Living in a share house can be a great way to reduce the costs of renting, make friends and generally share the world of domesticity. But it rarely just happens like that. As experienced sharers will tell you, sometimes a few house rules are needed to keep things running smoothly. Just how structured (or unstructured) the living arrangements will be generally depends on the particular group of people. Before you move in it's important to find out what the situation is and decide whether you think you will fit in.

Living arrangements are never set in stone and will change as flatmates come and go or just with the different stages in the year. For example, things may fall apart a bit during holidays, or in a student house, around exams. It sounds corny, but communication is often the key to a successful and happy share household.

Generally, current tenancy laws fail to deal with share housing arrangements, which is all the more reason why you should put effort into making things work. Everyone in the house needs to be clear about what is going on and committed to ensuring that the house functions in a fair and just manner for everyone concerned. This need not be a difficult task, but it should be discussed and agreed on from the outset.

Share houses can be organised in many different ways from total independence to the happy family. The main issues to work out at the beginning will be the payment of rent, food and kitty arrangements, storage space, household chores and bills.
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PAYING THE RENT

The golden rule is to always ask for or give receipts for any rent or bond paid to, or by, flatmates.

• If you are co-tenants paying rent to your landlord or agent, always get receipts.

• If you are the head tenant, you should give rent receipts to your flatmates when they pay their rent. If they pay you bond at the beginning of the tenancy, you should give them a receipt and lodge it with the Rental Bond Board.

• If you are a subtenant paying your rent to the head tenant, make sure they give you receipts, and keep them somewhere safe. This will ensure that if confusion arises about who's paid, you can prove you have paid your share.

• If you pay a tenant who is leaving their share of the bond when you move in, make sure you get a receipt so you can claim your share of the refunded bond when it comes time to go. Alternatively, you could arrange with the Rental Bond Board for the bond to be transferred to your name by filling out a change of shared tenancy form.


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A GOLDEN RULE OF SHARE HOUSING
Always get a receipt for any rent or bond paid by flatmates.
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FOOD AND KITTY

Share households vary enormously in the way they purchase food, cleaning products and other households items. Some households leave spending to an honour system or to monitoring receipts. Another common system is for all flatmates to contribute a certain amount of money per week into a 'kitty'. These days a standard kitty seems to be around $30 - 40 per person per week to cover basic foods and other necessities. This arrangement works best when combined with co-operative cooking and shopping. A smaller kitty might cover only basic food stuffs such as butter, milk, bread and cleaning products, with individual flatmates buying their own food for main meals etc.
Generally, the kitty should only be used to cover the cost of common food that every-one will use. It is not for emergency loans, nor for cigarettes or alcohol, and is best restricted to major meal foods rather than that favourite snack which the rest of the house detests. While the quickest way to disrupt domestic bliss is to abuse the kitty system, it's also important to realise that everyone has different ideas about what is a vital household purchase; it doesn't help to become obsessive about how the kitty is spent.
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CHORES

Like it or not there are certain tasks which have to be done for a household to continue functioning. The toilet is not self-cleaning, the garbage has to go out eventually and disposable plates are not the answer to the washing-up saga. Floors, bathrooms and lawns also need looking after.

Many households find that a roster for certain tasks, especially cooking and washing-up, is the best way to ensure that chores are completed fairly. Others find that a more flexible honour system is sufficient. Some households employ a system where people put down a tick every time they do the washing-up or some other chore.

Again it's necessary to realise that if you want the advantages of having flatmates, you will have to do your share in the upkeep of the household. If you find that one or more of your flatmates is failing in their duties, it is not unreasonable to remind them politely that the jobs have to be done. However, rude notes left under people's doors are probably unproductive. If you feel there is a problem developing, it's a good idea to get together and discuss it before things get out of hand. Try not to let this discussion turn into a hunt for someone to blame.

Basically, living in a contented household means finding people who have similar ideas about cleanliness and domestic arrangements. If the differences are too great, it may be difficult to continue living together.

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PAYING THE BILLS

A major point of conflict in a share house is often about paying bills. It is vital to decide when you move in who is to be responsible for paying bills and how the bills are to be divided.

Generally, bills such as gas, electricity and water are divided equally between all members of the household. However, if one person has an appliance which uses a lot of electricity, water or gas, then maybe they should pay extra.
If you are having services connected, it's important to think carefully about whose name the account will be in. The person who has their name on the account will be held liable by the service provider for payment of the bill and may have trouble getting access to future services if the bill is unpaid for any reason. It's a good idea for different flatmates to organise different services in order to spread the financial responsibility around. In this way no one person will be left with responsibility for all the bills if things should go wrong in the house.
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WATER BILLS

In most parts of NSW tenants now have to pay for water usage; this will be included as a condition of your lease. Your landlord/agent will be sent the water bill and they should give you a copy when they ask for your payment so you can check the amount. If not, ask to see the bill before paying - and don't pay the service charge as this is your landlord's responsibility. (The different charges are listed separately on the bill.) Water bills usually come quarterly, and should not be too expensive. If you are finding it difficult to pay, you should discuss the problem with your landlord. Don't ignore the debt and hope it will go away.

