People

Living with the right people will be one of the most important factors in creating a positive student accommodation experience and can make a big difference to your time at University.

You will be sharing responsibility for the condition and sometimes the full rent for the property so you want to be sure that you have some of the same views as those you live with and can trust each other to be respectful and kind.

You may be sure that living with people is not for you and you need to start looking for studio flat or bedsit. This could be a good option but may cost more and you may need to make sure that you have other ways of connecting with people so that you do not become isolated.

However, if you are thinking that you do like social living and being with others, you need to start thinking about who you want to live with and how many people.

If you have met a good group of friends and you are all happy to live together this makes things much easier. Even the best friendships can feel the strain when you live together though.

Things to think about are if you share common values and behaviours as this can cause less conflict.

Perhaps it is important for you to live with all one gender or with people who share your religion.

I haven’t met anyone and I don’t know who to live with

Don’t worry if you have not found your group and do not know who you want to live with. The Guild and University will be working on housemate finder events later in the year.

You can look for people on the University Student Pad.

Posting on society or social facebook groups could be an option to see if others are in the same situation.

I’m feeling pressured to sign into a house with my friends

Take your time to get to know people, the majority of problems we see are where students are stuck in houses with people that they do not want to live with. If you are not sure it may be best to take time and write out all the reason why you are unsure and then think about each one- can some be resolved with talking about it or are there some big warning flags there?

I think I’ve made a terrible mistake and want to get out of the contract

It is unusual that contracts have break clauses, so your first step is always to ask the landlord/agent if it is possible to come out of the contract.

Usually this is only allowed if you can find someone to take over your contract. The best place to start advertising is student pad.