How to find your new student accommodation

Your zero-fuss guide to finding student accommodation with Purple Frog

Searching for student accommodation is a hassle, right? Well, here at Purple Frog, we want to make the process as simple as possible for you. After all, living off campus is one of the most exciting parts of going to university! It’s your chance to live with friends and discover the city for yourself.

Step one – decide what you’re looking for

It makes sense really, but if you know what you’re looking for it’s easier to find! The key things you’ll need to decide on are:

Location

What area would you like to live in? You might want to live as close as possible to Uni or you may prefer to live a bit further away to save some money.

How many bedrooms do you need?

To work this out you need to know who you want to live with, it’s best to decide this before you start looking so that you are able to reserve a property if you find one you like.

Budget

How much are you prepared to pay? Rents vary according to the location and quality of properties.

Date

Different houses become available on different dates, so work out when you need to move by.

Step two – start your search

Once you know what you’re looking for, get in touch and we’ll help you find it! You can find our opening hours on our website.

Online – You’ll find full descriptions, photos and EPCs on our website: www.purplefrogproperty.com.

You can save your favourites, email property details to friends and even arrange viewings all from our website.

Pop in and see us – You’ll find some really helpful people in our offices, all students or former students local to the area. They’ll talk you through what properties match your requirements.

Give us a call or send us an email. You can find the contact details for your local branch on our contact page.

Rightmove – you can find all of the properties that we have to rent here, as well.

Step three – have a look

Once you’ve decided which properties you’re most interested in we’ll arrange for you to have a look around them.

When you book a viewing, we’ll arrange a day and time for you to have a look at the property. One of our lettings team will show you around, or the landlord will meet you at the property. Sometimes the current tenants will let you in. We’ll confirm your viewing before it takes place.

When you’re looking round a house these are some of the things to look out for:

• Double glazing – makes a big difference to your heating bills
• Washing machine – a combined dryer makes getting your clothes dry in winter a lot easier, check for adequate space for clothes driers if not
• Check what furniture belongs to the tenants and what you can expect to be in the house when you move in
• Heating – make sure there is adequate heating in the house
• Ask the tenants what it’s like to live there, they are the best people to let you know the best bits and worst bits about the house
• What’s included in the rent – some rents include all bills, including water, electricity and internet.

If you find a place that doesn’t have bills-included, we can set you up with a package, where you can add the utilities to your monthly rent.

Step four – decision time

When you’ve found what you’ve looking for, let us know. We’ll help you secure your new student home.

To give you time to all get together or show the contract to parents we operate a reserve system. You will need to put down a small admin fee of £59 each. Once you reserve a property we stop marketing it and discontinue any viewings.

You then have 7 days to sign the contract and pay your retainer. To make this easy, this is all done online!

FAQs

Will I really get free contents insurance?

Yes. Everyone who rents a property through us will automatically get free contents insurance, when their tenancy starts.

What is a guarantor?

You will all need a guarantor; this is normally a parent or guardian who signs an agreement to say that they will pay your rent if you are unable to.

What happens to my deposit/retainer?

When you sign your contract, you will pay a retainer which secures the property. This becomes the deposit when your contract starts and your landlord has to protect it with a government approved scheme within 30 days. This system is designed to make getting your deposit back much easier.

We give you lots of information about how to keep your deposit, including sending you emails towards the end of your tenancy, so you’re prepared for when you move out.

How much do bills cost?

This depends on the size of house and its energy efficiency. We suggest budgeting between £10-15 per person each week.

What is a joint and several contract?

Most tenancy agreements are joint and several which means that you sign the contract as a group and share all of the responsibilities. This means that if one of you does not pay the rent then the others may have to.

How does weekly rent convert into monthly?

There aren’t exactly 4 weeks in a month so you have to multiply your weekly rent by 52 and divide by 12 to get a monthly figure. This will be done on your contract for you.

What’s an Energy Performance Certificate (EPC)?

An EPC shows how energy efficient a house is and can help you work out how much your utilities will cost. We put them on our website for you to look at but if you can’t find one let us know.

What’s a HMO Licence

Every rental property which has 5 or more bedrooms and is on 3 or more floors has to be licensed by the local council to make sure it has certain safety features. If a property you like falls into this category ask the landlord to show you the HMO Licence.

can’t find your question here? There’s a page of FAQs here.

Need to know more? Speak to one of our local team. They’re here to help make sure it’s easy to find your new student accommodation!