If you are under the old system of water rates, the only water you have to pay for is 'excess water' use. This amount will also be listed on the water bill.


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TIP
Buy a big diary or exercise book so you can write down when bills are due, and who has paid their share. It is also a good idea to tally local phone calls as you make them and note down the details of any STD or ISD calls. Even though STD and international calls are itemised on your account, it helps to record who made the call so that when you get the phone bill you don't spend hours puzzling over who rang Medlow Bath at 2 am for 37 minutes. This book can also double as the phone message book.
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ELECTRICITY, GAS, PHONE AND INTERNET BILLS
Bills for electricity, gas, phone, and internet usually arrive either every month or three months. Often these can be quite large and flatmates on tight budgets can sometimes have difficulties paying their share all in one hit - which is why these bills cause so many problems. There are ways to reduce the problem. For example, you could all decide to put some money away every week for bills, so that when one arrives you have some money saved to cover it. Alternatively, you could arrange a pre-payment plan with these services. Pre-payment means that you pay a certain amount each week or month, which gets credited to your account. When the bill is issued, the credit is taken off and you only have to pay the remainder.


In the following section is a brief outline of options offered by Sydney services. Phone your local office for more information.

ENERGY AUSTRALIA AND INTEGRAL ENERGY
• You can pay whenever you like and as much as you like, to contribute towards your bill as long as the bill is paid before it is due

• If you know that you are going to be unable to pay a bill on time, you can negotiate an installment plan to pay it off over an extended period of time.

• If you are on Centrelink benefits you can nominate an amount to be forwarded to Integral Energy (only) before you receive your fortnightly payment.

AGL GAS COMPANY
• Advance payment plans can be requested.

• Negotiate extensions before the due date. Whether you get it or not depends on your circumstances and payment history.

TELSTRA
• Telstra offers a Budget Payment Card which allows you to make regular payments to build up credit against your bill.

• Telstra will usually give extensions on the due date for payment of quarterly bills. For example, they may ask that half the bill be paid by the due date and the rest paid over the next couple of weeks. For sums over $1000 it can be harder to get an extension. It is likely that Telstra would recommend an STD and ISD bar on your phone until the bill is paid off.

• Instead of getting the bills four times a year, you can request monthly phone bills. However, you cannot get extensions on monthly bills.

• Telstra has a scheme where for outbound calls a person enters a code before entering in the number and other flatmates have different codes. This means that each person will receive a separate bill. This is a good idea for share houses, but make sure you check if this system incurs an additional charge.


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TIP
There are stories about non-account holders changing STD and ISD bars then running up a huge bill and leaving the account holder to pay. A safeguard against huge phone bills is to have a permanent STD and/or ISD bar on your phone. You should write to Telstra to request this and insist that the bar can only be removed if authorised in writing by the person who holds the account. If the account is in your name, you are liable. Always keep a copy of your correspondence with Telstra. Telstra also has a prepaid card which may be utilised for international and mobile calls.
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OPTUS
• There are no pre-payment plans however you can go to the post office and pay bits each week or month to build credit against your bill.

• Monthly bills are issued for sums over $50. A quarterly bill is sent where the sum is less than $50. Extensions may be granted if you are having difficulty paying the bill, but make sure you apply before the bill is due, as late fees are applicable if you haven’t paid within 45 days of the due date and you haven’t called to let Optus know.
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WHAT HAPPENS IF A FLATMATE WON'T PAY A BILL?

If a flatmate won't pay bills or leaves without paying bills, your options are limited. Problems like this between flatmates are not covered by the Residential Tenancies Act so you cannot apply to the Tribunal for help.
It is best if possible to try to work it out between yourselves. Mediation in a community justice centre might help if you can't get anywhere on your own. (See contact points). If your flatmate is leaving, you might be able to come to an agreement to keep all or part of their bond to cover the bills. However, legally you do not have the right to use bond money without their permission to cover anything but rent arrears and damage to the house. This is because the bond is part of the tenancy agreement and does not cover household bills.
If you cannot reach agreement, the only option is to sue through the Local Court to recover the money. This can be time-consuming and expensive, for example, it costs between $ 63 - 220 to lodge a claim to recover a debt (known as a 'statement of liquidated claim'). A Local Court chamber magistrate or community legal centre can give you advice about what you need to do. Sometimes you might have to decide it is cheaper and less traumatic to write the debt off, rather than going to court.