Choosing student accommodation is an exciting time and a further step towards independence. Living with a group of good friends is great fun, however, to avoid a year of house woes there are some things you want to take note of before prior to signing.

Running Costs

The running costs of student accommodation can be quite low taking into account that bills are split but the type of house that you choose can increase this. The cost of gas and electric will be the highest so it is important that these are reduced as much as possible. Before choosing a property, there are certain things you can look out for that will ensure your energy bills don’t go out of control

Utility bills for student accommodation are lower due to being divided
between multiple individuals, the type of house you choose will have an impact on these costs. Larger, older houses typically require more energy to keep warm. Fortunately, all rental properties need an energy performance certificate which tell you how efficient a home is.

Energy Performance Certificate

Every rental property in the UK legally requires an up to date energy performance certificate (EPC). The certificate lists the energy efficiency of the property. Letting agents should provide you with a copy but this can happen just before you sign the contract. Fortunately, EPC certificates are freely available online if you know the address of a property. To find one, use https://www.epcregister.com/. Look out for the current grade of the building and it’s potential. An ‘A’ grade is the best and the minimum score that is allowed for a rental property is an ‘E’ grade, although this is quite poor. The UK average is a ‘D’ grade so anything above that is generally quite good for a student accommodation. An EPC must be done every 10 years and a recent EPC is more useful.

Double-Glazing

No, this isn’t an advert to sell you it but it is something to definitely look out for. A property without double-glazing would be knocked off of my shortlist immediately. Double glazing acts as an insulator to keep your house warm and also provides sound insulation. Without double glazing, look forward to cold rooms and condensation on your windows which will inevitably lead to mould.

Damp

This is a key one, inspect ceilings, bottom corners of all rooms, on the windows and behind things like sofas and beds for any sign of mould. If a house has a recurring mould problem then it is not only time consuming to deal with, but is also a health issue as breathing in mould spores can damage your lungs. Constantly buying products to treat and remove mould is also expensive and mould is a common way to lose your housing deposit at the end of a tenancy.

Boiler Age

The age of a boiler effects its efficiency and how effective it is at heating up water to provide heat for your student accommodation. An older boiler is also more likely to break down which could leave you without hot water at the worst time. Try to take the make and model of the boiler and have a look online to see if it is modern and efficient. Take into account, if your boiler does break, your landlord should replace it very quickly.

The Contract

You should always fully read any contract you are given as it will explicitly state who is responsible for certain things. For example, it may state you are responsible for maintaining the garden. Forgetting this may lead to a big chunk being taken out of your deposit at the end of the tenancy. Also make sure that you are aware of the length of the contract, most student accommodation will be 12 months.

Bills Included

Bills included is often used as a lucrative enticement for student accommodation with promises of never having to ring up the energy company and wait on hold for an hour just to get your own money back. Check your contract to see if there is a limit on how much gas and electric you can use, calculate what this would be per day and see if this is reasonable. For comparison, I lived in a student accommodation shared between 5 people and we averaged a gas usage of 15 kWh/day and an electricity usage of 5kWh/day. This was with in student accommodation with an EPC of D and it didn’t have the best level of insulation and we weren’t occupying the property on university holidays. If there is a quota, make sure you are aware of what the charge is per unit of energy once you have gone over your quota. Finally, make sure you are aware of what bills are included. Is water, internet, maybe even a TV license included?