The number of rental properties without a lounge is surging, and people are having to eat and socialise in kitchens, bedrooms and stairwells. How can you relax and build community without a communal area?
‘W
ithout a living room, your world becomes quite small,” says Georgie, a 27-year-old climbing and outdoor instructor. When she moved into a house-share with four strangers in 2023, she wasn’t worried about the lack of a living room. “I kind of thought it would be fine – I didn’t have that many options, and the house was by far the cheapest.”
The property she rented was in Leeds, and what had once been a lounge had gradually been turned into an inaccessible storage space. To make things worse, the kitchen was tiny: “By the time you put a table against the wall, you couldn’t sit or stand without getting in the way of the sink or the oven.”
As a result, Georgie and her housemates tended to cook separately, taking meals back to their respective bedrooms to eat – but the lack of a living room left her feeling isolated. “You miss shared experiences,” she says. “It was hard to invite people over because not everyone wants to sit in a bedroom – there wasn’t space for a proper chair – and your bedroom becomes less relaxing, and more stressful.” She would go to friends’ houses for dinner, but they rarely came to hers. “I felt really bad because they were always hosting me and I couldn’t return the favour. Eating, sleeping, socialising and working in a bedroom can lead you to feel trapped.” She lived there until buying her own place – with a living room – in February this year. “I love it,” she says, “and I’m way happier.”
