Horsemad,
Don't worry about the link. Get him to phone the agency to say his guarantor has asked to see a copy of their standard tenancy agreement. Could they forward it.
Or phone them up as potential guarantor and ask the same, and asking if there are alternatives. (Often the full rent in advance will work - and it gets you out of the almost inevitable "joint and several" clause, which has guarantors potentially liable for the whole rent if the others failed to pay.)
You should ideally read it with your son along with the guide to letting they are obliged to give him. See it as a form of mentoring. An important life lesson is to read contracts before you sign them. (Right Xenia?!) You might also cover the pending list of admin, and suggest that before everyone gets caught up in exams and post exam parties they spend an evening in Spoons and allocate rooms (less rent for the smallest room and more for the largest - if so it needs to be in the tenancy agreements), admin and moving in procedures.
Moving in. Have someone around who can collect keys (if tenancy starts on a Saturday, check the agency is open then - DDs flat got caught out!), who can be relied on to go through the inventory carefully and send a clear email back listing discrepancies, with photos and having tested the boiler, washing machine, shower etc. And double check meter readings. First time round, and there is a good case for a parent to do some mentoring. My theory is a good but reasonable email sends an important signal to the landlord that tenants are both responsible but will be equally organised when chasing their deposit return.
Bills. Best to agree how to do this in advance, perhaps noting who has clean credit records - which can open the door to better deals especially on broadband. Then find out who current suppliers are, especially for broadband. On the latter, Virgin do useful 12 month deals - many of the others are 18 months, but if cable is in the area but not already installed you need written Landlord permission. (Now! a subsidiary of Sky allow monthly contracts but make it far too easy to access premium services.) Even if broadband comes down the phone there can be a six week wait if switching suppliers, so it is worth sorting a couple of months early. Engineers in University towns get booked out during that tenant change week.
About a month in advance you should be able to apply for Council Tax exemption on line, and email the water authority giving your move in date. (For some reason inventory clerks never seem to read water meters so you should do this if supply is metered.)
For gas and electric, it is worth looking at something like USwitch and selecting the " 12 month fixed rate" best buy. Fixed rate means you don't worry about the flatmate who has to live in tropical conditions and makes it easier to set up a standing order.
In terms of bill splitting, there are people who will provide the service or you might take one each. DD is in a flat of four so it seemed easier for her to take them all on,. keep the Direct Debits simple, and use it as an opportunity to build a credit record. I have offered to underwrite should someone run out of money before the end of the year and she is left out of pocket. If there is a choice, go for broadband. If someone fails to pay, you just change the password and don't tell them. DD will also ask for full payment for the final three months when the third terms loans come through. Again the managing money and chasing others (though her flatmates are fine - just a bit disorganised) was a bit uncomfortable to start with (as anyone who has ever organised an office Christmas lunch will know!) but it settled down and was again useful learning.
Since I am writing an essay, another tip is to sort through the mail collection gathered in the hallway. Just putting "return to sender" on all the names that are not recognised slows the volume quite quickly, and helps prevent the address being associated with any historic bad debts. It also means that you don't lose current mail in the preexisting mountain. DD got special quodos when she took round four years of mis-delivered mail to the elderly neighbour, to the extent that he lets her use his drive to wash her car.
Other tips. Get contact names for other flat mates in case of an emergency and pin it to the wall.. and take a photo in case someone does not pay up and they come after guarantors. And leave a forwarding address or use mail redirect when you move out.
Oh, I once let to a couple of (lovely) third year students where one of the mums kept failing to sign the guarantor agreement right up until move in date. I got the agency to phone the other boy and say I would not release keys unless the terms of the offer/contract were fulfilled, and that by failing to sign she was effectively opening the door to this boy's parents having to pay her son's rent. Result!