If you’re about to move to London, or even if you already live here, chances are you will at some point be looking to move into a flatshare or houseshare. If you know how to find a flatshare in London, it can definitely be the most affordable way to live in the capital. And if you are new to the city, a flatshare in London is a great way of meeting some new friends.
If you are looking to live somewhere with a partner, a flatshare can be a great way to save some cash. Even if you commit just one year to housesharing before getting your own one bedroom rental, the savings can be huge. Here I have put together a list of things to consider when you are trying to find the perfect flatshare in London
How To Find A Flatshare In London
Before you set out to find a great flatshare in London, you’ll want to first consider a few things which should hopefully help narrow down your options. After all, there are a crazy amount of flatshares available at any one time in London!
- Location
If you’re just about to move to London, and you’ve already got a job to go to, you want to make sure that the location of your new home isn’t too far away from work. A 90 minute commute can seem manageable at first, but this soon starts to take it’s toll when you are spending 3 hours a day on a packed train!
- Budget
You’ll be likely to have a budget in mind for your new home. But make sure that the budget is realistic and manageable. There is no point in searching for a room in zone 1 for £400 per month! They just don’t exist.
Make sure that you have a budget in mind, and you stick to it. You will be doing yourself a disservice if your rent is so high that it means that you will not have much left over for living once rent is paid!
- Your flatmates
Consider who you would like to live with. On some flatshare-finder websites you will be able to filter the results by the people who already live in that flatshare. If you have preferences about your flatmates’ ages, lifestyle, habits, and pets- it’s a good idea to make use of these filters.
Where To Find A Flatshare In London
There are tons of ways to find a flatshare in London, but the most popular way is to find a new flatshare online. There are several different flatshare websites, so it’s a good idea to check out a few different ones to see which one is most suited to you.
Spareroom
Spareroom is the flatshare giant. New rooms and properties are added daily to this site which has a huge amount of users. Whether you need to find a new tenant for your room that you are moving out of, or you are looking to find a new place for yourself- spareroom should be your first port of call.
You can narrow down your search by area or postcode, and then further by specific categories such as age range and gender of other tenants, smoking or non-smoking, bedroom size and of course price. Lots of adverts will have some information that has been provided by the current tenants, which might tell you about what the current housemates are like. This can help you make a decision on whether you feel like this would be your perfect houseshare.
You might also enjoy: How To Find An Affordable Apartment In London
Facebook can be a great tool to find rooms, especially if you already know a lot of people in London- I have found that Facebook friends often share when they are looking for a new housemate or perhaps when they know someone else who is looking for a housemate. There are also dedicated groups such as ‘Kiwis in London’ and ‘Aussies in London,’ where rooms are often advertised if you are heading to London from Down Under! One of my previous flatmates was a Kiwi, and found another Kiwi to replace him in this group.
Other sites to consider
- Badi
Badi is a global site for finding flatshares. It shows that there are currently 1,500 new rooms listed in London every week. Which means you definitely won’t be short of choice! You can enter your budget, the number of flatmates and the location you would like into the search bar to help narrow down the results.
- Ideal Flatmate
Ideal Flatmate is another site which you could use to find your perfect flatshare- and even your perfect flatmate. Ideal Flatmate has a 20 question quiz which aims to help you find your best flatshare match!
- Roomi
Roomi is an app-based flatmate finder. The app is very easy to use, and shows you some interesting statistics. For example, how many people are looking for a room in London, what the average rent is in London, and how many listings are currently available in London.
Where To Find A Flatmate In London
As well as being great for flatshare listings, spareroom also has a function where people look to ‘buddy-up,’ with others. This can be a great idea as once you have buddied up, you can look for a rental through websites such as Rightmove or Gumtree.
This can sometimes be a great way to save more money, especially if you are a couple, as many rooms on Spareroom will stipulate that they don’t allow couples, or couples need to pay double the price of the room! If you go through an agency it means that the rental price for a 3 bedroom flat is usually the same whether 3 people live there or 6 people live there.
You might also enjoy: How To Live On A Budget In London
Rightmove
As mentioned in the point above, Rightmove is a great place to look for flatshares if you are doing a ‘buddy-up.’ You can filter results by area and postcode, bedrooms and price.
I would say from my own experience that you will find a nice flat or house at a better price using this method than you would going through the Spareroom listings, especially if you are a couple looking to houseshare. That said, I found a wonderful houseshare at a reasonable price on Spareroom when I first moved to London and made some great friends- sometimes it can be luck of the draw.
Gumtree
Gumtree works in a similar way to Rightmove and Spareroom, and you can filter by price, room type and location to find your perfect flatshare. There aren’t as many listings on Gumtree as there are on Spareroom, but you can set a ‘search alert’ so that you are notified by email if any new listings are added in your area.
There is no magic formula to finding a flatshare in London. A lot of the time it will come down to luck. Perhaps you get lucky with some great flatmates who become friends, or perhaps your landlord is particularly great. Remember, there is only so much research you can do to find your perfect flatshare. View as many properties as you can, and then go with your gut instinct- it’s usually right!
