Looking for a shared property to rent is something that is commonly done by students and younger people in their first job. However this is not always the case, particularly in the credit crunch when money is tight, and people may choose to share a house with other people to save money.
When people look for a shared property to rent, they may do so by informal networking. They may put the word around at their college or workplace that they are looking for somewhere. Sometimes work and college notice-boards will have notices from people who have rooms available. Or people may send an email to everyone on the work or college email system to let people know that they have a room available or they are a prospective tenant looking for one.
People with part of a property to rent will usually want a person who will fit in to the house. Fitting in could mean a number of different things. The people already in the house may want an active member of their social scene, or someone who is a non-participant. Fitting in may mean becoming part of the social group within the house, joining in with cooking for the group and eating and socializing together. If this is the case the people in the house will want to get to know the newcomer to see if they like the person and have things in common.
Alternatively, fitting in to the house may mean not joining in, for example a married couple may want to rent a room out to someone who they would rather not have around the house too much and leads an independent life from them. So if the prospective tenant is a person who works late then goes out socializing most evenings, and at weekends goes away to see friends and family. Then the married couple are likely to be very pleased.
People with a property to rent will therefore want to talk to the people who they may be inviting into their house, to find out what kind of tenant they may be getting. Initial impressions are important, but it is also prudent to tell the person what you are looking for and also to ask them what they are expecting when sharing a house.
Equally, those people who are looking for a shared property to rent should also make sure that they talk to the other people in the house to find out whether they are likely to fit in. Anyone looking for a property to rent should carefully consider the people that they will be sharing the house with. If they like the people and feel comfortable with them, they should ask some straight questions about what the people in the house are looking for.
Hopefully the above points will help people who are involved in a shared property to rent scenario, both the newcomer coming into the house, and the people who are already there.