What to do if you end up hating your housemates

We all have tiffs with our housemates sometimes, but what happens when it gets so bad you have to move?

Got a housemate that treats every surface like a bin? Eats all your Nutella? Is relentlessly late with the rent?

You bastards

Unfortunately I’ve experienced not getting along with my housemates three times in two years (but have finally found household bliss), so I can impart some expert knowledge on how to deal with unpleasant living situations.

Firstly, advice: If you’re in first year, just move. There are no legal complications that come with it where you have to get someone to replace you. It’s so easy to do and the staff at the Ziff building are very lovely and understanding.

Second and Third year it’s a little more tricky.

Do you spend your evening alone with these two trusty companions?

Lessons to learn if you don’t want your housemates to screw you over/ make you want to move:

Always lock your room. I left mine unlocked when I went home for a weekend. My housemates had a party, let everyone use my bathroom, leading to my floor getting covered in piss and all my bog roll gone.

Do you spend the evening with a friend trying to find entertainment without leaving the safety of your room?

Third year English Student Georgia Smith, 21, says: “I was in a shit situation last year when my housemate kept bringing back her boyfriend and they had weird sex really loudly.”

Having to listen to your housemates have sex is sometimes so unbearable it really is worth investing in some trusty earplugs. This applies too if they like to come back from nights out at ridiculous hours and seem to be playing the ‘who can make the most noise’ game.

Maths third year Mark Fisher, 20, recalls how in first year his flatmates would nab his milk and replace what they stole with water.

Distraught Mark says: “no one likes watery cereal.”

If your flatmates are also master thieves it could be worth investing in a mini fridge in your room. It’s definitely worth keeping dry goods and alcohol tucked away behind your locked door.

Do you spend your free time in a cocoon so you don’t have to socialise with your housemates?

Unsure how shitty your flatmates are? How they react to you when you’re ill is a pretty good way of deciphering whether they’re as bad as you think.

If for example you go to A&E and are told you should go home for a week on strong antibiotics, walk into your kitchen to tell your flatmates and their response is: “can you not interrupt our family film night?” It’s almost certain they’re dicks and you should move.

Again, if you end up on crutches like Susan Hudgens, 19,  a second year history student, and none of your flatmates notice for a few weeks, or offer to help you open doors and such when they finally do realise; the same is advised, but maybe wait until you’re on two feet again.

Poor History second year Susan Hudgens was stuck on crutches for weeks without her callous housemates noticing.

The 19-year-old says: “They didn’t help me at all and I felt unwelcome in my own flat.”

Does this mirror the rest of your house?

It’s a horrible feeling when you and your housemates fall out. But there is great help available and you might end up in an amazing flat after that.

And if you do remain really bitter about your past experiences, make them into anecdotes or write a scathing article on them