How does it work?

It’s easy to rent out your room or find a place with Flatmates.com.au. But if you’re after a bit more advice on how to get the most out of our platform, read on.

Flatmates.com.au is a peer-to-peer listing platform for those looking for shared homes or those looking for a flatmate. It’s easy to use: simply create a listing, search and connect.

Create a Listing
Whether you’re renting out your spare room or are looking for a new place to live, you’ll need to create a listing. There are two listing types on Flatmates.com.au:

Property Listing
Having a property listing is essential for using our site and looking for a flatmate. A detailed listing should include clear pictures, information about the property and room and a brief description of the other flatmates who live there. To create your listing simply fill in all of the sections and click list my place.

Person Listing
A person listing, sometimes referred to as a “room wanted” profile, is the best way to let people know you’re looking for a property. Your person listing should include a little bit about your lifestyle, personality and the kind of place you’re looking for. Adding a photo of yourself to your profile will also increase your response rate and will help to place you at the top of search results. To create your listing simply fill in the required sections and click save.

Search

Once you’ve created your listing, it’s time to start your search. It is important to be proactive when searching for a flatmate or a new place, as the best rooms and flatmates get snapped up quickly. Use the search function to find listings in your preferred area.

To search, click the white ‘Search share accommodation’ box at the top of the site. Enter a suburb and select from the suggestions below. You can add five suburbs or one region (Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane etc). Next select the type of search you’re conducting: Rooms, Flatmates, or Team Up. Then click the green search button.

Advance search filters are found under the “Filter” button in the serach box. The filter button will only appear if you have completed the steps above.

Once you have made a search you can favourite it via the ‘Save search’ button at the top of the search results.

Email alerts
Share accommodation is the fastest moving property market with the average listing only lasting 10-14 days and some of the most popular listings only a few hours. To make sure you find out about the best rooms or flatmates, we send you email alerts with the latest listings. You can adjust these or turn them off via Alert Settings

Get in Touch
If you see a listing you like or a flatmate you think would be perfect, write them a message. When messaging other members about their listing, make sure you have read their details first. Your message should be an introduction about yourself, why you’re interested in the room/flatmate and why you feel you/they would be a great fit for the home. Remember you’ll need to stand out from the other members enquiring, so try to keep it interesting.

If you’re enquiring directly via a member’s mobile number, be sure to send them a link to your listing so they can easily find you. Also let them know you found them on Flatmates.com.au.

Tip
Some listings receive a huge number of responses so don’t expect to hear back from every message you send. To avoid disappointment, don’t just send one message, make sure you messages all the suitable listings. If all goes well then you will end up with a number of options to choose from.

View
Before you make any decisions or pay any money, ensure you conduct a viewing. A viewing is important, not just to see the room, but to also meet the flatmates.

If you cannot meet in person, you can try a video call. During the viewing, potential flatmates should ask each other questions about lifestyle, habits, work and hobbies. If you have a few contenders for a room, get each potential flatmate around individually. If your plans change and you cannot make it to a viewing, please be polite and cancel or reschedule the viewing.

Agreement
Found the right person or place? Be sure to tell them you’re happy and want to proceed. Before moving in, go through our Pre-agreement checklist. This will cover everything from bond requirements to house rules. Be sure to also read through our Legal Introduction.