House Hunting Hacks; Find Your Perfect Student House In Leeds

How To Do Student House Hunting in Leeds Like a Pro 

Student house hunting can be stressful and ultra competitive. Here’s our quick-fire tips on how to snag the best houses in Leeds before everyone else;

1. Get organised first and view early. You’re in a bun fight with tens of thousands of other Leeds students, so get the size of your group nailed down straight away.
2. Pick your housemates carefully. Your super-fun party animal friend might not necessarily be the person you want to live with for 12 months.
3. Agree a budget. Not everyone has the same spending power so make sure you’re all in sync to avoid any difficult conversations down the line.
4. Pick an area. Do you need to walk or bus to Uni, do you need a supermarket nearby, do you need somewhere to park, is there a good student pub?
5. But don’t be too strict on area; Sometimes a house a street or two away from your key location can be cheaper / better / tick more boxes. So don’t have too fixed a boundary.
6. Go bills inclusive. Does anyone do their own bills anymore?! Why would you?! Fix your utilities, let your landlord sort all the bills out and avoid arguing with your housemates over the heating!
7. Not all bills inclusive packages are equal. Check how much energy your get and if there’s a cap. Does the package include a TV license and insurance? How good is the Wi-Fi?
8. Make a wish list for your dream home of must haves and nice to haves. How many bathrooms do you need, do you need a big kitchen to cook in, do you want something ultra-modern?
9. Make sure you view properties with a Unipol Accredited Landlord or Agent. They will have signed up to a higher-level code of standards which is all good news for their tenants!
10. Pick a couple of agents and ask to view a selection of their properties on the viewing to give you plenty of choice. Too few and you’re missing out, too many and they’ll start blurring into one.
11. Talk to the current tenants on the viewing. Ask them if they like the house and area. You’ll always get an honest answer and some decent intel.
12. Check what’s included. Does all the furniture come with the house? What about the appliances? Is there a burglar alarm? Who does the gardening?
13. Google map the walk / public transport to places you need to be (hopefully including Uni!) of the houses you like.
14. Read your contract before signing. Tenancy agreements are long and can be daunting, but any good agent / landlord should be happy to answer any and all of the questions you have.
15. Have the funds ready to pay a deposit. And if it’s your folks that are paying be super-nice to them for at least a week beforehand!
16. Check you know when the rent payment dates are – and whether these are monthly or quarterly (It’ll say it in the contract).
17. Check your deposit is protected in a Govt approved deposit scheme (it should be) and that you’re given this information.
18. Find out who your landlord is. If you are renting through an Agent, then ask if you deal with them or the landlord.
19. You’ll normally be asked to provide documents over the next couple of weeks (standing orders, guarantor forms etc). So, make sure you diarise these.
20. CELEBRATE! You’ve completed Student House Hunting, and your house will be the envy of your friends!

Good luck; you’ve got this!