After spending the first year in halls many students chose to rent a house from a private landlord to share with friends. Living with friends in a shared house can be fun, affordable and one of the great aspects of student life.
When choosing who to live with it goes without saying that you should choose wisely. Not only will you be sharing a kitchen, bathroom and living area with these people but you will be sharing the responsibility for a yearlong contract with the landlord. It is worth taking your time to get to know your new friends before deciding who to share a house with.
Landlords letting to students work on a very strict calendar and want to know that their properties are filled with paying tenants for the next academic year so they will be keen to get you to sign an agreement early.
Before arranging for viewings make a list of must haves, check your budget and talk to your fiends about how you plan to share bills and chores etc.
Its important that you choose your property and house mates wisely! Remember once you have signed a tenancy agreement you have made a commitment to rent that property with those housemates for the agreed period.
If you fall out with your housemates, or change/withdrawn from your university course, the commitment will still be in place. The landlord is entitled to expect that the agreed rent be paid even if you or someone else moves out. If you have signed a joint contract and one of your housemates moves out or doesn’t pay their share of the rent, the landlord can expect that you and the other housemates pay instead.
Failure to pay rent can result in loss of your deposit, legal claims against you or anyone standing as guarantor for you, and will provide a poor reference making it difficult to rent in future.