothes/computer/partner without asking that bothers us. They can take a running jump.

Incidentally, we presume this tendency is based on the same principle as culinary anarchy (see above). Why will nobody respect our boundaries?