Many people enjoy living with a roommate in an apartment. After all, roommates provide companionship and are convenient, not to mention saving a lot on rent and other monthly apartment expenses. However, when you choose to share an apartment with someone else, there is the potential for conflicts to arise. If it has to do with finances or personalities, it can grow enough to make you feel uncomfortable living in your apartment. Worse still, if a conflict is not resolved, it could put the cohabitation contract at risk. Here, freecrazyfriends will give you some tips for handling common problems that arise among roommates.
The messy roommate conflict
Do you disagree with your roommate when it comes to how neat and clean you want your apartment to look? It is important that you choose a roommate who agrees with you on cleanliness and order, but things don’t always work out that way.
If you meet a roommate who doesn’t care about personal hygiene, it doesn’t have to spell the end of your cohabitation contract. Find out what to do if you feel stuck with a roommate who is messier or more orderly than you.
The conflict of who pays what
Are you having trouble agreeing how much you and your roommate should contribute to the expenses of the apartment? Or maybe you casually discussed the issue before you signed the lease and your roommate “conveniently” forgot part of the conversation?
Although it can be tempting to work things out as you go, putting all contracts in writing is the best way to ensure you pay your bills in full and avoid misunderstandings and arguments that could threaten your roommate’s relationship.
The roommate who stops paying rent
When you split the rent with a roommate, both of you are responsible for delivering the full amount of the rent to the landlord on time. Even if you pay your share every month, your roommate’s non-payment could put your lease at risk, too.
It is enough that only one of the two fails the monthly payment for the landlord to make the decision to throw them both out on the street. Or if you are lucky, it will allow them to live there for a couple more months and then it will put them out on the street for not changing that bad habit of not paying on time each month.
The roommate with strong and opposing political views
You don’t have to be a political junkie to get into trouble with a roommate in politics. Many people are awakened by that political personality if issues such as abortion, health reform, terrorism, gay marriage, among other controversial issues are mentioned.
If you discover that you are living with a roommate who has a strong and opposing political view, there may be a conflict. Not only will you start to hate your roommate for his opinions, but you can also argue when you or he wants to express your preference through certain details in the apartment, such as posters, flags, magnets on the refrigerator, etc. There is no reason why people of different, even opposing political beliefs cannot live together.
The roommate with different decoration ideas at parties
When roommates celebrate different holidays or have opposing ideas as to how (or how much) they decorate the apartment, this can lead to arguments. However, there is no reason why you cannot live with different customs. For example, if you come from a family in which the Christmas tree was barely put together (not to mention the birth), but your partner is one of those who grew up in a super religious family and decorates absolutely everything, you can talk about it.
Tell him how you feel about the decorations and hopefully he will understand and you can reach a middle ground where he doesn’t go overboard with the decorations, which is what you are looking for. It is only a matter of talking and organizing, there is no reason to argue or fight.
