What do you think the best number is for 2nd year house sharing ?

[AceKitten]

?

4

Depends how many bathrooms

3 or 4.

It’s less the number and more the compatibility.

If you hate clubbing and like your sleep but some (or all) of your housemates love pres and rolling in at 4am then it’s not going to work.

Ditto if you like a tidy bathroom but you're sharing one with someone that leaves damp towels on the floor and never cleans the shower drain.

Yes I get its also compatability, but I'm interested in how many tends to work, well in people experience

no more than 4
it gets messy and everyone stops taking responsibility for cleaning and jobs
(and you need two fridges)

Then 4 or 5 is fine. More if the kitchen / laundry facilities allow and they are all capable and willing to do their bit to keep it clean..

DC had 5 in first year uni accommodation and that worked fine as they agreed to and stuck with a rota for bins / communal area cleaning (they had all had a year out so maybe were a bit more used to living away from home).

Just got back from a uni house reunion, we lived 6 of as and are all still really good friends 20 years later (4 girls, 2 boys).

Generally, the smaller the number, the better.

Realistically, 3 or 4 sharing is better than 6,8, or more.

Ok thanks so much for advice

Dc1 was with 4 others
dc2 2. Generally not as sociable,Wasn't able to find more than 1 other person to share. When other person on holiday etc, was left alone in the flat.
Dc3 with 5 others. Loving it. Always someone about, (when she wanted to watch a movie, her least favourite person was free to tag along and still had a good time.

We had 6 and it was perfectly big enough but we had 2 bathrooms, 2 fridges etc. What I would say is our house for the most part was very chilled and very little drama. Majority of us went out together etc. we think the lack of drama was due to being a mixed house. A lot of all female house shares seemed to have drama between the people I knew.

Also to mention, each of the 6 housemates bring other friends in, so DC getting to know more people.

The problem with only 3 is the higher probability of one being 'left out' unless you are really lucky - my DS did a flat share in London with 2 friends but they got on so well they are still all best friends now, 4 years later! If there are 4 or more, there's less chance of this. Wouldn't go more than 5 unless its a mansion - there needs to be a communal living area so they aren't all confined to bedrooms.

DD shared with 5 others of whom 1 was a girl. Two bathrooms and a very well maintained flat with a resident maintenance guy who looked after 12 flats in the road for the landlord. She’s still great friends with 3 out of the 5. 4th year, after 3rd year abroad it was more of a challenge as not in the country to flat hunt. She was then one of three. No issues with that either and one was from 2nd year group. In general 4-6 looks ok.

DD is sharing with two others. The fewer the better imo!

My DD is in a flat of 3 and loves it, but she likes a tidy home, isn’t much of a drinker, and they all do the same sport. It’s not a party flat and that suits her very well. She was in halls last year with 11 others, some of whom were really into partying and the flat was always full of people doing preez or posts, loud music all the time, etc. and she found it quite overwhelming.

It depends in part on the housing stock available. They want to be the right number to fit whatever is most easily available. No sense being five people if 95% of what’s available in their price range for student lets is four-bed.

DD is sharing with 1 other girl but they’ve both got lots of friends living in the surrounding streets. Both girls like quiet sometimes but are both also quite sociable so it’s working well (so far!!)

I feel DD m, as one of 6, found all were similar to her but they enjoyed different things and maintained friends in other flats and from their courses. Clubbing was a thing then but just in year 1! Clubbing is dying. Loads have closed. Parties are way cheaper. Lots of flats have no party space.

DD in y4 had dinner parties as the flat actually had a dining table in a large lounge/diner. Priorities change. Often in y2 DC maybe haven’t been discerning with friends because they’ve known them for 5 minutes. This gets sorted by y3!

I shared with 5 others in a big house. Always someone round for a chat if you wanted.

Four. Low enough to be manageable, 3 can mean 1 person feels isolated.

My DC in Y1 is going for a house for 8. Guess it depends on the size of the friendship group. There are 15 of them so have split into an 8 and a 7.

3 often means they are quiet types anyway and possibly don’t have a huge array of friends. 8 can mean not that many properties available and some will be very small rooms. Bigger groups better than 3 but depends on friendships formed very quickly so dc won’t know flatmates well so it’s a bit of a lottery.

4 - 6 but mixed.