10 Roommate Red Flags You Shouldn’t Ignore

On the hunt for a roommate? Choosing to live with another person is a big commitment, and one that requires a bit of luck and intuition to get right. Someone might be a lovely person to be around but a not-so-lovely person to live with. Others might show signs right away that living with them would be less than ideal. Of course, plenty of people out there do make fabulous roommates, but you’ve got to know how to spot them.

Here’s the thing about a bad roommate: You don’t have to be friends with them, but you can’t escape them either. And if sharing your home with someone you don’t particularly like doesn’t sound appealing, you’ll have to be able to suss out ahead of time if a potential roommate is bad news. Avoid putting yourself in an unsavory situation by looking out for these 10 signs of a bad roommate.

Their old roommate is moving out under mysterious circumstances

Their ad is incomplete or full of errors

Their home is messy

They love to party

They don’t have a job

They don’t have good references

They have contempt for your interests

They tell you not to touch their things

They have a significant other who doesn’t pay rent but basically lives there

Your gut tells you that something is off

If you end up missing or ignoring these roommate red flags and signing a lease together, figuring out how to deal with a bad roommate is the next step. Living with a bad roommate isn’t the best situation to be in, but it’s not the end of the world either. Remain as copacetic as possible, and take solace in the fact that the day will come when the lease is over and you can both move on.