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Higher education

Talk to other parents whose children are preparing for university on our Higher Education forum.

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Original poster

Housing drama

19 replies

servicemaam · 18/05/2021 10:24

DD is currently trying to find a house for her next academic year, as the landlord of her current house is selling it.

She is in a bit of a moral predicament, and just wonder what other mums advise. Currently there are three of them looking for a flat together.
The local market has strict rules on HMO housing, and as such, they are very hard to find in nice areas. There are plenty of two beds suitable.

DD is friends with one of the girls. The other girl, is a friend of the friend. Dd has met the other girl a handful of times, and says whilst she is pleasant, that she seems very drippy.

DD and her friend have spent a lot of time with each other recently. The other girl was at home since March, but has just returned.

DD is working really hard to try and find a three bed, through word of mouth or via estate agents lists. They viewed a three bed house, but one bedroom was minuscule. Honestly, it oughtn't even be classed as a bedroom. None of the girls were willing to take the tiny single as the rental price was really for three doubles not two small doubles and a single. The third girl indicated that she would definitely be unhappy with the bad room, fair enough. However, the girl has put zero work into finding somewhere for next year.

DD and her friend have been to lots of viewings, including two bed flats. They missed out on one flat as someone else signed a THREE year contract. The market is insane.

Now DD's predicament, is that she would rather live in a nice two bed with her friend, and ditch the other girl. I asked her how she would feel if they did that to her, and she said she would be very upset. So I told her, there is your answer then, you can't do that. Her friend isn't keen to ditch her other friend, but has said, for the right house she would do. The other friend is like DD, getting stressed that no where is sorted, and she also doesn't want to live in a dive just to appease the third person.

WWYD?

OP posts:

ClerkMaxwell · 18/05/2021 10:46

I would encourage my DD to keep looking for a 3 bed and not ditch the 3rd girl. If they still don't have any luck then I would suggest they rotate the small room between them. My DD would probably take the small room herself as its only a room and only for a year. However she's out and about a lot so location of house/friends more important to her than a small bedroom.

SometimesRavenSometimesParrot · 18/05/2021 20:33

They need to have a frank conversation between the three of them to be honest! What are the third girls options? Does she have other friends, would she consider halls again? Would they all do halls again and be together?

Ultimately if the other girl doesn’t do her share to help finding a third bed, it’s probably worth saying right if we’re not sorted as a three by X date, we just need to do our own thing. If you daughter then signs a two bed with her friend at that point, that’s fair.

PresentingPercy · 19/05/2021 07:08

Most 2nd/3rd years won’t get halls so almost certainly that’s not an option.

I’m really surprised there are no student let’s. No student landlord lets for 3 years so I’m assuming they are looking at standard properties. They probably need to lower their sights a bit. It’s quite late to be looking in some student markets too. Lots of students look in January but I guess they didn’t know they would have to.

Also universities have accommodation departments. Ask them if they have properties or advice. If it’s a student let, there must be space for a bed and a desk and storage so I’m guessing they are looking on the open market which is probably a mistake.

They should also be a bit more open with the other girl about her looking too but my DDs found that others didn’t always help but it meant dd got what she wanted! Within reason. The busy 9-5 course people didn’t look!

Paralithic · 19/05/2021 09:15

Private halls don’t discriminate over year groups. We had the same problem a couple of years ago and found a 3 bed flat in a private hall. It wasn’t as as fancy in reality as the online pictures, but they had left it ridiculously late. Benefits were not having to be a guarantor and the rent included all the bills.

Bythemillpond · 19/05/2021 09:24

what about buying a place. I know it sounds ridiculous but I do know a group of parents who bought their children’s uni house between them.
It cost less month to month than paying their children’s rent for 3 years and it was only a few thousand each and they then sold it and made some money on it so in the end it actually made them a little bit of money.

Bythemillpond · 19/05/2021 09:26

Should add it was in a very cheap area of the country where the place was under £20k at the time.

murasaki · 20/05/2021 12:31

My parents did that in Middlesbrough for my sister. The house was a bit old in decor and had been empty for a while , (needed a good lick of paint and some DIY, we all got stuck in), she and 2 friends lived there for three years (friends paying very low rent but enough) and they sold it for treble what they'd paid (tiny amounts, think 7 grand then 20...) but it was way cheaper than halls and better for her to learn to grow up a bit!

