Finding a house for placement year in Reading

shopndrop

My son is about to start a year in industry this summer and will need accommodation in Reading. He is looking to share a house with 3 other uni students also on placement in the same area. Any suggestions as to how to go about finding suitable accommodation?

Dora_the_Explorer_5

If there's a uni in Reading it will have a student accommodation office.

shopndrop

Is it OK to contact a student accommodation office if you are not at that uni. Thought they were only for students attending the uni. My son and friends are from another uni but just got their placements in Reading.

Savvy_Sue

If the company regularly takes on students on placement, ask if they can put him in touch with whoever did it last year and see if they would recommend where they're living.

Ken68

In Cambridge, rich parents buy a place, put their son in charge, fill it with students, the rents pay the mortgage, and at the end of uni time, sell up with capital appreciation. Can't lose where there is a demand for accomondation

elaine373

shopndrop wrote:

My son is about to start a year in industry this summer and will need accommodation in Reading. He is looking to share a house with 3 other uni students also on placement in the same area. Any suggestions as to how to go about finding suitable accommodation?

I am from Reading, cool choice there He could advertise in the local free-ads. He could also look there nearer the time. Another idea is to advertise a need for renting a house on the Reading free cycle. I know for a fact that some of the uni teachers/lecturers use this because co-incidently i am picking something up from one of them tonightwhich was advertised on it. I will ask her about accomadation and get back to you here if i get any info.The other thing is to contact the uni directly and ask advice about their accomodation

elaine373

http://www.rdg.ac.uk/ Here is their website

shopndrop

Had a quick look at this site and there are also links to estate agents. Just what I needed. Thanks.

harrisl_2

When i started my placement (in Bracknell, near Reading) the company had a orientation day in May. It was just a day where all the new students could meet. There are 20ish students on their placement this year. It gave everyone a chance to meet for the first time so they could arrange who they were going to live with. During this day the company arranged a local estate agent to give a talk as to where to best places to say were and then the students all went off to look at some houses together. I think this is a really good idea. It's bad enough starting a new job when you dont know anyone, let alone trying to arrange accommodation too.

Maybe your son can get in touch with the company he will work for to see if they can arrange something similar. If this cant be done, maybe he could suggest it for the next years students, so they dont have the same problems (It would also look good for when he applies for a graduate job. they are always asking on applications questions such as give a time where you have seem a problem and resolved it. that sort of thing).

melancholly

Ken68 wrote:

In Cambridge, rich parents buy a place, put their son in charge, fill it with students, the rents pay the mortgage, and at the end of uni time, sell up with capital appreciation. Can't lose where there is a demand for accomondation

i'm sure the female students there would be equally competent at looking after a house!!
and that doesn't just happen in cambridge (or often with city centre prices and guarenteed accommodation for 3 years from colleges)!!

these sites may help:
http://www.accommodationforstudents.com/
http://www.student-accom.com/Accommodation/student-accommodation-reading.htm
http://www.homesforstudents.co.uk/

moneyandmountains

shopndrop wrote:

Is it OK to contact a student accommodation office if you are not at that uni. Thought they were only for students attending the uni. My son and friends are from another uni but just got their placements in Reading.

Certainly it is. Some people use the student accomodation office when they are not even students anymore Accommodation advertised at the office may also have been vetted, so dodgy landlords are excluded.

One thing to check with the accommodation office is when most student lets run from. If there are a few weeks either side of the tenancy the cheapest/easiest place to stay is in Uni halls (if in the student holidays).

I would recommend a trip over to Reading, and a browse around. A little parental censoring of accommodation may be begrudged at the time, but appreciated in the long run.

There is normally a fair bit of accomodation in the local papers/free ads as well.