# Living preferences

> How the "Must have", "Nice to have" and "No preference" levels work, and how they affect who you see and who sees you.

## What they are

Both the listing and the search profile carry living preferences: age, work situation, habits and other day-to-day criteria. They're the raw material of matching — the system only crosses listings and searches that fit.

## The levels

Each criterion can be graded:

- **"Must have"** — hard filter: only people who meet it fit. Whoever doesn't will not appear on your list, nor you on theirs.
- **"Nice to have"** — counts towards the fit, but excludes nobody.
- **"No preference"** — the criterion is ignored.

**The grading gesture**: on a criterion's options (for example, what the tenant should help with, or the flatmate's traits), **one tap** marks the option as "Nice to have", **a second tap** raises it to "Must have" and **a third** clears it. Some living questions are answered directly with "Yes", "No" or "No preference".

## Use them wisely

Every "Must have" narrows the funnel on both sides. If you're seeing few candidates or few results, review how many hard filters you've set — often relaxing one or two to "Nice to have" is enough. More in [Why you see no results or candidates](https://tegaria.com/en/help/why-no-results-yet).

## Your responsibility

Preferences exist to organise the real cohabitation of a home. By publishing them you state they reflect true decisions of the household you live in or represent; use them honestly and respectfully.

## Related

- [Publish your listing](https://tegaria.com/en/help/publish-your-listing)
- [Create your search profile](https://tegaria.com/en/help/create-your-search-profile)

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Official page: https://tegaria.com/en/help/living-preferences · Guide index: https://tegaria.com/llms.txt