This was the nineties though...

YouLookSoCool · 20/05/2021 15:00

With the 3 bed house with tiny bedroom, would there be an option to turn the lounge (if there is one) into a bedroom and have a tiny lounge? Otherwise agree they need frank conversation to agree all three of them just put same amount of effort into finding a place and also sound out if 3rd girl has any other options - another friend or acquaintance so they could look for 2 separate 2 bed places??

SometimesRavenSometimesParrot · 20/05/2021 18:24

Plenty of university halls will allow 2nd/3rd years, although sometimes there is a limit and a deadline to apply. Private halls don’t care what year people are in.

PresentingPercy · 20/05/2021 20:29

Where my DD went, they struggled to house all first years. And still do.

poppycat10 · 22/05/2021 19:51

I had a tiny bedroom in my second year. I didn't spend any time there, except to sleep. Is it really a major problem?

Tiny= room for a bed, with shelving above it, a desk and a wardrobe at the end of the bed. It was standard terrace house boxroom size.

78percentLindt · 22/05/2021 20:00

I know that in some Uni towns the local council have tried to stop some areas of the town being inundated by shared student houses. Usually the areas near the Uni.
Would changing the area they are looking in help?

OnTheBenchOfDoom · 22/05/2021 22:00

Doesn't the university have an accommodation officer who can help source a place?

DietrichandDiMaggio · 22/05/2021 22:19

Where is she at university? Where my son is at university almost all of the students live in the same area (several streets that are practically all student lets) in houses of 5 double rooms upwards. I imagine if you are looking for a 3 bed in a nice area, you are not looking for a typical student let.

Bythemillpond · 23/05/2021 09:05

murasaki Same sort of area. I think buying between parents is a much missed idea.
Friends Dd is up North and they looked at places for her and her friends to stay and found that buying was cheaper than renting when split between the parents.
Plus it is probably going to go up in value over the years.

Miljea · 11/06/2021 08:45

My DS has left it far too late. He finally had a 3 room place tentatively lined up but if fell through yesterday. Others got in there first.

The other two apparently had the option of staying in Halls, which they're now going to do.

DS either didn't get the option in his Halls or ignored the email.

There were tears.

I've no idea what he's going to do, at this stage. He has an appointment with an accommodation officer on Tuesday.

I'm both angry and upset. He HAS to finally do some adulting and stop procrastinating, and to stop giving us the sullen treatment when we say 'Have you done 'x' yet, because time is ticking?'

Needmoresleep · 11/06/2021 15:50

The accommodation officer should be able to help.

There will almost certainly be private providers of studio halls/studios. For example in Bristol a church has a bunch of studios built into their roof. If you look on Rightmove there will be HMO landlords advertising single rooms. He should also try every student SM network. People drop out late for all sorts of reasons and replacements will be needed. You may pay a little more, but may then save on either utilities or on not having to take out a 12 month contract.

We have a similar problem. DD is returning to University after a year out. One friend did this last year after a year abroad and found a room via her Uni sports WhatsApp, with people she knew by sight but who were also sporty. Another friend in similar circumstances found a room in a house full of strangers and it was a disaster.

Because of the pandemic, DDs friends have either stayed put or were taking 3/4 year degrees and have left, and DD has not been able to go down earlier. She is down now asking around, but our fallback will be to look at studio options, perhaps those aimed at Masters students or on the private market. (An offer to pay up front should help convince a landlord to take a student.) DD has finals at the end of the year so neither she nor I want to risk a potentially difficult flatshare with strangers.

caringcarer · 11/06/2021 15:58

Find a two bedroom let, which is often easier to find, and third person take lounge as their room. So each girl has a room of their own, share kitchen and bathroom. Draw straws over pick of bedrooms. Don't see why they need a 3 bedroom.

Needmoresleep · 11/06/2021 16:42

Don't see why they need a 3 bedroom.

Depends what the HMO licensing rules are. Some areas require HMO licences even for two sharers. They are unlikely to licence a two bed property for more than 2 "households", ie sharers. Landlords would not then be able to have more than two on the contract, and are unlikely to accept someone living in a property who is not covered by a contract, both for legal tenure reasons and also because of the additional wear and tear. (Yes boyfriends and girlfriends do visit, but sensible landlords really don't want to be asked or to know.)

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