1. Practical compatibility matters
Everyday living habits make a big difference to how well a home is shared.
How we work out who you'd live well with
The compatibility check is a short set of questions about how you actually like to live. We compare your answers with other members' answers and turn the result into a single percentage, with a plain explanation of what sits behind it.
It is a straightforward scoring calculation, not artificial intelligence. The same two profiles always produce the same score.
Why we do it this way
2. The important things come first
We put location, budget, move-in timing and living preferences ahead of everything else.
3. The decision is still yours
Compatibility helps you find people worth talking to. Who you live with is always your call.
How the percentage is worked out
The score blends two things: practical fit (about 45%) and lifestyle fit (about 55%).
Practical fit
Budget, location and move-in timing decide whether living together is even possible, so they carry real weight rather than being a footnote.
- Where you're looking - 40% of the practical part
- Whether the areas on your search overlap with theirs. No overlap at all and we won't show a score, because there is no home you would both be looking for.
- Budget - 30% of the practical part
- Whether your monthly budget ranges overlap. Budgets that are close but not overlapping still score partially; budgets far apart score nothing.
- Move-in timing - 20% of the practical part
- How near your move-in windows are. Windows more than 180 days apart are treated as incompatible.
- How long you want to stay - 10% of the practical part
- Whether you are both after a similar length of tenancy.
Lifestyle fit
Every lifestyle question carries its own weight, so the things that most often cause friction at home count for more than the ones that rarely do. What we ask about:
- Tidiness in shared spaces and how cleaning gets done
- Bedtimes, mornings and weeknight noise
- Friends over, and partners staying
- Working or studying from home
- Smoking and vaping at home
- Pets in the house
- Cooking, sharing food and household shopping
- How sociable you want the home to feel
- How you'd rather sort out disagreements
We don't score shared hobbies or interests. Liking the same music doesn't make someone easy to live with; agreeing about the washing up usually does.
So what does "87% compatible" mean?
It means that across the questions you have both answered, and after weighting budget, location, timing and the preferences you each said mattered most, your answers line up closely on the large majority of them. It doesn't mean 87% of your answers were identical, and it isn't a prediction about the friendship. Expect a handful of differences even at a high score, which is why we always list the things worth discussing.
Deal breakers
A few practical questions, such as smoking at home, can be set as a deal breaker. If someone's answer crosses the line you've set, we don't show a score at all - we tell you why they've been ruled out. The same happens when budgets don't overlap, when you are searching in completely different places, or when your move dates are far apart. Deal breakers only ever cover practical living arrangements, never personal or protected characteristics.
How compatibility is used when you search
When you browse flatmates, each profile shows its compatibility with you and a short explanation of the main reasons. You can still read profiles, message people and form a group whatever the number says - the score orders and explains your options, it doesn't gate them.
You only ever see the summary, never another member's individual answers. Yours stay private in the same way.
An honest limit
A high compatibility score does not guarantee that two people will be good flatmates. It reflects the answers people give about themselves, and people are more complicated than a questionnaire. Please still talk properly, meet somewhere safe, view the property, and make your own decision.