Bristol University Second Year Accommodation

[imperiumsinefine]

Ds is going into his second year at Bristol. His friends have found a flat that would mean rent will cost us £6400 a year. Then bills on top. It is in Clifton, but not in the posh part near the village. The room is a standard size, small double non en suite.

Does this sound about right?

I thought it was quite a lot considering

[grumiosmum]

Well I paid £14 a week to rent a room in a fairly grim flat in the non-posh part of Clifton in my 2nd year. But that was back in the 1980s...

[titchy]

Probably to be expected to be honest. Check right move for student lets in the area.

[Ontopofthesunset]

DS's rent this year nearer the SU rather than Clifton Village is £6900 for a four bed one shared bathroom not very upmarket place - good location but small living room, big kitchen though.

Last year in Clifton in a quirky top floor 3 bed flat with landlords onsite and living in rest of house (so shared front door etc) it was only £5400 but that was very small, no real living room or sofas etc.

So it sounds about right. Sorry...

[imperiumsinefine]

Thank you for the replies. I hadn’t realised that the area had become so expensive!

[BubblesBuddy]

DD had a room in a flat in Eaton Crescent, Clifton, a few years ago. I have found a similar flat in one of the 4 houses owned by the landlord. They were well maintained and in a decent road. The current price is £6600.

There is a bit cheaper in Hotwells and White Ladies Road. Clifton is very handy for the university and most students don’t live in Clifton Village as it’s more expensive and further away. Most of Clifton is posh - look at the house prices! What he’s paying is about right. No one gets en suite! As if. DD wanted a dishwasher!

[MeetJoeTurquoise]

My dd is in Soton and her second year is going to be £5kpa plus bills. Rent is £1600 pm between four of them.

[BubblesBuddy]

That’s not Bristol.

[bevelino]

OP, my dds have found a house in Redland for second year and the rent is £6800 (each) plus bills. There will be 5 of them sharing and the house is well maintained and spacious. They love Bristol and dd1 at Oxford wishes she had gone there.

[Needmoresleep]

Mine was paying £400 pcm off the Whiteladies Road, but the flat was not luxe. She says rents have gone up a lot for next year as demand grows with University expansion, and private landlords sell up. (Bristol seem to bringing in a licensing scheme for small HMOs which will push more landlords out.)

She will pay more next year, approx £135pw, but the flat is apparently much nicer and two minutes walk to the University. Living close will help as apparently a fair proportion of her friends live south of the University so 15 minutes up Whiteladies was ‘too far to visit’.

[Xenia]

My twins have signed up for year 3 halls and I think they are both or at least one in Clifton - the only one I have details of is £6240.One is currently paying in Redland about £5880. In all cases bills are on top.

So I think what is quoted is about right although loads of students will set their upper amount per week they can afford and then look based on that and it is by means the case that everyone goes into places costing that much.

[Needmoresleep]

DDs current flatmates have less money than she does, so they deliberately looked for somewhere cheap. I think it is fine, but my idea of student accommodation dates back a bit. Modern students seem to expect more. Their street has the distinction of being the beginning of the "Bristol Noise Pages" a resident website initiative to track unreasonable student noise, perhaps it was even their flat. It looks as if a few parties have been hosted there over the years and their neighbours were originally quite hostile. But some taking in of parcels and passing on of mis-delivered mail means that they are on nodding terms, indeed one neighbour offered his drive when DD was washing her car. Inevitably there are now only two student properties on the street, with several recently sold on and refurbished. It is only a matter of time until the same happens to DDs flat, which is presumably why the landlord has stopped investing in it.

One thing OP's DC could consider is paying different rents depending on the size of the room. But otherwise I think it is a case that the nice areas are expensive, and though cheaper accommodation exists, and students are increasingly living away from Clifton/Redland, it is further away and the areas more sketchy.

Third year seems easier. They are taking over a "medic flat" from other medics and advertised via Fb. DD has yet to see it, but takes her friends' word that it is very nice.

[BubblesBuddy]

Some landlords stopped investing in party flats years ago in Bristol! There has always been a good supply of run down flats that discerning students don’t want. However, the rent asked for and decorative state ususlly tells you which ones they are. The landlords are not necessarily selling, they just rent out to students who cannot, or will not, pay more and are ok with a party flat in a less desirable area. It was ever thus! As I said months ago on a similar thread!

[Xenia]

(I didn't mean year 3 halls above I meant year 3 "houses")

[teta]

Dd is pretty much paying the same as Clifton halls for a large room in a house in Redland. It’s on a nice residential road and palatial by my Liverpool student standards . Not much scope for student parties though.

[Watchingblueplanet]

My DD has just signed up for a place in Clifton. £7000 plus heating. It’s more than we wanted to pay but apparently it’s refurbished and the current tenants keep it very clean. After the hard year she has had so far, we will pay the extra just to try and make her happy.

[BubblesBuddy]

That’s around £135 a week so fairly top end for Clifton but not unreasonable if all bills except heating are included. My DD preferred clean decent flats too and one of the problems faced in Bristol is the expansin of the university and not landlords selling.

[Watchingblueplanet]

Bubbles - it is top end for us too! However the location looks nice and she seems to have found a good group to share with. I am hoping my DD will be happier in Clifton where there are lots of shops, cafes and restaurants. This was the Bristol she wanted to experience. Please let’s hope she has a better time there than she is having at the moment in SB.

[BubblesBuddy]

I hope so too Watchingblueplanet. Students usually have lots of friends nearby and of course it’s a fairly quick walk to the university. If the Arches Deli is still there, I recommend a visit. Also the Lido behind the old pub. Pool, cafe and a restaurant. When you are in Bristol, check them out.

[Watchingblueplanet]

Thanks Bubbles. I have sent DD your recommendations. The deli particularly looks lovely from the website.

[Watchingblueplanet]

Sorry wrote deli and meant lido.

[BubblesBuddy]

The Deli is great too. Particularly when parents visit.

[Needmoresleep]

My daughter says increasing numbers of students live in Stokes Croft. More edgy but much cheaper. I guess it depends on what they are used to. Clifton is lovely with houses costing around the £1million mark. I assume for urban kids ‘edgy’ is not such an issue. And not all can afford to choose.

[bigTillyMint]

My DD is in a huge house in Redlands (another one in the Noise Pages) and rent is £500 per month each. Next year they are moving to a place in Clifton which is slightly cheaper - £480 per month or so.
Both areas are very MC, though I cant imagine who would want to pay that much to live amongst loads of partying students
I loved the Gloucester Rd area and Stokes Croft when I went up a couple of weeks ago. Very buzzy.

[BubblesBuddy]

A house around 200m from DDs 2nd year flat went for £2m. It was a prime road though. Lovely detached with original features. That was years ago!

[Dancingdreamer]

OMG 😮 my DD was completely scared by Stokes Croft when she went to visit friends at Bristol. Made her so happy she went to Oxford and didn’t need Bristol as her reserve!