Finding private sector accommodation

A guarantor is something that most private and student accommodation housing in the private sector require for you to live there.  It's someone who you nominate and agrees to be a backup for your rent payments. This means if you miss your rent payments, or can no longer afford your accommodation, the rent charges become the legal responsibility of your guarantor.

Requirements differ between each accommodation provider, however to be eligible to be a guarantor, your nominated person will most likely need to be a UK resident who has known you for at least two years. They must also be over the age of 18, have a good credit history and have a certain amount of savings or income. Most guarantors tend to be either a close relative or friend, who can support your accommodation application.

If you do not have anyone to be your guarantor, especially if you are an international student, there are companies who will act as your guarantor. They do charge a small fee for their services, however most private housing providers will accept guarantor schemes. You can find some examples of guarantor companies below:

• Housing Hand

You can also find more legal advice around the legal responsibilities and requirements around someone becoming a guarantor on the Shelter website.

Yes you can live by yourself but this can sometimes be a little more expensive. You could look at private sector housing for one bedroom flats or houses, or there are many studio options in purpose built student accommodation where all your amenities including a kitchen, living room, bedroom and ensuite bathroom are in one room with bills included within the rent.

If you pay an advanced payment when booking your accommodation, this will be deducted from your first rent payment. If you pay a security deposit, this secures your accommodation booking and once you move into the property it converts into a damage deposit. This will then help cover any costs for broken or damaged items at the end of your tenancy if applicable, otherwise the full / remaining amount will be returned to you once you move out. The timeline of this and where the deposit is held will be written into your tenancy agreement.

If you are on an individual tenancy, you are only responsible to pay for your own rent. However if you are on a joint tenancy, or anyone else is named on your contract, then anyone named is responsible for the payment. Therefore if one person refuses to pay, everyone in the property named on the contract must cover the owed amount. Therefore it is really important to ensure you all have trusted guarantors and people you wish to rent with. If in any doubt, always check your tenancy agreement.

If you are a full-time registered student, you are exempt from paying council tax. This is not automatic and you will need to apply for a council tax exemption so you don’t receive a council tax bill. Even if you are living in a shared house, you will all need to individually apply to be exempt. You can find out further information on the council tax exemptions webpage.

If you are a full-time registered student looking for short-term accommodation, you can contact the accommodation team on campus to see if they have any rooms available during the academic year, or if they are offering accommodation during the summer period. Other short term accommodation can be found on sites such as Rightmove, Airbnb, Cozycozy, Hostelworld.

Most purpose-built student accommodation (PBSAs) and some letting agents will offer bills included within the rent, however it is more common for shared private houses to not have bills included. You will need to check the accommodation advert and your tenancy agreement to see if you have to pay bills separately.

You will need to pay for a tv licence if you watch any television channels such as the BBC, ITV, Channel 4 or international channels. This also includes live TV on streaming services such as YouTube, Amazon Prime Video and BBC iPlayer. You can find out further information on whether you need to pay for a TV licence or not and how to apply via the TV Licensing website.

No, even if you live off campus, you will remain a member of your, or a College.

If you are looking to live in couples accommodation, there are a few options. You can live on campus, where only one of you has to be a fully registered student. To live in student purpose-built accommodation or a student letting agent property, you will both need to be fully registered students. Otherwise you will need to seek accommodation in the normal public private sector.

There are properties on and off campus to house families, the university also works with 54 North Homes to provide more family accommodation. You can find out more on the University's family accommodation webpage. Otherwise for family housing, you will need to look in the normal public private sector.