Melvin Durai
A recent headline in The New York Times caught my eye. It said: “How to Afford Housing in London: Multiple Roommates, No Living Room.” I have no plans to move to London, but if I did, I would very much like a living room (sitting room). I do not like to do all my living in the bedroom. Then again, if I had eight roommates, the living room would get a little crowded and I’d have to live in my bedroom. Eight roommates (or housemates) may seem like a lot, but it’s the only way I’d be able to afford rent in London. Like in many cities around the world, rent in London has been rising faster than wages and salaries. Having an apartment to yourself is truly a luxury, even if the apartment is so tiny that you can open the front door without getting out of bed.
According to The Times, a growing proportion of adults aged 35 and older in Britain are living with roommates to afford the high rents. In many rental properties, living rooms have been eliminated to create an extra bedroom. Dan Darragh, a 36-year old contractor in the finance industry, pays 900 pounds in rent monthly to share a six-bedroom house with five roommates. Having roommates is “a lot more the norm now,” Darragh said. “I know very few people who actually live alone.” As rents soar around the world, many people have been forced to share apartments and houses with roommates. But this isn’t necessarily a bad thing. There are significant advantages to having roommates, as well as some disadvantages. The biggest advantage, of course, is being able to split costs, not just rent but also various other costs you will encounter as a tenant, including electricity, gas and internet. You may even be able to split the cost of hiring a lawyer to sue the landlord for adding an extra shower in the apartment, rather than fixing the hole in the roof.
Roommates can also give you company. If it’s good company, you won’t feel lonely again. If it’s bad company, you may yearn for loneliness. Having roommates in a cosmopolitan city like London can expose you to different cultures (this is a good thing), different races (this is a good thing), and different bathing habits (not always a good thing). Sometimes, a roommate who takes infrequent baths or showers may actually be preferable to a roommate who lives in the bathroom. It depends, of course, on how frequently they are. Once every three days may be tolerable; once every three years, not so much. It’s not just bathing habits that might create conflict — it’s also cooking and cleaning habits. You may want your roommate to wash a pot soon after cooking with it, but your roommate might prefer to hit you over the head with the pot. Thankfully, most roommates don’t resort to violence over simple requests.
Most roommates learn to compromise. If you expect a pot to be washed right away, but your roommate feels no urgency whatsoever, your roommate might suggest a compromise: “I promise I will wash it before any mold starts growing.” The biggest disadvantage of sharing a home is that you might find yourself living with the roommate from hell. The roommate from hell will make you dread coming home from work. You might even be tempted to sleep under your desk. The roommate from hell is not necessarily a stranger whom you didn’t thoroughly investigate before agreeing to share an apartment. The roommate from hell might be a good friend who has not yet learned to live with other humans. So how do you save yourself from the roommate from hell? Well, the best thing you can do is make sure that the lease or rental agreement allows you to escape, perhaps through a subleasing clause that allows you to find someone else to take over your woes.
