Striking out on my own...advice.

[Big King Sanctaphrax]

More seriously, no two rooms are the same, and rent should be (in my opinion) calculated accordingly. (Next year, our plan is that rent will be equal, but money will be put into the booze fund according to room size)

Yes, we're planning to do this as two of the bedrooms in the house are substantially larger than the other three. I'm not too bothered about having a large room so it'll save me some money.

[KukriKhan]

So 4 roomies, then?

A large enterprise. One advantage of such a half-squad of guys, is that the other 4 can pick up the slack when someone has a 'down' month, without wrecking everyone's finances.

Will you all be named individually on the lease, and how long is it? I assume the standard would be "end of the academic year", requiring a renegotiation afterwards.

Anyone willing to rent out a 5-bedroom joint to students has presumeably got lots of experience with them. I wouldn't count on ever being able to hoodwink that person.

Of course, we do expect pictures of the happy move-in day (and of your landlord and roomies).

gl & hf!!

[Somebody Else]

Oh, you'll need at least two fridges. Probably a third. One of which should be maintained with a stock of beer, tonic and champagne, lemons &c. &c.

Another thing, learn to wash up as you cook - it's much faster to clean pans and things before everything's encrusted on, and help stop the build up of massive towers of mouldy dishes.

Also, try to avoid neglecting chores because it's someone else's mess/turn. Do it, then talk to them about it. That way, at least there isn't a festering pile of whatever somewhere in the house.

[Fragony]

Just let it all come to you and have a good time. Work with a weekly budget at first, groceries can be pretty expensive, you don't want to call the last days of the month the whitebeansintomatoesausedays. Plan a little. Whatever you do not take a loan when you are short on cash, better to starve then to starve with debts.

[English assassin]

you don't want to call the last days of the month the whitebeansintomatoesausedays

Pah. When I were a student we had whitebeansintomatoesauceyears. And swedes. Never did me any harm etc etc. Fry some own-brand tomato puree, add some value spaghetti and "mixed herbs", why, you could almost be in Bologna.

Of course this is what happens when you set aside £10 per week for all food, so as to maintain the beer budget at a healthy level (beer does contain calories, after all, thereby killing two birds with one stone).

[Fragony]

Pah. When I were a student we had whitebeansintomatoesauceyears. .

It shows, oh the benefits of nutrition

[Big King Sanctaphrax]

Will you all be named individually on the lease, and how long is it? I assume the standard would be "end of the academic year", requiring a renegotiation afterwards.

Annoyingly the standard lease around here is twelve months. Every place I've tried to rent has been the same. It's extremely irritating, as it means I'll have to pay over the summer when I'm probably not going to be there a lot.

As far as food goes, the two girls in the house are both fantastic cooks, and the house is actually above a kebab shop ( ), so I'm hoping we shouldn't have a problem there.

[English assassin]

It shows, oh the benefits of nutrition

Ah, cultural disconnect. You have to imagine me with my IA voice on, saying "eeh, when I were a lad, we were doon t'pit from dawn til doosk, an all'us ad fer dinner were coal."

To which IA replies "Looxury. When I were a lad I ad ter gerrup before us went ta bed..." etc.

It was a sketch but I can't remember where from, the Goodies?

[Kralizec]

Also, try to avoid neglecting chores because it's someone else's mess/turn. Do it, then talk to them about it. That way, at least there isn't a festering pile of whatever somewhere in the house.

Expanding on this advince, make sure you keep to the agreed schedule even if the rest doesn't always do so. Otherwise you really don't have good cause to point the finger at the others, do you? In my experience once such agreements break down it's very hard to get everybody to abide by them again.
In my place (3 people) we have a household box where people pay a fine of 5 bucks if they neglect to clean their part of the house for a given week.

And with 4 people I also recommend having at least 3 fridges. Us 3 can manage with one big and one smaller, but we couldn't possibly do so with an additional roommate.

[Geoffrey S]

Oh yeah, get your own (small) fridge. I got one cheaply from someone who was moving out of Leiden, and its more than worth the price if you want to stock up and prevent 'losing' stuff.

[LeftEyeNine]

BKS, you're accepting au pairs ? I'll bring an Xbox 360.

[Bijo]

Hmmmm, let me try and think of stuff. Avoid "competitive video games" if your roommates (or one of them) are(/is) easily irritated by loss. I've seen people get so pissed off because of games, it's not funny anymore, even if you win.

[Fragony]

Oh I forgot, liver, learn to love it.