By Yuri Azrani

The saying goes that every bird has to leave its nest. The same can be said for the youths of today, reaching an age of maturity and needing to find a new accommodation to keep up with the wants and needs of their lifestyles, be it a necessity or leisure.

For a majority of the young generation, the idea of purchasing a home as soon as moving out remains just that, an idea. Therefore, they turn to many other alternatives, one of which is the trend that is ceaselessly growing in popularity, home-sharing.

Beating out the traditional style of renting out a whole apartment unit, home-sharing is centered on the tenant renting one or more rooms within the unit while sharing the rest of the home with other tenants or residents.

Finding such rentals are growing much simpler with the introduction of home-sharing services and applications such as iBilik.com, HostelHunting and Airbnb. Although home-sharing and these services are often associated with travel and short term stays, they also double as long term rented residence.

In recent years, these services and short term rentals have changed the face of tourism, offering fresh and more homely alternatives to the typical hotels.

23 year-old student Sammy recalls her experience of using a home-sharing service portal for vacation abroad. “The owner cancelled my trip a week before my stay, which was a huge inconvenience, not to mention he was rude about it” she recalled.

Sammy mentioned that she called the service provider and they managed to find her a new lodging and a full refund. “Using these services you can get cheaper deals and better locations compared to what you get from hotels. It also allow you to be more immersed with the local culture.” Sammy said.

“One issue is safety, because you are still staying with strangers by sharing their houses. It’s still pretty dangerous to go alone.” Sammy commented.

Sammy isn’t alone in this stance, although many home-sharing services have gained a trustable reputation, not all of them will take the same responsibility as they did for her.

Security of both tenants and homeowners and their properties are not something these service companies would take responsibility for, as they merely act as a middleman for these arrangements.

Short term home rentals and tourism home-sharing have been the center of scrutiny in recent years, with major cities such as New York, Berlin and Barcelona passing legislations and laws to monitor the activities of such services and their listed homes.

This brings into question the legality and ethicality of home-sharing and these services. Cities such as Berlin limit the amount of listed houses available for vacation stays, not allowing more than 50% of a home to be rented out without a permit.

Berlin is taking such action with claims that it reduces affordable housing for its own locals, New York shares the same perception as well.

In terms of long term accommodations, home-sharing has also been a popular choice for many looking for cheap homes.

Long term home-sharing has been around for a long while, although it is made easy with the emergence of platforms such as iBilik and HostelHunting. This form of rental is typically based around tenants sharing a home with either the homeowner or other tenants.

This can provide loads of benefits for the homeowners as these tenants may assist the homeowners with their tasks and chores in return for lower rental fees, all while fostering a tighter bond.

Unfortunately, not all home-sharing experiences end up as pleasant as that. Home-sharing with other tenants is often viewed as a cheap resort to finding an accommodation here in Malaysia as a hefty amount of tenants are crammed into a single housing unit. For some, it’s barely a choice.

Winston Tan is a 18 year-old student from Jinjang who is currently pursuing further studies in a Petaling Jaya based tertiary education provider. In order to pursue his studies, Winston is renting out a 36-sq-ft room in a house with 10 other tenants.

Winston is an 18 year-old student struggling with affordable accommodation while juggling his studies

“It’s depressing, coming back after a long day to a small room with only a bed and a wall to stare at.” Winston expressed. Living in a single storey terrace with 10 other strangers means he has to sacrifice comfort and privacy which is a far cry from the luxuries of a family home. “I’ve seen elevator lifts bigger than this.”

Winston commented that daily travel from his home would require high costs and the choices of travel are very limited. Finding his room via home-sharing portals, Winston mentioned that even such a small room yields an unproportionally high rental cost, even taking on a part time job to sustain himself.

“These are the sacrifices I have to make to be a student. The rentals in this area are substantially high although I don’t see them going down anytime soon.” Being awarded a study grant, Winston bears with this day to day struggle instead of letting it go to waste.

When asked his thoughts on home-sharing Winston said “It’s great that it gives people a cheaper option to stay in and tenants could even help each other out, but again there is always the question of security since you might not really know your housemates.”

Home-sharing has proven to be a major ease to many that have tried it, yet it does not live up to the glamourous success stories told by the many home-sharing agencies and portals. Providing accommodation for low prices truly is a noble effort, but it always safe to be wary of its risks.

"I’ve seen elevator lifts bigger than this.”