The Ultimate Student Accommodation Guide Part 1: Looking For The Right Student Accommodation

Finding the right student accommodation can be such an exciting time! You’ll be living with your friends, cooking great meals, and you’ll be living in a part of town that you love. To make sure everything runs smoothly for you, we’re putting together a student accommodation guide so that you can enjoy house hunting as much as possible. This will take you through how to prepare for a viewing, deciding whether you want all inclusive accommodation or standard student accommodation, and choosing the right flatmates. 

How To Find The Right Student House and Property 

First of all, decide if you want to speak with a landlord directly or go through a letting agent. Going through a letting agent is often the preferred route as you can be safe in the fact that everything will be done properly. You might get recommendations from other university friends or you could take a walk down the high-street to find out which letting agent has the best properties. However you find your student accommodation in Leeds, do it with someone you trust who can find the perfect property for you. 

Think About Who You’re Going To Live With 

 
When you’re looking for student accommodation in Leeds, you should have a pretty good idea of who you want to live with. However, you might want to have a think about how you want to live your life in student accommodation. We know it’s normal to discover things about your housemates that might eventually annoy you, and that’s fine. But that best friend that’s always up for a night out, are they going to be the best housemate when you want to knuckle down on your studies? Alternatively, if you end up living with people you’re on the same course with, you can all put our heads together when it comes to coursework time. If you want to live on your own though, that’s fine! Having your own space is a luxury a lot of students wish they had! 

Prepare For Your Viewing 

 
Viewings can be a stressful time but if you’re prepared, they can actually be quite fun. Make sure everyone knows what time they need to be at the letting agent or the house. If possible, try and organise a few viewings at the same time. This gives an instant comparison between properties and you’ll soon get an idea of what you do and don’t like. 

Also, take a camera with you so you can refer back to photos when making your student accommodation decision. Be prepared with questions too so you’ve got as much information as possible when choosing your next student home! 

All Inclusive Accommodation vs Standard Student Accommodation 

 
Most student accommodation in Leeds is like normal rented accommodation. You pay rent with bills as an extra then you have to sort them out between you and your flatmates. This can be a hassle but it gives you the flexibility to choose which providers you use. 

However, you can choose all inclusive accommodation. That means that you and your housemates pay a flat rate for your rent and, with rentinc, water, electricity, wifi, gardening, gas, and content insurance are all included. You don’t have to pay anything extra and that means no arguing with your flatmates about who owes who money for bills. 

What To Look Out For 

 
When you’re viewing student accommodation in Leeds, take a look at what furniture is included and how the house is going to work practically for you and your flatmates. Are there enough bathrooms? Have you got a suitable place to study? Is the kitchen big enough to store all your food? These things might not be obvious at first but they’ll soon become important issues when queuing for the bathroom! 

Also keep an eye out for any potential issues such as damp. Black spots on ceilings and walls, flaky paint, and a musky smell are all signs of damp so look closely! No one wants damp student accommodation. 

Make Sure You Have Enough Money 

The house you’ve seen might be absolutely drop dead gorgeous but can you afford it? At the end of the day, you still need enough money to live on. It’s definitely possible to have a nice house and have money left over. You might just need to be patient and do your research! 

Check What’s Included In The Contract 

 
It can be tempting to just assume that everything on the contract is good to go. You could just sign it without giving it a second thought. However, it definitely pays to have a read through the details. This especially works if you want repairs or any work doing to your student accommodation before you move in.