"The issues arise when you find yourself living with people who do your head in more often than they don’t, and the risk of this happening is much higher when you end up living with a bunch of randoms having been given no proper opportunity to get to know them"
- Vann Vogstad - COHO
New research from HMO management platform COHO reveals the top tenant complaints in shared housing, with many issues leading directly to tenant turnover and costly void periods for landlords.
According to the study, 40% of tenants in shared homes have either moved out or would consider leaving a property because they do not get on with their housemates. This risk is particularly high given that 86% of tenants live with people they did not know beforehand.
The biggest complaints? Messiness tops the list, followed by housemates avoiding chores, poor taste in TV or films, not paying their share for communal items, and late-night noise.
Among the most common complaints in shared living, tenants cited messiness as the top frustration, followed by housemates failing to help with chores, having clashing tastes in films and TV, and not contributing to communal items like toilet paper or milk. Other frequent annoyances included people staying up all night, inviting guests over without warning, stealing food, smoking indoors, loud sex, and constantly playing loud or bad music.
Previous data from COHO found that 49% of shared tenants live with 5 to 6 housemates, and only 14% live with people they already knew.
Despite the challenges, 74% of tenants said they get along with housemates "very well." However, for the remaining quarter, tension at home is common and, in many cases, a dealbreaker.
“Let’s be honest, you can be the best of friends or even a long-term couple, and you’re still going to have moments where living together causes a bit of friction," comments founder and CEO of COHO, Vann Vogstad. "Being in close quarters does that to a relationship, but if such instances are few and far between, it’s never really a problem."
Van added, "The issues arise when you find yourself living with people who do your head in more often than they don’t, and the risk of this happening is much higher when you end up living with a bunch of randoms having been given no proper opportunity to get to know them,"
"This is a problem that has haunted the HMO market for far too long because so often you have to pick a property before you’ve had any real chance to understand who you’re going to be living with and whether your personalities are a good match."
