*above image for illustration purposes only

It is one of good points of shared house to have appliance. It costs more than several hundreds of thousands JPY to purchase TV, fridge, microwave and so on. If you want to save expenses as for moving in, this point can work well.

It differs with houses, but some of them has high quality appliance which is not affordable for us. This point is also a good aspect of living in a shared house.

But not all house applies to this case. Some of them has furniture but appliance, or only bed is in private room.

No to be in such a kind of trouble, I am going to explain about it this time.

Rules

As you know you don’t need to buy any appliance for starting sharing life. You need to share furniture and appliance with others. You might care about whether there are no inconvenience when you use these stuffs or not, like “you will miss your food in fridge” or “you will fight with other for TV channel”.

I am going to write down rules and some notice below. Please check when you visit shared house.

Refrigerator

Q. Do I need to share fridge with others??
A. Depends on house. Some house has large fridge in a kitchen, others has private small fridge in a room. Or both.

Q. Is there a possibility that I will miss my food??
A. Depends on Management Company. If they are good, it’s not going to happen.
This is because, some house has rule “you need to move out if you steal other’s food on purpose” if you really worry about it, you should choose a house which has strict rule about food preservation.

Q. Tell me about food hygiene??
A. Depends on Management Company.
Some company has rule about food preservation, like “write room number on food” “preserve food in a plastic bag” and others are like “get rid of food which doesn’t have name on it or has gone bad. If company manages house properly, food can be preserved.

Rice cooker

Q. Can I keep rice in a rice cooker for a while??
A. Basically, NO.
Wrap it by cling wrap as soon as possible and keep it in the fridge.

Q. Is rice cooker used well??
A. Not really.
They often do steam rice a lot at once and keep it in a fridge, so you don’t need to wait for rice cooker.

Television

Q. Can I watch TV in a living room??
A. YES. You can watch TV whenever you want. It is rare, but some shared house has private TV in a room for each resident. You can bring your own TV into your room if you really want to have your own TV.

Q. Can I record a program??
A. Depends on house. Basically you need to do with your own TV in your room.

Q. Can I play a video game??
A. YES. They usually doesn’t have specific rule for TV, so it’s okay. But, TV is not only for yours, so please be careful about spending time too much.

Q. Is there any noise problem caused by TV.
A. Depends on house. You should choose a house which has sound proof if you care about noise problem.

Hair dryer

Q. Can I use a hair dryer for sharing??
A. Depends on house. They arranged driers in a bathroom for sharing, but I recommend you to use your own one, because fixed dryer doesn’t have much power. It takes time and you might need to wait for use.

Q. Do you have any rules for hair dryer??
A. Depends on house. Some house doesn’t have any rules at all, but others has rules like “can be used only in washroom” or “cannot use after 12am”. You should check these kind of rule which meets your requirements.

Washing machine, Dryer

Q. Does it cost for using??
A. Depends on house. Some doesn’t cost and you can use it for free, but others need to pay. You can use it 60 mins to 80 mins with 100 yen every time.

Q. Can I use detergent for sharing??
A. NO. You need to bring your detergent and softener. Some management company arranges these for free, but doesn’t refill before running out every time. You should arrange it.

Q. Can I leave laundry for a while??
A. Basically NO. You need to bring it back your room every time. If you leave your laundry in a washing machine after use, somebody might take these away without asking, because they also want to use it. You can’t say any complaints in this case.

Restrictions on the Appliance

(to be brought into a shared house)

If you live in a house by yourself now, you already have own furniture and appliance. In this case, you care about whether there are any restrictions about bringing them into a house or not.
It depends on house rule. Almost of all house doesn’t have any rules for that, but it is not allowed to bring your bed and take away fixed bed or bring large appliance such as fridge, because these consumes vast amount of electricity in some cases.

For these kinds of rule, it differs with house and Management Company. You should check before moving in.