To think that my daughter should get the bedroom she wants?

Presumably, this would also mean that your daughter will use shared bathroom in the same way so the argument really doesn't stack up.
When I was in a similar situation, I offered to pay more form the onset to get a bigger room on a separate floor. The other person was happy with the arrangement as it meant she saved 20% on her rent. Unfortunately, she did then move her boyfriend in six months later and he never contributed a penny to bills. So I would avoid this flatshare altogether.

In this case I would advise them to keep looking for a property with 2 ensuite bathrooms - or abort entirely so that BF and friend get their own place and DD looks for another flat share partner or a studio. As it stands, even if it is amicable, DD will always, in effect, be renting a room as she cannot - with someone else’s BF - wander around the whole place in her underwear/sleepwear and will have a 33% share in rights over the shared space, remote control, kitchen usage. No matter what anyone says, she will effectively be sharing with 2 people not one, but financing a 50% share. The friendship will sour and resentment build. If she wants to keep her friend, they should not co-share.

A friend’s DS ended up in this situation too - he found that when flatmates paired up, they ended up moving out at short notice leaving him having to find other flatmates or, for several months, lumbered with 100% of bills even though they paid their rent to the end of the tenancy which was obviously more than he would have paid when split because of standing charges etc. It will all go south. They both need to be realistic about this.

The couple should definitely have the en-suite, if the aim is to avoid semi-naked men lolloping through the house to take a piss in them middle of the night.

But that's not fair, so they should maybe rotate - a year each or whatever.

I don't see why your daughter would expect to be able to gatekeep the main bathroom. It would be reasonable of her to ask her flatmate not to use it, but of course guests will use the main one.

I don't think she should be renting this flat if she's this bothered about bathroom use. Also whoever gets the en-suite should pay more - arguably the woman in the relationship should pay more anyway as it'll be double occupancy a lot of the time.

It's surprising how many people who 'really need and deserve' the nicer option suddenly change their minds when there's an additional cost to it.

I still remember many years ago when we and another couple booked a BnB to attend a friend's wedding. The place had two rooms available: the one with an en-suite was £80 a night and the one without, where you had to use the bathroom on the landing, was £70.

We gave them the first choice and they chose the cheaper one...BUT once we got there, they were enviously eyeing up our room and asked if we would mind swapping, as they thought they would find the en-suite much more convenient (both of them had main character syndrome).

We actually agreed that we would still switch rooms, if they wanted to pay the extra tenner and have the en-suite. It turned out that they actually wanted US to pay the extra tenner and THEM to have the en-suite! They were weirdly surprised that we weren't amenable to that, as it sounded like a perfect solution to them!!

We priced our rooms differently in Uni so I payed more for the huge bedroom in my 4th year, and I the secidn year we payed more for the 1st floor rooms than the 2nd. That might be an option.
Or a coin toss.
Or a new house.

I need the better bedroom cos I don't want a boyfriend?

Yes that's weird logic.

Surely better for them to have en suite so he isn't swanning around the house to the shower in a tiny towel.

The boyfriend should be of no consideration whatsoever. Your single dauhter may meet someone next week, her friend may get dumped next week.
Maybe they should just toss a coin.

Obviously the solutions are-

1. flip a coin (or similar) or
2. the person who gets the en-suite pays more

I don’t think either being single or being a couple is an argument. For one thing, student relationships break up very quickly, or your dd could get a boyfriend/ girlfriend in that time.

I would be wanting to limit the amount the boyfriend stays if I was your dd as I would want to live with a couple.

You’re always going to think your dd deserves first choice, the other girls mum will think her dd deserves first choice. The ensuite for your dd seems logic to you, but to me, it’s more logical for the other girl to have it if it’s more segregated (albeit slightly) from the rest of the house.

The ensuite room should definitely be slightly more expensive though, so that needs to be ironed out first.

3 rounds of rock, paper, scissors, lizard, spock should sort it 😂

Obviously the rooms need to be charged at different rates. Once they both agree to that, they can coin toss.

It's going to sound really petty if your dd starts arguing about things like her friend's bf "charging his phone" at theirs - a full phone charge costs about a penny, even if he did it every single time he came over it would cost less than a quid for the whole year.

The friend could equally argue that its less of an inconvenience for her to have a boyfriend dd knows fairly well over compared to the possibility of dd pulling complete strangers and the friend waking up to a random guy in the main bathroom.

Basically both could have a valid reason for getting the en-suite, the only fair way is to either toss a coin or agree the person with the en-suite pays more.

We had one bathroom for 8 of us in my student house so sounds like she's living in the lap of luxury to me!

