Second Year Accomodation

[bevelino]

Anyone’s dc looking for accommodation for second year? I have 2 dds in first year at Bristol university and they are already seriously looking at houses for second year. An email from the university accommodation office has been sent to all parents/guardians advising the search for second year housing starts early and be supportive etc.

It seems really early for dds to be worrying about next year’s housing as they are unsure friendships. Anyone else had this?

Yes, it does start this early...

Part of the problem has been, I assume, that the University has expanded whilst the stock of privately rented property has fallen.

And yes, there are have been some major bust ups amongst second year houses, as first term friends prove not to be the best living companions.

Small pieces of advice:

1. Chose flatmates carefully. Dull is good. Compatible lifestyles matter. (Unless you like a party lifestyle in which case tolerance is important.) By second year you will have a bigger range of friends and won't be stuck in Stoke Bishop so it can be quite nice to have flatmates who also have their own friends/interests.

1. Nominate someone organised to be lead tenant. It is a pain if no one gets the wifi set up, or you forget to register for Council tax exemption. And useful if someone volunteers to pick up keys and annotate the inventory.

1. If a flat try for top floor so you dont have to live with someone else's noise.

1. Dont worry to much if you don't find a group or find a flat early. There were a spate of adverts looking for someone to take up a room, all the way through to the following September. DD and friends found theirs because they were around on the last day of term so were able to view a couple of places that just came up.

I concur, most people sort out their 2nd year housing by January/February at the latest. But there's always space later, just not perhaps in the most convenient locations

Both of mine shared in their second year with their first year halls flatmates. One worked out well and the other not so well.
Be prepared to have to pay fees to a letting agent, a large deposit and possibly be guarantor. Also they often have to rent from July even though they don't want the house until September / October.

One more piece of advice.

Financial trust is important. It is likely that tenants will be joint and severally liable and that parents will have to act as guarantors. Essentially if someone does not pay up, you may have to pay. So suggest to your DC that they avoid those friends who are lovely but hopeless with money. And that wifi depends on having someone who will pass a credit check.

So are letting fees, deposits etc, paid months before they occupy the property? If so crikey. Needmore thanks for the advice.

Never had an e-mail from the University. That is seriously odd. The students are presumably all over 18, and, if (as most of them are) they want parents to be involved, it is for them to arrange not the University.
that aside, yes, it seems ridiculously early, but it is fact that most accommodation is sorted out in the Autumn Term or just after Christmas in their first year.
Some Universities will have more accom. and there will be less pressure, but this is the norm in most places unfortunately.

Agree with lead tenant. At least they're in the house and can chase down those who haven't paid on the spot especially if they have the parents numbers too. Otherwise you get numpties who avoid rent and lo and behold those who can pay get lumbered at the end of the year because no one chases up.

And please make sure your DC takes photos of the property when they move in, especially any defects, and continues to take photo and emails the letting agent so there's a tracking history for things like boiler failures/flooding/broken windows/rats/rotting floorboards/leaks/mould.

I fought for 3 years to get the deposits back for 5 students and their parents because the students (including my DS) failed to keep records and one or two failed to pay a few months of rent. And one of them was a party girl who had unsavoury people round who broke windows.

I think it may be a policy from Bristol to involve parents more. My DD is looking to apply for 2020 and there was a space for the parents email when she signed up for open day.
I then got an email from Bristol!

Ah you are the year before my twins who are the same place. Mine found their year 2 accommodation before Christmas. One of mine has now in year 2 just signed up for his for year 3 and his twin is looking this week and hoping to sign up soon. It is always this early. I remember with their older siblings too it was the same.

I have just paid about £700 to one of mine which was for £500 deposit (they have signed the agreement I think, although I have not been sent a copy) and about £200 letting agent fees and I think from memory it would have been similar in Nov 2017 per twin (they don't live together and were at different halls at the same university).

I hvave not had an email although as I pay so very much I feel entitled to one! I found it useful last year one twin sent me the tenancy contract so I had a record of the dates and address etc but the other didn't and that is fine - their choice, their privacy rights etc.

I agree it is ridiculously early, but rather to our surprise DS has managed to find a house with five others for next year.

We are acting as guarantors and it all seems well organised, we can see the contract online and who all the others are.

The email from Bristol starts like this:

“Dear Parent/Guardian,
Important information about private renting in Bristol

Every year we receive many enquiries from parents of first year students who will be renting a house or flat for their second year. We hope that you will find this letter answers your questions but if you require further information please visit ... “

The email then goes on to give lots of information about renting. I don’t mind but have 2 dcs to budget for and dd1 elsewhere.

My DD and her 2 friends have secured accommodation already, in fact I am getting the guarantor agreement sorted as I write this post, It is early, but the property seems very nice, fully managed and the impression from my daughters city, is that the decent student housing gets snapped up quick!

'nother tip then....

Students want: quality, price and location.

You can only get two out of three, so it is worth confirming priorities with the others. DD could have afforded more but price was very important for her flatmates. They found somewhere very cheap (£400pcm each) and well located (close to the Whiteladies Road seems to be the student mecca) but seriously grotty. Its fine, though I felt obliged to treat her to thermal curtains and a rug from IKEA (otherwise her feet would have stuck to the threadbare beer-soaked carpet).

