Are your housemates committing one of these 7 deadly sins?

Girl looking vengeful

Generation renters have a lot to put up with. If you’re aged 20 to 39 there’s more than a fifty-fifty chance you’re renting your home. You’ll most likely be sharing with strangers too, who’ll forget to do the cleaning and expect you to pay the bills.

Sharing your home has its upside – lower bills (hopefully) and someone to chew the fat with over a beer or three after a long day at work. But it’s a balancing act. It can be hard to stay friendly and calm when flatmates are pushing your buttons. And there’s no escaping it. Housemates regularly commit acts that not only annoy fellow sharers but leave them out of pocket too.

No matter how hard you try to avoid it, your housemates will inevitably commit one of these 7 sins. Recognize any of them?

Gluttony and the House-sharer

Stealing your food has to be up there with the most annoying flatmate sins. Worse, the gluttonous housemate won’t even realise they’re doing wrong. They’ll take your food whenever they fancy it without thought of replacing it, or offering an apology.

If those notes in the fridge aren’t working, you could stop buying expensive food; or maybe try locking it up.

Slothful Sharers

The slothful housemate will frustrate you by abandoning dirty dishes in the sink, underwear on the sofa and forgetting to flush the loo. They’ll also leave the bathroom looking like a crime scene after they’ve dyed their hair red on a whim.

If your ‘professional’ housemates are still acting like students, it might be time to hire a cleaner.

The Greedy Flatmate

Got a housemate who always hogs the TV? Or invites friends over for an impromptu party without asking?

Not only will the greedy housemate be averse to sharing, they could even leave you seriously out of pocket. You might have to pay for mistakes such as covering their share of the rent as they forgot, or getting locks replaced because they lost their keys on a wild night out. It’s costly and frustrating.

Also beware the constantly broke flatmate who’ll tap you up for cash then studiously avoid you, and the topic of money, for the next month.

Envious Roomies

Maybe you earn more than your flatmate or have a better fashion sense? Envious housemates are a problem. They’re just so green-eyed over your X-box or latest i-Phone they help themselves to it.

The strangest envy however is reserved for those who partake in underwear thievery. A crime possibly committed by a flatmate who ran out of underwear as they left their dirty washing on the sofa.

Lust not Trust

Moving a new romantic interest in without discussing it with you and other flatmates isn’t really on. Worse, they might bring strangers into your home.

Not only do you have to put up with all sorts invading your private space, but there’s the risk of your pad being cased and then burgled.

Pride before a Fall

Arrogant flatmates are annoying. As is not paying their share of the bills or admitting it’s them that used up the monthly broadband allowance with their late night online gaming.

Another prideful housemate to watch out for is the over-zealous cleaner. They take tidying up to military extremes leaving you scared to put a cup of coffee down in case they whip it away to wash it up before you’ve finished.

It’s nice to be clean, but forcing over the top cleanliness on others isn’t good manners. Politely suggest you have some general ground rules about tidiness that you can both agree on.

Wrath

This housemate is usually so passive, saying yes and agreeing to everything until one day they flip over the fact that you’ve used the last scrapings of Marmite on your toast.

You never suspected they could be so aggressive… this might even be you if you’ve had enough of your housemates and their sinful ways. Time to have a ‘friendly’ chat about laying some rules down. Or start looking for a studio flat…

If you’re struggling to contain your wrath over your housemates’ bad behaviour, check out these practical ways to cut the hassle of house shares. See if you can crush those deadly sins and resume house share harmony.

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