How to find somewhere to live?

MercilessKiller

Hey.

I'm a first year student and haven't really started looking for accomedation for next year...

Me and 3 other mates would like to, if possible, move into a place together...

I have absolutely no idea who to go to and how to find out about different types of rentable student accomedation for my 2nd year.

Any advice you could give would be much appreciated! They're relying on me to sort something out soon! ahh

Thanks

Dora_the_Explorer_5

Why not try your uni's accommodation office?

Crispy_Ambulance

Try and see if your uni accommodation office has registered properties and use those if possible. Don't sign for the first house you see - as time goes on, Landlords become more desperate and you may be able to bargain the price down. Get your contract checked, ideally by your union advice centre, before you sign it. Make sure you are happy to live with these people for 12 months or however long the contract is for. Don't sign a joint tenancy, ask for single tenancies. Make sure you have done your sums and can afford the rent as most student contracts will be for 12 months.

If the landlord is promising to make all kinds of improvements, either don't sign up and look for somewhere else, or make sure it is written into the contract, with a timescale for any works and penalties eg reduced rent if the works aren't completed within a certain time.

that's all for now - good luck!

melancholly

What city are you looking for? There are sometimes very good websites to help for certain places - maybe someone can give more specific advice if they've been at the same uni?

holstar

Crispy_Ambulance wrote:

. Make sure you have done your sums and can afford the rent as most student contracts will be for 12 months.

If the landlord is promising to make all kinds of improvements, either don't sign up and look for somewhere else, or make sure it is written into the contract, with a timescale for any works and penalties eg reduced rent if the works aren't completed within a certain time.

Also see if there is a reduced rent for over the summer if you won't be living in it.

If a landlord won't add timescale and/or penalties for late/unfinished work, speak to your uni accommodation office...when I spoke to potential-landlords they refused to do that, but when we got the accommodation office to ask on our behalf, then they did...and as this work was going to be done over the summer holiday when all us tenants were 100 miles away, the accommodation office also went to check the work had been done on time etc....and when it wasnt, they were very helpful in getting us out of the tenancy agreement.

crazyscientist

crispy ambulance has the spot-on advice! your union is used to dealing with this kind of thing so dont be afraid to ask for advice.

Raquela

ask your fellow students how they have sorted out their accomm too....

nicolasimpson

A great website is https://www.letmatch.co.uk which has properties for rent all over the UK. Lots of students are regiestered on this site!

Hope that helps you!

Savvy_Sue

Also if any of you have friends in 2nd year at the moment, see if any of them are in a nice house where you might be able to take over the tenancy ...

But I think if I asked my son if he'd started thinking about next year's accommodation he'd be :rotfl: My advice to him was to try to find a rich friend to share with next year, but I don't think he's taken me up on it yet!

MercilessKiller

Thanks all for your comments.

Im in stafford and theres confusion as to where we get Landlord information from. The accomedation office told us we have to wait to get a list of landlords, while others were told phone numbers from the same office!! i'd rather do my own investigating now! I've had a few probs with people not doin their jobs.. and im not prepared to let that effect me next year...

Will do more research and post back! Thanks for your help.

Savvy_Sue

Well it's possible they don't offer a comprehensive list until later in the year: a good accommodation office will inspect all properties and not take any on which don't meet certain standards. But someone might have been able to blag phone numbers from them for individual landlords.

Agree that doing your own research is a good plan!