This is the fairest way to decide room allocation.
The BF is a separate issue and they need to sort ground rules about his contribution/frequency of staying over before they sign up for the flat.

En-suite pays more, though I think the couple should have it …. and BF has to stick to rule that he only uses that bathroom. Agreement in place on how many nights BF stays over; more than 2 and he has to contribute. Nothing turns a flatshare relationship sourer than a BF hogging the bathroom. I used to flatshare in a friend’s house, and it went south once her BF started staying over regularly. I felt a third wheel, felt I couldn’t watch tv in the sitting room with them, and basically just holed up in my room.

I agree: they can't expect rhe convenience of their own exclusive bathroom when it suits, but also not to have the inconvenience of the stairs when they're on a different floor.

En-suites are fantastic in a family house setting - where they obviously go to the parents who run and also pay for the house; but in a household of equals, they can just end up causing dissension.

how we handled this at uni was made the better bedroom a little bit more expensive. Would either be willing to pay more for the en-suite? Then it feels fair

Agree with others that whoever has en suite should pay more, I don’t think your daughter has anymore right to it than the other housemate just because she’s single though.

What I would say is a word of caution about the boyfriend, I lived in a flatshare with one friend whose boyfriend ended up living pretty much full time in our flat and didn’t contribute anything.

Final nail in the coffin was when she’d gone away with some other friends but given him the key, I came home and he was sat watching the football in the lounge in his pants, the flat was a tip and he’d left load of dirty dishes and crap in the kitchen. Suffice to say our friendship ended.

Of course this may never happen and your DD’s BF may be a much more pleasant human who does indeed only stay 1 night a week but it does change the dynamic.

So if there’s two bathrooms then they get a bathroom each, so the friend and boyfriend should just use the en suite toilet / shower, if they decide on that room and your DD gets the bedroom and main bathroom to herself.
Sounds like the en suite is perhaps on the second floor, so comes with the added expectation that there’s more stairs climbing every time they need the loo if down stairs?!

If there are two of them sharing, they each have a bathroom: one has the (likely) bigger one that isn't en-suite; the other has the (likely) smaller one but with the balancing advantage that it's more convenient for her bedroom.

None of the 'what's mine is mine, but what's yours is shared' - each one needs to respect each other's privacy, with their own guests using their own bathroom only. Naturally, each of them is responsible for cleaning her own exclusive bathroom.

I don't understand the people saying that 'the couple' should have the en-suite - there is no couple amongst the tenants; just two friends. If he isn't an official tenant and he isn't paying towards the rent, the bf doesn't get (or earn for his gf) any special privileges or considerations. At any rate, as PP said, who's to say that the couple couldn't split up and the single person find her lifelong partner in the first week?

You'd think that, but my ds got stiffed by his "friends" on a flat share. He ended up with box room(mate with gf, not living there full time.) Got enquired, mate who needed space for drawing board got double and ds got single. But equally shared rent.

I agree, when DH (he was DP then) and l bought our first house together, his son , as a young adult, hadn't yet left home so was moving in with us. There was an ensuite room on a different floor, similar to OP's DD set up and a family bathroom. DH pushed for his DS to have the ensuite on the grounds of privacy for us and him and it was the one he wanted himself.
I came off worst tbh, his DS had exclusive use of his ensuite, whilst l was sharing the family bathroom with him and DP. His son would regularly use it for the toilet to save him going to his ensuite and had regular baths.
Of course l didn't mind sharing bathroom with now DH as he is meticulously clean and always left it clean.
His son however, not so much, so if he was occupying family bathroom l didn't want to use his ensuite unless desperate as it was often dirty. Then l had to clean our bathroom again before l used toilet or clean the tide mark and worse from the bath. l never cleaned the ensuite, drew the line at that so DP would but try get his son to do it for weeks first so it got pretty bad.
DD's friend's DP in the OP might be very clean and considerate however so may not be as problematic but l am probably influenced by my bad experience but l am with OP on her DD getting ensuite.

But was there a spooky corridor to get to her room that they were too scared to use?!

Your daughter could get a boyfriend tomorrow and the couple could split. Who knows what will happen.

I think youre biased because shes your daughter. No reason she wouldnt also have a partner during the lease.

Either - this isnt the right flat for them, this isnt the right flatmate for your daughter or they need to compromise.

Id suggest ensuite room costs a bit more. Or if theyre moving in together again next year who ever gets first pick this year gets first pick next year or even draw straws.

You need to let your daughter sort it out. What does she think she should do? Stuff like this is part of life and she needs to learn how to navigate it. I would be discussing what she thinks is fair and then advising her on how to broach it, including what to do if it gets to stalemate. Get her view and navigate from there rather than stepping in to say your view