I guess when choosing a roommate all you can really do is look at their appearance, ask about their hobbies and what their job is/what they're studying. Chances are if you ask them if they're clean, they'll just say "yeah... i'm pretty clean". Try asking their friends how they are. Although not 100% accurate, the stereotypes of what they do will give you an idea of what they're like. Eg. "I like clubbing" usually means mid week parties/loud/randoms over all the time using your stuff and eating your food... If you do end up getting a bad one heres some tips for dealing with it: Keep basically everything you own in your room. If its out in the public areas, it will be used/misplaced/broken/have some strange sticky substance on it when you go to use it next. If its out in public, do as much as you can to discourage use of your items. I passworded any electronics, placed it in an inconvenient spot, remove a vital part of its operation or make it confusing to use. None of my roommates can touch type so i rearranged all the keys on my keyboard and had a complicated password. If they cant use it, they wont break it. If you dont mind cooking, buy a lot of raw ingredients. Chances are your roommates are too lazy to prepare food correctly and wont eat all your stuff. If you don't have your own fridge, label your food so it doesn't get eaten. None of you will clean/maintain the yard. Make sure everyone puts money in for monthly yard keeping. Try organize 1 day every month where everyone cleans the entire house. Its amazing how sticky the floor can get, or all kinds of strange things can be found under couches if you don't check regularly.
