Moving into your university house is one of the most exciting times of the year, but it can also be that dreaded time of the year… you’re all moving into your new house together, and one room is twice the size of the rest and everyone wants it. But how do you decide who gets first dibs? Lucky for you, I’ve already been in this situation twice, and here’s how we allocated rooms:
In my second year house, it was kind of just first-come, first-served, although I will admit this caused arguments. We had one room which was significantly smaller than the others, which was slightly unfair to my friend who ended up in there. However, because we all planned to move to our third year house together, my housemate with the smallest room got first dibs on rooms in the new house. This made it a bit more fair, as the housemate who has the biggest room in our second year house got last dibs in our third year house. And yet, somehow, I ended up with the biggest room in our third year house (not that I’m complaining!).
Top tips
This can be a really difficult time, as you’re trying to prevent arguments, but also trying to get the room you want. But don’t worry, because I’m here to share some of my top tips for room allocation in university housing:
- Plan ahead – Sort your rooms out before you move into the house. This prevents bickering, and the realisation that some rooms may be better than others. Also, take into consideration whether you’ll be living together next year too, as this way you could sort out some sort of deal, e.g. you have the smallest room this year but get the biggest room next year.
- Attend a house viewing – This is vital! Make sure you all get the opportunity to view the house before signing the contract, to make sure that everyone is happy with it.
- Discuss room preferences – This is also important, because when discussing you might actually realise you all want different rooms anyway, which could make the allocation sooooo much easier!
- Randomly allocate rooms – If you’re still struggling to decide who gets what, just spin a wheel to randomly allocate them. This makes it fair and reduces arguments.
- Swap rooms halfway through the year – This definitely sound like more hassle than it’s worth, but it just depends on how badly you want the room!
And honestly, just talk to each other about it, so you can find the best way to allocate rooms together, and once you know what room you’ll be having, you can start planning how you’ll decorate it!
If you are still looking for a house share or even a spare room, check out www.accommodationforstudents.com for the latest available properties in your city.
