Your first
student house

Choose the group, then the house

Decide who you are living with before you fall in love with a house. Student houses are let in one of two ways and it pays to know which you are being offered. With a joint tenancy the whole group signs one agreement and everyone is responsible together, including for the rent, so if a housemate stops paying, the rest of you are liable. With an individual tenancy each of you signs your own agreement, has sole right to your own lockable bedroom, and is responsible only for your own rent.

Ask which applies before you view seriously, because it changes what you and your guarantor are taking on. Either way, choose housemates you trust. You will still be sharing a kitchen with them in week thirty.

• Joint or individual?
• Ask before viewing
• Lockable own room
• Choose people you trust

Look at the whole cost, not the headline rent

Agree your budget as a group and look at the whole cost. Some lets are all inclusive, bundling gas, electricity, water and broadband into the weekly figure, sometimes with a fair use allowance for energy. Ask what the allowance is and what happens if the house exceeds it. Where bills are not included, add them on top, along with contents insurance if it is not provided.

Full time students are usually exempt from council tax, but everyone in the house normally needs to supply an exemption certificate from their university, and you must tell your landlord or agent promptly if your student status changes.

• Ask what is included
• Check the fair use allowance
• Add insurance if not provided
• Council tax exemption

What you should be given, and when

In England most private tenancies are now periodic assured tenancies, which run month to month rather than being locked to a fixed end date, and tenants can end them by giving notice. Landlords letting shared student houses can use a specific legal ground to recover possession over the summer so the property can be re let to new students for the next academic year; if they intend to rely on it, they must tell you in writing before you sign.

Read the agreement before signing, ask about anything unclear, and keep a copy. Your landlord must also give you a copy of the government’s How to Rent guide, a gas safety certificate, an energy performance certificate and details of your deposit protection. The law here has changed in recent years, so for the latest position always check gov.uk.

• How to Rent guide
• Gas safety certificate
• Energy performance certificate
• Deposit protection details

Capped, protected, and disputable for free

Your tenancy deposit is capped by law at five weeks’ rent for the vast majority of student lets, and the landlord must protect it in a government approved deposit protection scheme and tell you which one. At the end of the tenancy it comes back to you minus any properly evidenced deductions, and you can dispute unfair ones for free through the scheme.

Most landlords also ask each student for a guarantor, usually a parent or guardian, who promises to cover the rent if you cannot. On an individual tenancy the guarantee normally covers only your own rent; on a joint tenancy it can extend to the whole household’s, so guarantors should read what they are signing carefully. If your guarantor paperwork has a return deadline, treat it seriously, since bookings can be cancelled and holding deposits lost if it is late. Our parent’s guide to guarantors is written for whoever is signing it.

• Capped at five weeks' rent
• Held in an approved scheme
• Free dispute service
• Return the guarantee on time

What your landlord is responsible for

A shared house occupied by several unrelated people counts as a house in multiple occupation, an HMO. Larger HMOs must be licensed by the council, which checks on safety and management standards, and you can search the council’s public register to see whether a property is licensed.

Whatever the size of the house, your landlord is responsible for repairs to the structure, heating, water, gas and electrics, must have gas appliances checked annually, and must provide working smoke alarms. If repairs are not done, put requests in writing and keep copies. The council’s housing team can step in if a landlord will not act.

• Larger HMOs must be licensed
• Public register to check
• Annual gas check
• Working smoke alarms

The ten point viewing checklist

Do not be embarrassed to be thorough. Anyone reasonable expects it, and the ones who do not are telling you something useful.

• Damp and mouldLook in corners, behind furniture, around windows and in bathrooms, and trust your nose.
• Heating and hot waterHow is the house heated, when was the boiler last serviced, and how does the fair use allowance work?
• Windows and doorsDo they open, close and lock? Check for draughts and condensation between the panes.
• Water pressureRun a tap and the shower.
• Safety kitSmoke alarms that work, a carbon monoxide alarm near gas appliances, a fire escape you could use.
• SecurityDecent locks on external doors, and ask whether bedroom doors lock.
• Furniture and appliancesCheck what is included, that it works, and that its condition is recorded before you move in.
• Signal and broadbandCheck your phone works in the house, and ask what internet the current tenants use.
• The current tenantsIf they are in, ask what the house and the landlord are like. They have no reason to sugar coat it.
• The streetVisit by day and in the evening, and check where you would park or lock a bike.