How To Decide Rooms in a Student House

02.11.23

So you’ve found a great group of people to live with, and you’ve found the perfect student house.

Now comes the tricky part – who gets what room?

This can be a great source of tension. And you don’t want to be arguing with your housemates before you even move in!

So we put this short guide together that’ll help you ensure everybody’s happy.

Maybe when you’re viewing the house you’ll all come to an unwritten agreement as to who gets what room.

Unfortunately, things are rarely that easy. But you might be able to stave off some serious arguments if you agree certain things in advance.

The most important thing to agree is that you’ll wait until everyone’s together before you decide rooms. A first-come-first-served strategy might make things easier, but it won’t be fair on any of your housemates who have further to travel, or who aren’t able to move in on the same day as everyone else.

The “finders keepers” approach to picking rooms might not work for everyone. But there are some other things you can try to make things a bit fairer:

Option 1 -Draw Names Out of a Hat – Have everyone write their name on a piece of paper, and fold it. Put all of these pieces of paper together in a bowl, and mix them up. Then draw out names, one at a time. Whoever gets drawn first gets to choose first, and so on.
Option 2 – Have a Contest – Why not make a game out of it? Whether it’s through flipping coins, arm-wrestling, rock-paper-scissors, a drinking game, or competing at a board game or a video game, you could easily make the stressful task of deciding rooms a lot more enjoyable.
Option 3 – Have a Discussion – This strategy’s not so enjoyable, but it might be more equitable. Sit down with your housemates and have an open discussion about the whole thing. Let everyone say which room they’d choose, and why. You might find that some people simply don’t mind what they get, whereas others have very good reasons for preferring one room over another. So you might be able to reach an agreement that works for everyone. And if you can’t? See options 1 and 2.

You can’t always get what you want. But if somebody ends up with a room they’d rather not have, then there are things you can do to sweeten the deal.

What makes some rooms in the house more appealing? It’s usually the size – some rooms are bigger than others. But it could also be down to amenities – some rooms might contain sinks, or even en-suites.

Or it might be location. Some people simply don’t like the idea of sleeping on the ground floor, for example. And having a room close to the bathroom might be convenient, but it might also mean you have to hear some things you’d rather not hear…

So weigh up the pros and cons of each room, and come up with a ranking. You might then be able to come up with a system whereby whoever gets the “best” rooms (or the biggest) pays a little more for rent, or bills.

Read our full guide to making finances fairer in a student house.

Can’t decide who gets what room? Then why not take it in turns to have the best rooms?

Agree to swap rooms after a set period of time – whether that’s once a term, once every six months, or whatever works best for you.

Of course, it would be a lot of hassle to move all your stuff from one room to another in the middle of a tenancy. But it might be the best arrangement for everyone.

Ideally, your student house will be so nice that everyone will feel safe and satisfied, no matter what room they get.

We specialise in high quality affordable student accommodation. And to make things as easy as possible, we always include bills in the rental price. Find your perfect student house today.