One way of giving the budget a bit more flex is to agree in advance that if the rooms are of different sizes someone is willing to pay more for the largest room.

Need, I thought we would at least get Christmas out of the way but now understand why dds are trying to secure accommodation beforehand. The dcs who are already sorted are so lucky as dds haven’t found others to share with yet, although they do have each other if all else fails.

DS1 got on well with 2 of the people from his first year flat and three from the flat above and shared intially as a 6 in year 2 and as a 4 in year 3. ( One did a industry year and one wanted to share with course mates) They found accomodation during their first term. (Shame no parental input - lovely old house but so cold!) They used the same letting agnt so only one set of fees was required!
DS2 did a semester abroad in year 2 so the important thing for him was finding someone doing the same, but the other semester ( IYSWIM) and shared for just over a term with some of the other guy's friends, which was OK.
Year 3 he shared with 3 friends, and shared with 2 of those friends and a couple of others from the same interest group when they went into 4th year. Unfortunately one of them developed more severe MH issues in the 4th year which had knock on effects on the other students . They felt responsible for ensuring that she was not alone as MH support was inadequate after she was discharged from hospital and her family were not supportive (in denial) . So a well established friendship group does not always lead to a happy sharing situation, but I know that DS and his friends have been unlucky.

I agree that avoiding the party types is a good idea and boring is good.
Yes you do need to pay for agent checks and act as guarantor . DS2 found that for the 3rd and 4th years he was able to leave it until the Easter term to find somewhere to live, in fact for the 4th year I think they found a brilliant house in the Summer term. However there seems to be loads of accomodation in his Uni City and some accomodation has been let to non students this year.
Agree it is important to take lots of photos, especially of faults, marks on the wall, poor garden and send them to the agent just after moving in. Also meter readings and date them if you can.

I certainly think my 2 feel they have a lot more experience now in year 2 in finding accommodation compared with the rush to find it in term 1 of year 1 ready for year 2 when just agreeing who your housemates would be was hard enough and it was such early days.

As need says above budget is obviously key for people and people having different budgets can be issue. Since having my first child in 1984 the 2019/20 academic year will be my last at least in terms of paying rents for any chidlren (in 1984 it was full time cihldcare costs) - so 36 years of the children costing a fair bit so I am not too bothered what their last year of rent will be as I see it as the end of almost 40 years of paying out a lot of money for children. I like what I have seen of the flat one has sorted out for 19/20 and I hope his twin gets fixed up soon.

Can I ask a question to those of you with dc in 3rd or 4th year. Is it common for the tenancy agreement to start in July? Am I right to assume they pay full rent over the summer even if they are not there?
ds has today paid a deposit on a place with 3 others for his 3rd year and his current tenancy runs til 1st september so he is effectively paying 2 lots of rent for July and August and he won't be living in either place! He can't understand why I am a bit miffed and says its commonplace.
Is it really?

eat- I am afraid yes. last year mine had to pay full rent from something like 1 July ( deposit and fees paid November before that of about £700) for 12 months. My twins were home for 3 months in the summer whilst the properties stood mostly empty with full rent paid on it.

Why does yours pay full rent to 1 september? I tihnk that's unusual. I only have the tenancy of one of mine for this year (year 2) and that expires on 30 June, May be your son signed a longer than 12 months agreement? I would prefer to see the children's agreements in advance but they don't like me interfering even though I have decades of experience of properties and rentals. It was the same with their 3 older siblings so I will just keep out of it and be glad they feel suffiicnetly grown up to do it themselves which is part of learning to be a grown up anyway.

however if you are at Oxbridge I believe you just pay rent for term time, it is cheaper in college and you have to clear your stuff out of your rooms during term.

Xenia you are right about Oxbridge, dd1 is there and I have to go and fetch her and all her stuff in a couple of weeks or so. Even though it is term time only payments clearing out her room is a complete pain. I wish she could leave her belongings in her room over the holidays but her college won’t allow it.

2nd year house tenancy runs from sept to sept. 3rd year house is going to be july to july so a 2 month overlap. The only positive I can see is that he won't have to lug all his stuff 330 miles home for the summer.

eatyourveg Yes, there was one summer when both DC were at home and we were paying rent on three student houses they weren't living in!

It varies from town to town. Look at student rentals on right move. Some are 11 month contract, some 12 months, some half rent during July and August. Very much driven by the local rental market.

Has anybody's DC in year 1 been in the position of not wanting to live with flat mates and had to find others. My DD is now getting anxious as her flatmates (who aren't really very nice and she doesn't want to live with them) are looking for houses and of course she has nobody to look with at present.

I've told her to ask friends on her course, but those friendships are still relatively new and she's getting herself wound up about having no one to live with next year.

She is very anxious - anybody any advice about what to do?

Yes.

DD was worried about asking people she did not know well at all. But she mentioned it casually at sports training and immediately two other girls said they were in the same position. A planning meeting at Weatherspoons, when a fourth joined them, and they were off. It worked out fine.

There will be lots in the same boat.

Thank you needmoresleep I will try and reassure her. There are some nice people on her course. Just when she seems to have settled, she is then hit with the stress of who to live with next year!!!