What can you do if you run into trouble with a bad housemate, dodgy landlord or a messy house that fails an inspection?
Definitely look up your local tenant's union and do it sonner rather than later, because if you need some advice that goes beyond what's in their info packs or online you'll probably have to make an appointment and wait a bit to get a phone call with em. I think another important thing to do with landlords in particular is to get things in writing and check that what they are trying to do is legal, so for example if you are on a lease, you generally actually have to be taken through a tribunal hearing before you can be kicked out. They can't just say "you made a mess, so now you're being evicted" If you're not on a lease, you can be kicked out a bit easier but you still have lots of rights!
I think bad housemates happen a lot of the time because people haven't sat down and established expectations. So if you can all agree that not paying the rent is a pretty big deal and something that has to be sorted out ASAP (or maybe that everyone should pay a week or two in advance etc) Or how clean the house needs to be for everyone to be happy. Or even something random like whether Star wars or Star trek is better then that's going to save a lot of hardship later if something goes wrong, because you can say "we agreed that this wouldn't happen"
With all that being said, it's also important to be fair and reasonable, people make mistakes, and things happen like losing jobs etc, you can't be perfect all the time, and some people are strang and think Star Trek is better!
