By Andrea Frankenthal, *who knows that half plus half plus half makes a lot more than just one!

In her early fifties, Jane is a busy schoolteacher and single mum to twelve year old Maisy, as well as an impossibly cute poodle-chihuahua cross called Meela, and two cats, in their airy North West London flat. She is also host to 28 year old mature student Vee, who shares the flat and helps with a range of tasks around the house. Welcome to modern home life, adapted to suit all inhabitants, with all lives improved as a result.

Jane is financially supported, assisted with housework, baby-sitting and dog-walking, and personally enriched by having Vee share her flat. Vee has solved her own financial woes, lives in a gorgeous flat in a great area for a fraction of the rent she would normally pay, and gets to look after pets she couldn’t otherwise own. Maisy has her mum, her furry friends and a lovely adult friend who can relate to her culturally on things that her mum knows nothing about. Meanwhile, the pets couldn’t get more attention!

Jane’s household is a true coterie - and a fine example of co-living to make the best of your home life. It was all made possible by Hapipod.com, a matching site I launched to help people meet their modern lifestyle needs.

In my last column, I talked mainly about the intergenerational benefits, but the overall advantage for householders is not just age-related. It’s about finding a tailored combination of useful help plus a small income.

In effect, it’s about having a part-time personal assistant on-hand to share whatever tasks you, the householder, may need. In return, lodgers are given a discounted room which alleviates their struggle with unaffordable rents. It also helps challenge our acute housing crisis without the need to downsize from comfy homes that we don’t want to leave.

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Jane, Maisy and Vee are testament to this, happily sharing Jane’s bright, three-bed garden flat. Jane works in a large state school nearby. Having pets is important to her, and Maisy, but keeping them is trickier. With steeply rising bills but also a demanding schedule, Jane specifically sought a lodger who could share and offer more than just money.

“The best thing about having someone through Hapipod is that they help! And what I really needed was someone to help me and just to be around.” - Jane

Jane’s Point of View

With no family on hand to offer any support, and as a single parent unable to afford babysitting, a problem for Jane was her growing sense of social disconnection. “I really wouldn’t go out,” she says, “and that did make me feel quite socially distant from some of my friends. I’d see what they were up to on social media and sometimes feel quite envious.”

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As Maisy was twelve, Jane didn’t need an au pair, nor did she want to use her limited resources to pay for it. On the other hand, just renting out the spare room would have meant having an unfamiliar lodger coming and going and sharing their space, with no added benefit. She wanted a solution in between, where she still made a small income, but could be selective about the type of person they shared with, and the help she could get from them.

“Now I’ve got someone who’s a live-in babysitter, who’s around for the dog during the day, helps with a bit of light housework, provides extra income and is also someone who I really like and get on with, so it’s been brilliant for me.”

Connecting through Hapipod, Jane knew that Vee, a 28 year old psychology student from Malaysia, studying for a master's degree at London University, had already passed the site’s ID and background check. She then did further checks and referencing, confirming her first instincts that Vee was an ideal candidate, as a warm, intelligent and responsible young woman who had also looked after younger family members.

Vee’s Point of View

With limited income as an overseas mature student, Vee had been struggling with sky-high rents. When she and Jane connected on Hapipod, they agreed to the equitable exchange of up to 8 hours of  Vee’s time per week (equating to roughly £400 per month in minimum wages) in return for a discounted room rate of £350 per month.

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“I do help around the house, take care of Jane’s daughter when she wants to go out, I take care of the pets at home, they’re like family! It was really easy for me to fit my work and study around their schedule and what I want to do, because naturally it feels like a home away from home with this arrangement and I’ve been really comfortable. My host is amazing,” Vee explains.

For Vee this is not only a happy arrangement but it meant slashing her living costs by more than half, whilst living in greater comfort, and gaining a lovely, large room that she could both study and relax in. It has given her peace of mind in terms of her finances and she is closer to her workplace. She also saves up money to shop and travel more.

“London was very expensive. And when I found this option I was grateful because it was really a stress-free moment being able to find cheaper accommodation with lovely benefits as well.” – Vee

It all adds up to happiness

Practical benefits aside, what makes it special for all the co-habitants is their shared interests. “The best moments for me,” says Jane,  “are listening to Vee and Maisy talk about animé characters, something I know nothing about.”  Vee agrees, “I really am enjoying our conversations, plus I get to spend time with the pets.”

In an increasingly costly and stress-ridden world, with a growing problem of loneliness, and rocketing rents that almost 3.5 million young adults (age 20-34) cannot afford, this kind of share arrangement increasingly makes a lot of sense.

“I wanted someone who would be a good match for myself and my child, with whom we could hopefully build a good relationship,” says Jane, adding that it is quite a different experience to having a paid au pair.

“With Vee, she’s independent. She cooks for herself. It’s like having a really nice guest in our house who also gives me some money”.

Hapipod householders make an income rather than paying for help, and at a discounted rate it won’t be taxed as it remains under the £7500 annual threshold of the rent-a-room scheme. Meanwhile, the lodger saves hundreds of pounds a month on market rents. Everyone gains!

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Nuts and Bolts

Hapipod.com is a central platform that brings together a variety of householders and lodgers of all ages and circumstances to exchange company or help for discounted rooms. Members match by personalities, interests, skills and requirements. It is a similar process to dating sites, and is designed to make the co-living experience more successful. Members control their own searches (unlike going through an agency) and it opens up this mutually beneficial way of living, to a broad range of people.

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A source of helpful assistants

Finding a lodger willing to devote time to helping out offers huge benefits. This applies not only to parents with children, but to anyone living alone, or couples who are empty nesting, who would appreciate a little assistance of any sort. If the spare room is big enough, lodgers don’t even need to share the communal living room.

Aside from getting help with anything from cooking to shopping, gardening or house-sitting, as a householder, you can seek lodgers with specific skills or interests such as IT, a language they can offer to tutor you in, or a sport they can join you in. Some may simply want to give a great opportunity to someone struggling with crippling rents.

Hapipod can help key workers, for example, to live near their schools or hospitals. In fact, we have all sorts of lodgers from lawyers to yoga teachers and artists, looking for affordable rooms. Some only want to lodge for part of the week and go elsewhere at weekends.

The key is that householders can source lodgers on the basis of matched skills, requirements and personalities and the arrangement is based on shared goodwill. As Jane says,

“Some weeks go past where Vee doesn’t do any babysitting at all and other weeks might go past where I go out a few times. So it’s very flexible and I think that’s because of our compatible personalities.” - Jane

Once people agree to a co-living arrangement, Hapipod offers a template lodging contract to help formalise it, and monthly room payments are made directly between the parties. There is only a one-week notice period for either side so if it doesn’t work out as hoped, the householders can simply end a contract and seek another.

But this won’t be necessary for Jane, Maisy and Vee. A year and a half on they are still very happy co-living. As Jane says, “It’s all going so well and we have become good friends through the arrangement. I am so grateful for the introduction.”

See a short film on Jane&Vee in desktop or mobile versions.

Andrea Frankenthal is the owner of Hapipod Inspired Homeshare. As an introduction site only for householders and helpful lodgers, Hapipod cuts out the high registration and retainer fees of agencies. It is FREE to register at Hapipod.com, advertise your opportunity via your profile, and see who’s available. All members must pass a basic safeguarding ID check at a fee of £20 to view full information. Members can purchase different length connection packages starting at £45 for one month, but currently ID verified members receive a FREE 1 year package to connect.

As the founder of an organisation like Hapipod, that aligns so well with our Spring Chicken ethos of celebrating the transition and potential of our mid-life, Andrea is now one of our columnists.