Moving in with mates

If you are moving into your own premises, you only have yourself to blame when things go wrong and making do is easy because you only have you to answer to! It's a different story though when moving in with friends and taking on a lease together, so here's a chance to communicate first and make sure your new place together is the best experience you've had.

• Work out where you all want to live - making one person compromise is a bad start, so make sure everyone is happy with the location, taking into consideration things like travelling time to work, friends, family and local transport.

• What style and size house do you want?

• How many people in the house?

• Whose names will appear on the lease?

• How much can each of you comfortably afford in rent each week?

• What are the practicalities of each persons' living habits? Is there a shift worker who wants to party whilst others sleep or vice versa? Are there some that want to study whilst others do not?

• Are there enough facilities for everyone? Eg. bathrooms, car parking?

• Who gets the big room?

Also see Questions to Ask Potential Flatmates for some good harmony tips!