All about Community Living Agreements

This article is about Community Living Agreements (CLAs), and how they can help you make the most of your time living in University Accommodation. It’ll cover:

• Living with other people

• What is a Community Living Agreement?

• How can a Community Living Agreement help?

Living with other people

Living in University Accommodation is a great opportunity to be part of a dynamic and diverse community. For lots of people, this is the first time they’ve ever lived outside of the home they grew up in. Even if you’ve lived with other people before, every flat dynamic is new, so there’s always an adjustment process!

Everyone has their own preferences and ways of doing things. Maybe you always wipe up the worktops with a dishcloth, or you rinse and wash pots into a separate bowl. Maybe you keep eggs or butter in the cupboard, rather than the fridge. Maybe you don’t wear shoes inside, and change into slippers as you come in the door. Perhaps you’re used to playing music on speakers at home, rather than using headphones. Or maybe you always walk around the flat in just your dressing gown. It’s easy to assume that the way you do things is universal, and that everyone lives this way. Sometimes, the first time you realise they’re not is when you find yourself in a sudden, heated argument with a flatmate about it.

How we live and our customs within the home are cultural, but they can also vary widely even within cultures. Often, you’ve got no reason to think about these things until you move into a shared household and realise your own customs are different to those of the people around you. Part of living together is working out how to blend your individual preferences, needs, habits and customs together to make a shared household you can all live together in peacefully. A Communal Living Agreement can help make this process easier for everyone.

What is a Community Living Agreement?

A Community Living Agreement is a shared document that you and your flatmates can make together. You’ll start it off with a facilitated conversation with your Residence Life Mentor to help you all think about what’s important to you to make your accommodation feel like home. You’ll discuss things like this:

• What kind of house or flat rules can you all agree would help you?

• How would you like to divide up cupboard and fridge space?

• Has anyone got any specific dietary or additional support needs that affect how you all live in the flat?

• What do you all need to do to keep things clean and tidy?

• Do you want to share kitchen supplies and essentials? What about cleaning stuff? What about spices and condiments?

• Do you want to share cutlery, pans, or plates? 

• Is there anything it’s okay to use without asking? If not, how will you ask?

• What kind of stuff can you all keep in the kitchen, and what do you need to keep in your rooms?

• Do you want to have a group chat? If so, how will you interact in it to keep things polite and friendly?

• How do you all feel about guests? Do you want to let each other know when someone’s coming over?

These are just a few ideas, but you might have other priorities for living together, too. This conversation is a great chance to talk them all through together. It’s also helpful to discuss this stuff as a group to make sure you understand the non-debatable rules for living in accommodation, and how they fit into your shared preferences. For example, even if everyone decided they were okay with vaping inside, it’s actually still banned under your residence contract, so it’s not okay! Starting these conversations together helps you clear up any misunderstandings, avoid problems further down the line, and work through that’s already become an issue!

How can a Community Living Agreement help?

Community Living Agreements are voluntary. They should be collaborative and made in good faith. When you agree them together, everyone should have a chance to speak and listen, and make sure the agreement reflects what they need from their home environment.

If you have disagreements within the flat later, you’ll be able to look back at the Community Living Agreement. Did you talk about this particular scenario when you made it? Has someone changed their mind about following it? Does it need updating to reflect how your ideas as a flat have changed? Having an agreement written down like this helps take some of the heat out of an argument, so you can all focus on how to move past it together. You can use this meeting as an opportunity to resolve conflicts, with your Mentor's support.

If you already have a Communal Living Agreement and you want to make some changes to it, you can always contact your Mentor, who’ll organise a meeting for you all. If you don’t have one yet, you can ask. 

Community Living Agreements can be made and updated at any time, but they’re usually made over the first couple of months of a new semester. Your Mentor will get in touch with your flat when it’s your turn to make one, or when your existing agreement might need updating. Look out for an email from your Mentor to tell you more, or get in touch and ask!