Living with a flatmate that smells bad puts you in an awkward and stinky situation. Honestly, how do you tell your flatmate they smell bad and avoid hurting their feelings? It’s a very fine line to walk while living in your flat. Your poor nose could be enduring scents of body odor, urine, onions, or cigarettes. Something has to give! To make your living situation sustainable, it may be time to bite the bullet and tell your flatmate they smell bad.

Here are 3 powerful tips on how to deal with a smelly flatmate, navigate the conversation about their hygiene, and create a less stinky environment in your flat.

Your Flatmate Smells Bad

Confronting a stinky flatmate is awkward. You could completely sour the relationship with your flatmate in one conversation. Are you both legally bound to live together per a 12-month lease? If you are, tread lightly when navigating the conversation about how badly your flatmate smells.

Before diving further into your flatmate action plan, double-check one thing…

It’s not you that smells, right? Ok good!

Communication with Smelly Flatmates

Communication is key in any relationship, including your smelly flatmates. Ask yourself this question:

"How does my smelly flatmate prefer to communicate?"

Your communication options: face-to-face, meet at a café, meet at your dinner table, go on a walk, call, text, or leave a hand-written note.

Regardless of how you decide to communicate with your flatmates, it’s something that must happen. As awkward as it feels, you need to address that your flatmate smells bad. There’s a chance they aren’t even aware of how bad they smell. You could be doing them a favour by informing them of their personal hygiene.

How Bad Does Your Flatmate Smell?

Now that you’re prepared to kick the conversation off with your stinky flatmate, diagnose the severity of the situation. In order to clearly communicate how gross they smell in a succinct and nice way, review what you want to tell them. Ask yourself – and your nose – what level of stench is coming from my flatmate.

PRO TIP: Ask a friend to come over and give you a second opinion on the smells they take in when walking through your flat. Have your friend walk through the kitchen, bathroom, and laundry room. Get their honest opinion. This will help you know what to do if your flatmate smells bad.

My Flatmate Smells Really Bad

Create a scale in your head to measure how badly your flatmate smells. If your flatmate smells really bad, you will know that the matter is serious. Especially when your friend agrees after walking through your place, you’ll need to address the stinky issue. Not everyone is aware of their own hygiene until someone tells them! Don’t be afraid to have 'the conversation'.

My Flatmate Smells Awful

If you keep telling yourself that my flatmate smells awful, then you need a solution fast. It’s hard knowing what to do if your flatmate smells bad. No one likes to hear that stinky news about their personal hygiene. However, maybe solving it won’t be as bad as you think. For smelly flatmate issues stemming from outside factors, like a cat or dog, you can get rid of the stench more easily.

Why Your Flatmate Smells Bad

If you’re constantly asking yourself why my flatmate smells so bad, you’ll need to put on your detective hat to figure it out. There are plenty of bad flatmate qualities that can affect the environment of your living quarters.

Smelly Bathroom

How well does your flatmate maintain the bathroom that you both use? Stinky bathrooms are unfortunately common when living with random flatmates. Poop and urine smells can emit from the toilet into your flat. Gross! There are cleaning supplies you can offer your flatmate to take care of that stinky issue.

Flatmate Body Odor (B.O.)

Naturally, humans smell. Some smell ok and others smell awful. Body odor is a natural part of being a human. However, it’s tough for us to smell our own B.O. before our flatmates do. Confronting a smelly flatmate about their body odor is difficult. Be as kind and gentle as possible when entering this roomie conversation.

Dirty Clothes

Not all flatmates consistently wash their clothes. Eventually, this can lead to a stinky flat. Smelly clothes can be caused by many things, including:

• Overuse of perfume
• Dirt and grime
• Not washing clothes for weeks
• Body odor
• Cigarette smoke
• Cooking smelly food in the kitchen

Thankfully, resolving a dirty clothes issue is an easier way to tell your flatmate they smell bad. However, if you see huge piles of clothes and other personal items continuing to build up, this could be a red flag. You may be living with a hoarder in your house, which can lead to all sorts of nasty smells.

Cigarette Smoke

Is your flatmate a bonified cigarette smoker? Cigarette smoke is one of the least enjoyable smells to live amongst if you do not smoke yourself. Stinky smoke can stick onto your flatmate’s clothes and items, creating a smoky stench in your flat.

Other Reasons that My Flatmate Smells

Depending on the reason for your flatmate smelling bad, it could be completely their fault or not much at all. Consider these factors when diagnosing the cause of your smelly flatmate:

• Pets – pet dogs, cats, or birds can cause a flatmate to smell bad
• Job – obscure jobs, like working with fish or other stinky foods, cause smells to stick onto humans. If they work with animals or work in a restaurant, they can bring smells home with them.
• Windows – lack of airflow in your flat could allow smells to build up over time. Bathrooms without windows can become stinky. Also, if your flatmate’s room doesn’t have a big window, that could also be the issue.

How to Politely Tell My Flatmate They Smell

Do your best to make your approach nonpersonal. Coming out of the gate harshly blaming them will likely not get you far in remedying the problem.

If you are wondering what to do if my flatmate smells bad, lead with kindness. The more polite and kind you are to start, the more will get done. Hygiene is a personal thing. As mentioned before, your flatmate may have zero clue how bad they smell. It could be a quick fix for them to implement and solve the problem.

Tell your flatmate that they smell in a polite manner initially. Whether they are the direct cause or not, begin telling them respectfully. Give it a few days after telling them and monitor the odors in your flat. If you issue persists, you need to talk to your flatmate again. Here, you can be firmer and develop an action plan to make them less stinky.