A viewing is a chance to understand how a shared home works when everyone is living in it. Attractive rooms do not answer the practical questions: how water reaches the bathroom, what happens during a power interruption, and whether the internet works where you would actually sit.
Use a simple record with three columns: what you were told, what you observed and what remains unconfirmed. This keeps a confident description from becoming a fact in your budget.
Ask how electricity is paid for
Find out whether the household uses a shared meter, separate room meters or another arrangement. Ask who purchases credit or pays the bill, how contributions are agreed, and whether you can see the relevant household record without collecting other people's private account details.
If backup power is available, ask what it supports. A system that keeps lights and phones working may not run the appliance you need. Ask the responsible person to explain operating times, limits and extra costs; do not inspect wiring or test equipment beyond ordinary permitted use.
- Which loads are supported during an interruption?
- Who decides when a shared backup system runs?
- Which costs are fixed and which depend on use?
- How are exceptional purchases discussed?
Do not turn a resident's experience over a few days into a promise about future supply. Record the period their answer describes and leave room for variation.
Follow water from supply to use
Ask about the water source, storage and pumping arrangement. With permission, check ordinary flow at the fixtures you would use. Ask what residents do if water is unavailable and whether backup arrangements require a separate contribution.
Flow and appearance do not establish that water is safe to drink. Keep questions about drinking water separate from whether the taps work. Avoid relying on a casual demonstration as a water-quality assessment.
Consider timing: how many people use the bathroom before work, where laundry happens and whether there is a shared routine for refilling storage. You are checking household practicality as well as the presence of a tap.
Test connectivity where you need it
If internet matters for your work or study, ask permission to test the connection in the actual room. Note the time, location and whether other people were using it. One successful test is a snapshot, not proof that every work call will be uninterrupted.
Ask who owns the router, who manages the plan, whether everyone contributes and what happens if that person moves out. If you intend to use your own mobile connection, check that separately rather than assuming a household Wi-Fi demonstration answers the question.
Keep a record that supports follow-up
Power: household described a shared meter; contribution method confirmed; backup costs still unclear. Water: taps demonstrated during viewing; storage refill process explained; drinking-water arrangement to confirm. Internet: tested in offered room at 4 p.m.; household plan renewal and ownership to confirm.
Replace those examples with your observations. Then send only the unresolved questions back to the lister. A focused follow-up is easier to answer than repeating the whole viewing conversation.
Choose around your real requirements
If you are viewing around Ikeja, combine these questions with the working-day viewing scorecard so the utility answers stay connected to the room, route and household you inspected.
Someone who works outside the home may make a different trade-off from someone taking calls all day. Explain what you need and ask whether the household can accommodate it. Avoid treating your preference as an obligation for existing residents to fund new equipment.
Bring these questions when browsing available shared apartments. If your home will also be your office, use the work-from-home discussion guide to cover the people and space questions alongside the utilities.
About this guide: Prepared for Flatmate with AI assistance to turn room-search and household questions into practical checklists and examples. Hypothetical scenarios are labelled. Any listing examples are dated observations of public adverts, not property inspections or interviews with residents.