I finally moved out when I was 23 (I'm nearly 25 now). Initially I moved in with my GF's brother's house (she was living with him at the time) and it was fairly sweet - was cheap and my GF paid the board while I cleaned the joint. Then we moved out to a sharehouse with a friend of my GF who happened to be a mate's GF. Anyway, after a while things didn't work so well and my GF had been financially covering for her and it eventually came to a gigantic head. GF asks her friend for all the money she is owed, etc etc then they have a bit of a falling out (not a big fight or anything). Eventually we all part ways and my now fiance and I live in an apartment together and her friend lives with my mate down south.
Anyway, moral of my story:
1. Ensure nobody is kept on credit - never pay for someone else unless you can either afford to lose the money or KNOW beyond doubt that they can pay you back. In our case we were owed over almost $1000 and eventually got pretty much all of it back (but due to me losing a couple of bills we only got about $700 back
: ). In our case we thought she knew how much she owed but she didn't so she kept on spending.... and then the poo and the fan met when she found out what she owed.
2. Make sure everyone knows what it is they need to do around the house. We spent most of our time cleaning up after other people and when the agent came to inspect, I spent a lot of time running around making sure the house was tidy. Never let the house get too messy and make sure someone always takes the garbage out! Maggots and smells are NOT cool and don't make it easy to keep a rental.
3. Respect each other's privacy and peace and quiet. If you're up late, use your headphones or whatever.
4. Don't **** on the toilet seat. Ever.
5. If you use all the toilet paper, buy some more. Don't fall into the "Oh someone else will do it" trap. This can only end badly.
6. Don't use all the hot water by yourself. Leave some for someone else.
7. Don't eat other people's food in the fridge unless they told you that you could.
8. Wash up after yourself. My fiance's friend refused to do the dishes (well she did them like twice) so we ended up just not doing hers and doing only our own. This eventually created a huge mess
.
9. Don't hog the couch or the TV.
There are other rules which I will post when I get home. I feel like moses right now.