Choosing facility living

[Mirrorimaging]

Aside from student accommodation, why do people choose shared kitchen, bathroom accommodation? Finances maybe restrictive but wouldn't a studio apartment be preferable?

I recall the old set up of renting a room in your youth but then you usually knew the landlord. It was seen as a short term choice.

If you live in shared facility living, why did you choose it?

The only people I know who have chosen to do this didn’t actually have a choice as it was all they could afford.

Living in a house share is much cheaper than a studio flat.

Aside from costs, which I would think are the deciding factor these days, it can sometimes be nicer to have some interaction with other people rather than being on your own.

Yes, except that in my experience of student days there was always a furious note pinned to the fridge "WHO STOLE THE LAST OF MY CHEESE LAST NIGHT?!" and labels on the milk 🫣😆 but maybe I just shared with a bunch of kleptomaniacs!

It's always been a cost factor for me. Can't say I ever particularly enjoyed it but needs must sometimes. When I lived in London (going back 15 years), it was £780 for a studio flat or under £500 to rent a room/flat share (neither of which you could rent for the same price nowadays I suspect!)

Company, companionship. But mostly finances.
A friend of mine rents a room. Long term arrangement and they eat meals together, give lifts when needed and pick bits up from the shops for each other. Not a big house share, just the two of them. One is early 60s, the other mid 70s, both single gentleman. The older one owners the house and rents the room to the younger one. Tops up his pension. The younger one has a pretty low income, self employed, so this is ideal for him. They get on like a house on fire.
I think if I was on my own and in a large enough property I'd definitely consider letting a room. You just need to pick your lodger carefully.
Also, get a small fridge in your own room, solves the issue of people nicking your food.

I did say 'sometimes'... 😂

My son does.

he was in a studio flat but got lonely.

now he’s in a really big shared house and they share the cooking and cleaning on a rota and have movie nights and everything. He loves it.

DH and I lived in shared flats until we bought our first home in London in our 30s. A studio/1 bed flat would have been more expensive to rent and we were determined to save as much deposit as we could, despite being on good salaries. We had enough money to afford a self-contained place, so it wasn't exactly that we didn't have a choice. But then we would have saved less. In the end we had a large deposit, all from earnings and no family help, and were able to buy a 2 bed flat in zone 1, while other friends who enjoyed their own rented flats through their 20s had to move out to zone 4/5 when they bought a home.

I spent 12 years in house shares during my student years ( 7yrs) and up until I moved in with my now dh age 30.

Studio flats to rent were too expensive and too lonely imo.
( I did live abroad for a while and shared there too in the US and Hong Kong )

None of my friends had studio flats or bedsits. Everyone house shared

I never had a bad house share and never had notes left on the fridge about who stole someone’s food ( post upthread )

Studio flats are more expensive and fewer of them everywhere I’ve lived Purpose built ones are really expensive. And the ones that aren’t purpose built are more built into very big bedrooms so the overall space you get is much smaller. Also if you have a separate room, you can at least leave the cooking smells in the kitchen. When I was moving between cities, house shares were also a nice way to make new friends

I think i'd rather flat share than cook and spend every waking moment of my time at home in my bedroom!