Recently, co-living has become a rising rental trend everywhere. This real estate term describes a modern form of communal living, popularised by the increase in housing start-ups, offering affordable shared housing to five or more adult roommates.
The concept has cornered the market of new residential housing in major metropolitan areas where costs skyrocket. Despite its benefits, co-living still harbours a lousy reputation.
After all, finding roommates that match your lifestyle can be far-fetched. Conflicts over money, unwanted guests, pets and so on can sour relationships and make any shared living situation harder.
It is still a favourable option for young people, as it entails flexible leases and perks like cleaning services, luxury amenities and professionally furnished common areas. These co-living spaces take several forms, from single-family homes accommodating non-related families to floors in high-rise buildings converted into dormitory-style lodging.
Types of Co-living Arrangements
The communal living range varies from intentional communities to companies that develop new buildings shared by entrepreneurs and digital nomads. Let’s look into them:
- Informal shared housing—Also known as traditional co-living, this way to co-live involves a group of individuals who share a lease and furnish the home together.
- Adult dorms—Like a college dorm or hotel, this form of co-living includes private bedrooms lining hallways that lead to shared common areas. The number of people it can accommodate goes up to the hundreds.
- Co-ops—In cooperative housing, members (from 15 to over 100) manage the house together by taking work shifts for cleaning, cooking, etc. They usually have house meetings to elect leaders and vote on in-house matters.
- Co-housing—Co-housing communities are mostly multigenerational, comprising single-family homes flanked by a common house with shared green space, responsibilities and organised events.
- Communes are intentional communities in more rural areas, where members likely practice self-sufficiency or have similar political and spiritual beliefs.
Pros of Co-living
In Malaysia, there’s a myriad of co-living companies shaping today’s rental market. That’s because the advantages that come with co-living are endlessly compelling. It may not be for everyone but be sure to check out these benefits before deciding for yourself!
- Affordability
Living in a big city is obviously never cheap. Therefore, fresh graduates who plan to move to a bustling area like Kuala Lumpur would be hard-pressed to beat the affordability that co-living provides. Spacious, serviced apartment units can offer renters the luxury they seek at a lower price, complete with an all-inclusive single rent payment.
- Reduce Conflicts
As stated above, roommate disputes are inevitable. Tensions can run exceptionally high when someone breaks the lease early or makes late payments. With co-living, you’re only responsible for your own portion of rent. If your roommate misses a payment, you won’t be the one facing these consequences.
What’s more, you won’t have to argue about whose turn it is to clean and whose dirty dishes are in the sink, as someone else handles these tasks.
- Convenience
Co-living also saves time on discussions about utility accounts, Wi-Fi, negotiating furnishings, the works. The turn-key experience eliminates any stress associated with not only moving and dealing with brokers, but also with finding roommates.
- Living with a Like-Minded Community
In addition, you’ll find that your days of feeling lonely and isolated will be long gone. That’s because you’ll be living with a community of like-minded individuals. In most cases, you’ll be housed with people close in age who share similar interests, making way for a potential friendship to bloom.
Major Co-living Companies in Malaysia
Some of the well-known co-living companies taking our country by storm include:
- Hom
- JL Co-Living
- The Bed KLCC
- The Hatchery Place
- Co-Living @Damai Residence
- Travel Hub KL
- HUT Coliving & Coworking
Collaborating with Rumah-i
By engaging Rumah-i, co-living companies can benefit from ‘one marketing cost fits all.’ Instead of cashing out on vital marketing to obtain leads, co-living companies can take advantage of our heavy advertisement budget and utilise saved costs on other business aspects.
Rumah-i also provides ‘one back support fits all’, wherein the backend support caters to each co-living company’s needs and requirements. Maintenance cost doesn’t come easy, what with tedious matters like cleaning services, repair and maintenance, laundry pickup and delivery, etc.
Thankfully, we offer all these value-added services so that co-living companies can avert their attention to creating a better living space for their tenants. Feel free to find out more on our website or download the mobile app for the full features!
