HMO tenants want more information about who they will live with, according to new research from shared living platform COHO, which found that 42% move into shared accommodation with little or no information about their future housemates.
COHO, which ran the study, says tenants who move in blind are more likely to raise concerns about personal safety, and argues the industry must address the issue. More than one in five (21%) say they have felt unsafe at some point because of a housemate. The figure rises to 27% among those aged 45 and over, while men (22%) were slightly more likely than women (21%) to report feeling unsafe.
COHO’s State of Shared Living Report draws on responses from 5,145 UK HMO tenants and examines compatibility, transparency and safety across the sector. The National HMO Register lists 482,788 HMOs across England and Wales, housing more than 2 million people.
Other findings from the survey include:
- 60% wish they had known more about their prospective housemates before moving in
- 53% want greater input over who joins their household
- 40% would pay more rent to live with housemates they knew would be a good fit
Rising housing costs are pushing more people towards shared accommodation. Average private rents are up 3.7% year on year to £1,393 a month, while average house prices have increased 2.0% over the past 12 months to £272,000, which keeps ownership out of reach for many.
Sharing, however, is no longer limited to students or people at the start of their careers. The data shows that over 40% of respondents are aged 30 or over, and 89% of that group are in paid work. Some 55% describe shared living as a lifestyle choice rather than a last resort. COHO points to rising rents, a shortage of affordable housing and the difficulty of getting onto the property ladder as factors making shared living a bigger part of the housing market.
The research suggests one area is often overlooked: knowing who tenants will be sharing a home with.
Unlike other forms of renting, co-living requires tenants to share facilities such as kitchens, bathrooms and communal areas and, in many cases, aspects of their everyday lives. For some, an incompatible household can have a significant impact.
Compatibility also appears to affect how long tenants stay. One in six HMO tenants (16%) say they would rent their home for longer if they had a say in who was moving in. COHO says landlords have seen average shared living tenancies lengthen from 6 to 18 months when housemates are selected based on compatibility.
The findings show the shared living industry needs to rethink how tenants are matched into homes.
“Our research exposes a major gap in the way shared living works today,” said Vann Vogstad, chief executive and founder of COHO (pictured).
“We ask people to share their homes with complete strangers, yet in many cases they are given little or no information about who they are going to live with. Tenants feeling unsafe in their own home, even once, is not something the sector can ignore.
“There is also an outdated view that HMOs are simply student housing or a last resort for people who cannot afford to live alone. That is no longer the reality. As our findings show, shared living is a way of life for all ages, so the industry has a responsibility to make that experience better.
“Tenants are telling us clearly that they want more transparency, more choice and greater compatibility with the people they live with. Shared living should not mean accepting whoever happens to be allocated the room next door. We need to move away from simply filling rooms and start thinking about creating homes where people actually feel comfortable living together.”
“What’s more, our research found that 63.5% of residents say their shared house is a positive presence in their local area,” he notes.
“As shared living becomes a bigger part of the housing market, landlords and operators must move away from treating housemates as anonymous occupants and instead recognise compatibility as an important part of creating successful shared homes.”
