Furnished Room for Rent: What Is Included in a Shared Home

If you are looking for a furnished room for rent, here is what to expect on CoRent: every room is a private bedroom in a shared home, and you share the kitchen, bathrooms and living areas with housemates. What furniture comes with the room, and whether utilities are in the rent, depends on the host, so check the listing and ask before you apply.

This guide explains what every room on CoRent includes, how to tell what furniture and utilities come with a specific room, what you pay and when, and the questions worth asking first. Everything about CoRent here comes from the renters page and the fees page.

What every room on CoRent includes

Some things are the same for every room, whoever the host is:

• A private room. Your bedroom is yours. The kitchen, bathrooms and living areas are shared.
• ID-verified housemates. Everyone who rents a room on CoRent verifies their ID with a government ID and a selfie match before they can apply. That includes you, once. You do not verify again for each application, and the host never sees your ID or selfie.
• Rent in the app. You choose weekly or monthly rent when you book, by card or bank account. Autopay takes care of it on the same day each week or month.
• Address privacy. Listings show the city and ZIP code only. The street address is shared after your booking is confirmed.
• No application fee. Signing up is free and so is applying.

Is it a furnished room for rent? How to check

CoRent does not set one standard for furniture. One host may furnish every room; another may rent rooms empty. Here is how to find out before you apply.

Look closely at the listing photos and house details. If a bed, desk or dresser shows up in the room photos, ask whether it stays. Photos are a good start, not a promise.

Ask the host a direct question. "Is the room furnished? What exactly is in it?" is a fair question, and a clear answer saves you a wasted move.

Get specific. A furnished room for rent can mean a full set of furniture or just a mattress. Ask about each item:

• Bed frame and mattress, and the size
• Desk and chair
• Dresser or other storage
• Closet space
• Curtains or blinds, and a lamp
• Bedding and towels (many renters bring their own)

Ask about the shared spaces too. Kitchen tools, pots and pans, a microwave, fridge space, laundry and the living room furniture all matter when you share a house. Ask what is provided and what housemates are expected to bring.

If you have your own furniture, ask the opposite question: is there room for it, and is anything in the room that would need to come out?

Utilities and internet: included or split?

This also depends on the house. Some hosts include utilities in the rent. Others split them between housemates, and you pay your share of electricity, water, gas and internet in the CoRent app, on top of rent.

The renters page has a calculator that compares a whole place with a room. Its example, which you can change to match what you are seeing, looks like this per month:

• Whole place: $1,650 rent, $300 utilities, $70 internet. Total: $2,020.
• Room on CoRent: $650 rent, an $80 utility share, internet included in that share. Total: $730.

Those are example amounts, not a quote for any room. Before you apply, ask the host whether utilities are included or split, and if split, roughly how the shares are worked out.

What you pay, and when you see it

There is no application fee. You pay the rent, plus any move-in amounts the host lists, and you see those before you pay. Each rent payment has a processing fee, shown at checkout before you pay. Card payments cost more than bank payments, and paying a full month at once by bank account waives the fee.

The renters page shows the fees for its example of $650 a month ($150 a week):

• Weekly by card: $4.79 per payment
• Weekly by bank account: $1.21 per payment
• Monthly by card: $19.73 per payment
• Monthly by bank account: $0, fee waived

Your exact fee is shown at checkout. If you are deciding between paying weekly and monthly, the difference in fees over a month is worth a look.

Questions to ask before you apply

A short list that covers most surprises:

1. What furniture is in the room, and what is in the shared spaces?
2. Are utilities and internet included, or split between housemates?
3. Are there move-in amounts on top of the first rent payment?
4. How many people share the kitchen and each bathroom?
5. What are the house rules for quiet hours, guests and cleaning?
6. Is there parking, and how is laundry handled?
7. How do I report a repair?

You can also read up on your rights as a renter in Virginia. The state's Department of Housing and Community Development keeps tenant and landlord resources, including the Statement of Tenant Rights and Responsibilities that landlords must offer to prospective tenants.

Ready to look at rooms?

Right now CoRent has rooms in central Virginia: Richmond, Petersburg and Colonial Heights. If you want the full walk-through of searching, verifying your ID and applying, read our guide on how to rent a room in Richmond, VA.

When you find a room you like, ask the host the questions above, then apply in the app. Browse rooms for rent to see what is open today.