Where to look?
University accommodation offices
Many university accommodation offices will have their own list of registered landlords. Others will also provide information on registered letting agents and other specialist housing organisations (i.e. host family agencies, independent halls of residence or hostels).
In some cases your university will manage properties on behalf of private sector landlords. In these cases, your landlord will be the university even though the property is not owned by them. This is usually called a “head lease scheme”.
The advantage of using your university accommodation office is that there is some degree of control/support if you have a problem.The disadvantage is that they are unlikely to have enough registered landlords or head leased properties to house all their students.
Contact details for College accommodation offices can be accessed here.
Flatsharing messageboards
Online flatsharing messageboards are an increasingly popular means for students to find co-sharers. For many students, the people that they are sharing with is going to be the most important factor in choosing their housing. Messageboards help students find out more about potential flatmates before visiting the property.
Our messageboard is designed exclusively for students and can be accessed here. Important advice about using our list (and other flatsharing messageboards) can be accessed here.
Other flatsharing websites, which cover both students and professionals, include http://www.flatmateclick.co.uk/.
Loot and local newspapers
Loot is an important source of information about private sector housing. The offers are from private landlords, agencies and tenants looking for other co-tenants. In addition to the newspaper, they also have a website: www.loot.com
The advantage of using Loot is that there are some excellent bargains. Accommodation is often cheaper than through any other source. The disadvantage is that there is no quality control over the offers.
Renting is another property paper. The offers in this paper are mainly from letting agents. Their website is at www.renting.co.uk
Local newspapers: If you have decided on the area of London that you want to live in, you could also use local newspapers as a source of information. The same advantages and disadvantages of Loot apply to local newspapers.
Top tips
“Local newspapers and Loot go out of date very quickly. Make sure you get the issue on the day it comes out and if you are interested phone straight away”
Letting agents
- Letting agents are salesmen
The majority of rented accommodation in London is probably advertised through letting agents or, as they are also called, accommodation agencies.
A letting agent is primarily a business. Many landlords use them for two reasons: they think that the agencies will advertise their accommodation effectively for them and they want to let their accommodation without having to spend a lot of time answering enquiries from potential tenants. The advantage of using a letting agent is that you will have access to a large number of properties. A good agent will also ensure that they listen to your requirements and can save you time in looking for the right property. The disadvantage is that because they work on commission, they have a motivation to make sure that the landlord achieves the maximum rent possible. They can also make a range of charges to potential tenants (contract fees, credit checks etc). However, they cannot charge you just to show you accommodation. For more on this, please click here.
Finally, although there are some very bad agents out there don't let these put you off the whole idea of using an agent. There are both good and bad agents and, if you don't use any, you will be severely limiting the range of properties that you can see.
One way of choosing which agents to use is to check whether they are a member of a professional body or not. Three of the most reputable are ARLA (Association of Residential Letting Agents), NALS (National Approved Letting Scheme) and the NAEA (National Association of Estate Agents).
Details of their members can be found on the following websites:
ARLA
NALS
NAEA
Agents advertise through a range of sources. They will place advertisements in papers such as Renting, the Evening Standard and various local papers.
Increasingly they they will also use websites such as:
Noticeboards and newsagent windows
Noticeboards: Around the University you will find a number of noticeboards where offers of accommodation will be posted. These will either be from landlords or from students looking for co-sharers. Some universities will also have online noticeboards (see Flatsharing messageboard category above) where students can advertise to other students (our noticeboard is here). Advertisements from students to other students can be an excellent way to find accommodation. However, advertisements from landlords can be problematic.
Caution: Students should be very cautious of landlords who try to advertise directly to students without using their accommodation office. There are many noticeboards around the University and not all of them are adequately monitored. If a landlord has posted notices around the University and is, therefore, targeting students, check whether they are registered with the University. If they are not, why aren’t they?
Newsagent windows: Once you have decided on an area of London that you like, you should use every resource available to find housing in this area. This includes newsagent windows. It’s not glamorous but sometimes good offers can be found in this way.
Word of mouth
Some of the best housing in London is never advertised but is passed on from one group of students to another by word of mouth.
It might be that you can find out about good offers from final year students who are vacating their flats/houses.
However, don’t assume that just because you have found out about housing from a friend that it is necessarily going to be better than that found through any other source.
Family (parents or relatives buying a property)
Faced with the very high rents charged in London, some students and their parents will consider buying as an alternative. In many instances this will involve the parents buying the property and their son/daughter renting out the other rooms to their friends.
It is important that students are aware of both the pitfalls as well as the advantages of this arrangement.
Although you have escaped the stress of being a tenant and dealing with
obstructive landlords, you have swapped this for the stress of being a
landlord or, at least, the landlord’s representative. No matter how much you protest to the contrary, you are no longer in an equal relationship with your co-sharers. It can be difficult to maintain friendships when you are no longer equal and many friendships have ended over arguments about rent arrears and repairs.