Not doing the dishes causes serious issues.

In fact, leaving your washing up in the sink is the number one cause of arguments between housemates – just ahead of not doing your fair share of the cleaning or stealing someone else’s food.

The survey, which polled 2,000 house-sharing adults, found that girls narrowly pipped boys to the post as the better sex to live with, but they were seen as the most argumentative too with lads viewed as far more laid-back.

Almost half of those polled also admitted that sharing a house has put them off living with other people in the future, with 16% even saying they look back on their house-sharing years as ‘being awful.’ 

The survey, carried out to mark the DVD release of Zooey Deschanel’s comedy series ‘New Girl’, listed the top 20 bugbears for adults – we’ve all been there.

TOP 20 CAUSES OF ARGUMENTS BETWEEN HOUSEMATES

1.            Leaving washing up in the sink

2.            Not doing their share of the cleaning

3.            Someone making too much noise

4.            Eating someone else’s food

5.            Paying their share of the bills late

6.            Someone’s boyfriend/girlfriend staying over too often

7.            Playing music too loud

8.            Not taking the bins or recycling out

9.            Not paying their share of the bills

10.          Hogging the bathroom

11.          Bringing unwanted guests back

12.          Leaving lights on

13.          Using the last of the toilet roll and not replacing it

14.          Using personal items without asking

15.          Smoking in their rooms/in their house

16.          Having loud sex

17.          Hogging the TV

18.          Being too noisy in the mornings

19.          Using all of the hot water

20.          Leaving the TV on