Five of my friends and I are planning on renting a 3 bedroom, 2 bathroom house. 2 people will be in each bedroom. I’ve known 2 of them for about 6 years and I’ve become good friends with the others over the past 4 months. How horribly wrong could this go? What can we do to keep everything under control?
Everything is great when you room with your friends…until it isn’t. One roomie flunks out of school and leaves for home. Another roomie gets a gf/bf and has an extra body basically living 24/7 in your already crowded house. A third roomie parties with strangers 3-4 nights a week, trashes your living room, and keeps the others awake til 3 am. A fourth roomie has allergies and spends tons of money on special foods, only to have their housemates eat/drink it all.
So many opportunities to experience a great year together, but to do so you need to approach it with realistic, even brutal, honesty and openness.
Will the lease be signed by everyone, or will only one person be legally bound to the rent payment? (BTW, you do NOT want to be that lone person stuck with that honor!!)
Some landlords near colleges offer individual leases for each person living in their rental, and that would be the easiest way to keep the loss of a roommate from impacting the others.
How will you handle conflict? Does majority vote rule? Are there some ground rules you can establish to allow for reasonable people to function well in a small shared space? If two people are having an issue, how will that affect the rest of you? Do the rest of you get to weigh in on the matter, or do you stand on the sidelines while they fight it out?
It is very doable, and probably enjoyable, to rent a house with friends. And you are wise to be asking for advice beforehand. Hopefully others with more real life experience will chime in.