Renting a room - how to know the people you'd be living with are 'normal' people?

You go and meet them and talk to them when you view the room/house.

Most of the time people are fine. I've come across a few weird people before, but nothing too bad.

Most of the time it's fine. Some of the time they are middle-aged, bloodshot-eyed, stinking of booze blokes who post violent status' about their exes that you really wish you'd looked at before letting them in your house.

Mostly it's fine though.

What kind of weird things have you seen so far? I just read a room advertisement where this house belongs to this old guy; he wrote on the advert that he's not only looking for an occupant but also looking for some company as well e.g. chatting, having dinner in the dining room sometime, and not a roomate that just sits in their room and surf the internet.

I'm not sure if you classified that as weird, but in some sense I do feel sorry for the old guy.

You go and meet them and talk to them when you view the room/house.

Most of the time people are fine. I've come across a few weird people before, but nothing too bad.

Avoid those ones where the landlord wants someone to spend time with them. It is sad, but as a student you cannot really afford to regular spend time with the owner without losing time with your studies or your friends. Those houses are more aimed at an older age group.

The two weird houses I've come across are
1. This house with three guys, but the one guy who was showing me around was like a robot. He expressed absolutely no emotions, he was very slow speaking, and the whole place didn't feel welcoming at all. He kept asking me if I was a clean and tidy person, over and over again. He also said that the other two housemates never leave their room... Soon after leaving the house he called me up to say that I wasn't allowed the room, but then a few hours later he called again and asked if I did want the room. It was really weird. I didn't feel safe around him.

2. A family house that at first seemed fairly normal, but on questioning the 'owner' living there I became suspicious that they were illegally subletting the house as they weren't the landlord nor the owner of the house. The house and the people living there did not match up with what was written in the advertisement and they also wanted me to do chores around the house, such as cleaning the entire house once a month, and I was only allowed to use the washing machine at night.

Apart from these two my experiences have been pretty good. Most people out there are alright and fall into the 'normal' range. Go with your gut instinct on a room/house. If something feels off then don't accept it.