HOUSEMATES, LANDLORDS, AND ESTATE AGENTS: THE HIGHS AND LOWS OF THE STUDENT PROPERTY MARKET

Housemates, Landlords and Estate Agents:

The Highs and Lows of the Student Property Market

Words by: Charlotte Harris

As the Autumn-Winter semester speeds by many of us are beginning to think (or more accurately to worry) about where we’ll be finding ourselves this time next year. Whether you’re a fresher figuring out which friends you’ll still get on with in second year, or a final year student thinking about where to look for young professional house shares, we’re all living with a certain amount of anxiety about the ‘this time next year’ question. So here are the key facts I think you should keep in mind during this house-hunting season. 1) Estate Agents Will Take Advantage of Any Sign of Weakness Estate agents come across as lovely people, and they probably are outside of work, but you have to remember that they absolutely do not have your best interests at heart. Oh, they know the landlord personally and he’s a great guy? Lies. The patches of damp on the wall will be properly dealt with by the time you move in? Codswallop. Estate agents will play on your inexperience to get overpriced, poorly maintained properties off the market faster, so don’t fall for it.

2) Your Landlord will probably be a bit laissezfaire here and there. Most student landlords will be managing a lot of properties at once, with all of them falling apart in one way or the other. Whether it’s a shoddy boiler, a warm fridge, or a broken lock, they probably won’t be sprinting to your door to fix it. Don’t feel bad about sending them a reminder text when something still needs fixing, you pay plenty of rent and you deserve to live in a functioning house.

3) You Can Be Great Friends With Your Housemates, But You’ll Probably Resent Them a Little Bit There are two options when it comes to shared living: you can live in filth, or you can live in resentment. Sometimes good people do bad things, things like never taking the bins out or buying any toilet roll. It’s important to remember that we all have our good weeks and bad weeks when it comes to cleaning up after ourselves, so try not to let the household bitching get too intense - you can always laugh to yourself about the disgusting state they’ll be living in post uni with no one to clean up after them anymore. (As you can tell, I normally opt for resentment.) Living together is one of the biggest strains you can put on a friendship, so take your time choosing who you live with and don’t rush into a tenancy agreement with the first people you meet.

4) It’s Ridiculously Fun Toilet roll disagreements aside, living with friends is everything I ever dreamed about before leaving home. Getting glammed up for nights out in each other’s rooms, skipping lectures to watch telly, late night deep chats in the kitchen: I love it. No more security guards responding to noise complaints, or cleaners locking you out of the kitchen on a Monday morning, it’s all yours to revel in. Take lots of photos and try not to spend too long hiding in your room, you’ll probably look back on the times in your student house as the good old days in years to come.

Design by: Alexa Price