Top tips for finding your new home

So you’ve just settled into the new term and then suddenly you hear whispers that it’s time to start thinking about where you want to live next year. All the best places to live go first so you’d better started, right? No! Here are the reasons why it’s better to take your time when looking for a private property to rent…

Liverpool has a surplus of private accommodation

This means you can peruse at your leisure and take no notice of those who may try to rush you into signing a tenancy agreement. Liverpool Student Homes (LSH), your university service for private accommodation, advertises over 24,000 bed spaces every year in all types of accommodation in the city and surrounding areas.

You may love your mates now, but you may not by next September

Do you really know your mates well enough to live with them? It’s all good going to uni with them, but it’s a different story when it comes to living together and sharing the same space 24/7.

It’s best to give friendships time before deciding to take the plunge and signing on the dotted line. You may fall out during the year and trying to leave a tenancy agreement is not as easy as you may think and the last thing you want is extra stress when you’ve got uni work to do.

Decisions, decisions

There’s loads to make when looking for a new home, especially when you’re in a group. Ticking off everyone’s demands can be tough, so take your time, see plenty of properties and take advice from LSH. There’s a downloadable property checklist on our website www.liverpoolstudenthomes.org.

Be sure to use LSH to search for properties. We are part funded by LJMU to help you find good quality, safe accommodation. We register private landlords and agents who must meet a strict set of criteria called the LSH Standards. You can complain to us if you think a registered property falls short of these standards

You can’t change your mind once you sign a tenancy agreement

Viewing properties is all part of the fun. All go together if you are in a group, have a good look round and view a few properties for comparison, before making up your mind.

Tenancy agreements are legally binding documents so you can’t change your mind and hand it back. It’s up to the landlord to agree to release you from the contract and it usually involves finding another student to take over tenancy, which is easier said than done.

Judge for yourself

Give yourself a chance to make those all important decisions. Trying to decide which area of Liverpool you want to live in can seem daunting. Don’t listen to the gossipers. Go and judge an area for yourself. Go at different times of the day and see what you think. Do you feel safe? Who is about? What are the local amenities? How far is it to uni?

Go to the LSH Housing Fair

We start to advertise properties on our website for the next academic year on 1 December. All students from all universities are welcome at the fair:

Thursday 30 November, 11am-3pm, Liverpool Guild of Students, 160 Mount Pleasant

This is a chance to meet some registered landlords and to think about looking for your new home. As well as picking up plenty of useful freebies.

Liverpool Student Homes, 140 Mount Pleasant, Liverpool, L3 5SR.
Tel: 0151 794 3296
Email: lsh@liverpool.ac.uk
Twitter: @LivStudentHomes
Facebook: /LiverpoolStudentHomes