Flatmates to family of three : “We live in the very same house we first met in"
Roser met her husband, Albert, through SpareRoom. They’re expecting a baby daughter together later this year.
“I started using SpareRoom in the summer of 2020 while finishing my PhD. I’d been living in student halls and needed a more flexible contract for the new academic year. As covid had just struck, it was really important for me to find somewhere that had communal spaces as I’d be spending a lot of time at home.
The first viewing I went to was a three-bed shared with two guys. On paper, the house ticked all my boxes, including the small description of the two I’d be sharing with. But profiles can only tell you so much, and I needed to meet them in person to assess the vibe.
It was Albert (my now husband) who showed me around. On first impression, the house itself was clean and well-organised. The two of us then sat down for a chat in the living room, and he offered me a drink. It was clear from that first interaction that we had great chemistry, even if it was only as prospective flatmates.
It took me a few days to consider whether I’d like to move in after the viewing, especially as there was a part of me that worried my judgement had been clouded by how well Albert and I had got along - I wanted to remain open to other houseshares too. It was only after I viewed another property that I realised how important having the right chemistry and atmosphere in a household was. The second property felt chaotic, and I didn’t feel like I clicked with the housemates at all. So, I made the decision to move in with Albert and his housemate and, from the start, it was great. We definitely experienced the honeymoon phase of flatsharing - cooking together and debriefing after work. Covid had forced us all to work from home, too, so we got to know each other very quickly.
During this time, Albert and I became very close. Our third housemate ran his own business, so he was often preoccupied or away, leaving the two of us to spend a lot of one-on-one time with each other, and the spark between us had only intensified since that first meeting. Maybe it was just friendship accelerated by proximity? But we were also both painfully aware that we could ruin the great dynamic we had as flatmates. It became clear that as much as we were cautious of opening the door to the possibility of becoming something more than flatmates, we also didn’t want to rule it out.
A few months into living together, Albert went home for Christmas. When he returned, we had a serious discussion about our feelings for each other. After that, things developed quite naturally into dating. It took us about a month and a half to tell our other housemate, and he took it pretty well. We really tried to still make decisions as a household, rather than as a couple and their housemate. This seemed to work well because we lived together for three years. Eventually, our landlord raised the rent, and our housemate decided to move out, which was great timing as we felt we were at a point where we needed more space for ourselves. It was a big decision for us to make financially as we’d have to cover the rent of the third room, but it also felt like a big step for our relationship - we’d officially be a couple living together, not flatmates anymore.
I feel like being flatmates first gave us an advantage in our relationship. When you date, typically you end up idealising a person before you fully realise whether you're compatible or not. Because Albert and I lived together first, we got to see how someone behaves when they’re not being their ‘best self’, like dealing with stress or bad days.
Albert and I are both from Spain and one summer we travelled back together and brought both our families to the same city to meet. It was over the first dinner with both our parents that he proposed, completely catching everyone off guard. It was such a wonderful way to involve the other important people in our lives. My dad even shed a tear, which he never does! That took me by surprise. We got married in 2024.
Now we’re living in the very same house we met, about to welcome our third (unofficial) housemate - our first baby daughter, due in April. We’re currently looking to buy a place of our own, but it felt important to me for our daughter to be in this house with us. We fell in love with the house first, and Albert has lived here for nearly ten years. It was the beginning of our story, and when we move out, it will be the end of a huge chapter of our lives.
Many of our friends say they met through Tinder or Hinge, but we’ve always loved saying our story started on SpareRoom. It makes it feel even more serendipitous.”