How to not piss off your significant other’s flatmates

No one wants to be that annoying unwanted house guest. Staying at your significant other’s shouldn’t be a problem if you follow these simple guidelines:

Introduce yourself

Introducing yourself would be a good start, after all, no one wants to live with a stranger. Also, it’s just polite.

“My flatmate’s boyfriend never introduced himself to us, he just hid.” – Jamie, 3rd year.

Don’t stay over all the time

Give us space, we never agreed to have a permanent extra house guest.

“He lives with his parents so he has basically moved in to our house, it’s so annoying.” – Eloise, 4th year.

Be friendly

It doesn’t take much just to say hello – if we got to know you then maybe we wouldn’t mind you living here.

“My flatmate’s girlfriend doesn’t make an effort to be friendly or chat at all. It makes her being around annoying.” – Robin, 3rd year.

Leave everything tidy

Yes, this includes putting the loo seat down.

“She leaves her makeup all over our bathroom and she doesn’t even live here.” – Frankie, 4th year.

Don’t use stuff without asking

Toothpaste, washing machines and food are no-go zones.

“My flatmate keeps her dishes and kitchenware to herself and doesn’t let us use her stuff, which is fine whatever, but then her boyfriend uses our stuff, like no, that’s not ok.” – Liz, 3rd year.

If you really need to shower, ask

It’s rude to constantly use it when you don’t pay the bills.

“My flatmate’s  boyfriend showers more than I do, who needs to shower twice in day! He also uses it in the morning when we all need to be in the bathroom.” – Charlie, 1st year.

Never, under any circumstances, have a bath

A bath is a once a year treat, that you are not entitled to.

“He takes baths when we don’t even have enough hot water for all of us to have showers.” – Jess, 3rd year.

Don’t have sex around the house

We do have to make our breakfast on that kitchen counter…

“My flatmate jokes about how he and his girlfriend have sex around the house when we are out, it’s not exactly funny.” – Ross, 3rd year.

Keep bedroom noises to a minimum 

Being woken up by S&M style sex noises isn’t pleasant.

“The amount of times I’ve left the house to go and work in the library this year to get away from the constant thumping against the walls is a joke.” – Ellie, 2nd year.

Buy household goods every once in a while

If you do spend a lot of time here, then it wouldn’t hurt turn buy us a few loo rolls.

“Our flatmate’s boyfriend has never offered to pay for anything. We aren’t asking him to pay bills but buying a few things around the house would be a nice gesture” – Emma, 2nd year.

Don’t get too comfortable 

Remember that you do not live here and under no circumstance can change the channel when something good is on TV.

“My flatmate’s boyfriend asked to change the channel when I was watching the rugby World Cup final. What makes it worse is that we have two TVs in the flat and he just wanted to use the big one.” – Stevie, 2nd year.