Good areas for a student to rent in Glasgow?

[SaffronSpice]

I don’t know Glasgow much at all but DC is entering second year at Strathclyde and looking for a private rent with a couple of friends. What areas are reasonably safe/nice areas to look? Where to definitely avoid? Strathclyde seems quite ‘inner city’ and we seemed to drive through what looked like quite a dodgy area fairly nearby one time.

Within walking distance you have Dennistoun, Merchant City, City Centre Gorbals and Finnieston. Further south and west are an easy commute by public transport.

Thanks. But what are those areas like to live in? Would you be happy with an 18 year old girl walking through them on her own after dark? I think it was the Gorbals area that we drove through that felt very rough (grills across pub windows etc).

I was an 18 year old student in Glasgow, and I’d be happy walking through these areas then and now. There is violence, mostly drug related and mostly around the main station. But on the whole, Glasgow is safe.

Lots on my course rented in the Merchant City when I was at Strathclyde. (This was in the 90s though.) A lot of places in Glasgow look horrible, but they're not actually unsafe. Deprived areas skirt the city centre just like every big city.

The really dodgy areas of Glasgow (Easterhouse, Drumchapel, Sighthill, Possilpark, Calton etc.) are far from the city centre. There is nowhere particulary bad around Strathclyde university.

Thank you, that is reassuring.

What @Aaron95 said. There is high demand for student accommodation so it can be expensive, or has been for the last couple of years.

It can get a bit boisterous in the city centre of an evening and the place looks like a dump with the current council, but I've never felt unsafe walking around. She'll be fine.

I fully expect the cost to rocket as landlords try to beat any more controls imposed by the Greens/SNP and the lack of new provision due to developers being put off.

What is it with Sauchiehall St? It looks like they started something a few years ago and then gave up?

Gorbals is absolutely fine to live in. Tbh the market is so competitive,you might not have an extensive choice where to rent.

Especially as they want a 4 bed HMO. It looks like it would be a lot easier to find a flat for 2 as you don’t need somewhere with an HMO license for those.

Honestly? The state of the private rental sector for students, anywhere they can get a flat.

When I was a student many years ago at S/Clyde most people lived in Dennistoun, the West End, St George's Cross, city centre.

Shawlands, Langside, Mount Florida, Queens Park - all really easy to commute from, esp with free buses for the students. In the City Centre in 15 mins. Looking south opens up a lot more to go at.

But if you're looking for an HMO as a pp said just look everywhere.

That is the biggest problem; it is not me looking but a bunch of naive first years. We would have booked her into private halls for next year when their bookings opened months back but she was determined to share (at the time with a completely different group of people to those she has now settled on). I am not sure as a group they are taking the need to search seriously enough. But only so much I can do and suggesting areas to look was a way to try and get more action and perhaps broaden their search beyond the bit of Glasgow they know.

@SaffronSpice I've been there and had to live through less than ideal accomodation being found for 2nd year! All you can do is spell out the consequences of failing to get on it and secure something. I would definitely encourage them to add south into the mix, they will be pleasantly surprised with some of the areas.

When I was looking at flats last year (to buy in the south) many of the viewers were students with their parents, hoovering up all the 1 & 2 bed properties!

The group might split if they don’t find something in a month as two will need accommodation as soon as halls finish, my dc and one other don’t need it until September (though accept may have to pay over the summer). If that happens then at least it will just be looking for a flat for two which seems a lot easier.

I'd recommend south, lived in Mount Florida a few years back and it was great.

DD4 was in that exact situation last year. Private halls were only doing 52 week lets (out of our budget) and they eventually had to split the 4 to 2 + 2. Thankfully she has secured 3rd year flat early. She had to pop out of her bug sister's graduation to go to a (pointless) viewing. She would have paid over the summer as she has a student job and could have upped her hours, but just didn't find anything . She was on the phone constantly when we were in holiday-,getting really wound up by it all.

We are commutable- but that is a repulsive concept apparently

I lived in Dennistoun for years and loved it. I lived in a few places around the 'drives' area (between duke st and Alexandra parade). rent was reasonable and it's a short walk / bus to Strathclyde. Can't recommend it enough. At the time it was considered 'up and coming' but I was there recently and it's defo more developed so I don't know how affordable it is now.