Shared accommodation
In shared accommodation you usually have your own room and share the rest of the property with other tenants or the landlord/lady. It is always worth checking what the sharing arrangements are when you view the property to make sure that it suits your needs.
Shared accommodation is generally the cheapest and easiest to find. An advantage to living in shared accommodation is that bills are usually cheaper and that the deposits and rent in advance are also less.
You may, therefore, be able to use the time that you spend in shared accommodation to save up money for a deposit and rent in advance to enable you to secure self contained accommodation.
Shared accommodation may also be advertised as rooms, flat/house shares or bedsits; there are slight differences in what these mean:
Room
This may be a room in the landlord's house or a room in a house where other people also rent rooms. You will have your own room but generally share a kitchen and bathroom and possibly a lounge. This is often the cheapest accommodation available.
House/flatshare
Again, you will have your own room and share the rest of the property. However, the main difference is that you will probably have more contact with the other tenants. You may find that the facilities will be better than if just renting a room, although this may be reflected in the cost.
Bedsit
You will have your own room with cooking and washing facilities, but will usually share a bathroom or toilet with other tenants.
Self contained accomodation
Self contained usually means that you will not have to share any facilities with any other tenants. Therefore, this type of accommodation is usually more expensive, and a deposit and/or rent in advance is often needed. If you are a single person under the age of 25, then housing benefit will not cover self contained accommodation, and you may be restricted to looking for a house share or room/bedsit to rent.