The student guide to flat hunting in Glasgow

After moving out of the luxury (or prison) of student accommodation, many often struggle to know where to start when looking for their next student flat. This tried-and-tested guide will walk you through the essential Do’s and Don’ts of beginning your next flat hunt. Good luck, soldier. We are all scrambling for a room with four walls and, if God is kind, a window. Only the strongest will survive. The rest will be living with three strangers in Maryhill. Stay vigilant. Trust no letting agent.

The market is a lawless wasteland, and you are now competing against hundreds of freshly fledged second years, all armed with Rightmove alerts and an unhealthy willingness to pay £900 a month for a room the size of a prison cell. May the odds be ever in your favour, and may your guarantor answer their phone.

Flatmates:

The first thing you need to decide is how many people you are going to live with and agree upon a set budget before beginning the search. Communication with your future flatmates from the start is key. You must all be on the same page to prevent disagreements on rent or bills over the next few months. The majority of Glasgow student flats would be suitable for 4 tenants with a rare maximum of 5. Anymore than that and you will struggle to find a big flat that suits everybody’s requirements. Decide on who will take the role of lead tenant in the proceedings and then agree on how many bedrooms, bathrooms and if you’re fortunate enough living rooms you would like. These are a rarity in Glasgow flats so there is sometimes a compromise in which the biggest bedroom becomes a temporary shared living room space (or in some less fortunate situations, the hallway becomes the communal area). These considerations must be affirmed, sometimes there are flats with a significantly smaller room and the debates on who would get such a room are determined by agreeing to pay less rent or swapping with another flatmate after a semester. It is best to solve those quarrels now prior to moving in together to avoid any inevitable tension that will arise as flatmates in the future.

Location:

The next thing to decide is location (Location, Location…), if everyone in the flat is a student at the same university then finding a flat close to campus would be ideal. However, if some of your flatmates go to another university or work different jobs, finding a location more central or commutable should be considered.

Speaking as a Glasgow University Student, the majority of students live in the West End. There are 6 main areas to live in that are all around the same distance to campus, these include; Hillhead (Glasgow uni wanker-ville), Maryhill (rougher around the edges but cheaper rent), Partick (not a single main character lives in Partick), Woodlands (posh), Hyndland (posh posh) and my personal favourite Finnieston (quirky and cool kid zone). These areas are all close to subway or train stations, and have various shops and amenities close by. I would advise finding a flat within walking distance to a big supermarket such as Lidl or Tesco as this will make your food shops a lot cheaper than regularly going to the local corner shop everyday, (late night sweet treat runs to DayToday are still allowed!)

Where to look for flats:

Most of these flats are found online through various letting agents. The most popular sites are Rightmove.com, Zoopla, OpenRent or sometimes if you get lucky Facebook Groups. New flats are posted on these sites everyday and often get taken down within the same week. You have to regularly refresh your account to see the latest listings and grab them before anyone else can. On these online sites, it is best to give the letting agent or landlord a quick phone call or email to book a viewing with a short description of why you would be the best fit for the flat. These landlords often have to chose between multiple applicants to even get an initial viewing of the flat, so try to sound professional, friendly and polite. Don’t forget to include what course you and you’re flatmates study (sometimes best to lie and say you’re all vet med) and that you guys are extremely studious and never EVER like to have parties or host pres, (until you get your first noise complaint after the inevitable flat-warming party).

Make sure as a student in Scotland you are living in a HMO licensed property (although flats without an HMO will be somewhat cheaper and you may have to lie and say you’re in a loving lesbian relationship with one of your flatmates).

I would also recommend if possible to find a private landlord rather than a letting agent and build up a good relationship with them. They provide a much needed direct line of communication if any maintenance issues arise in the flat, rather than spending hours on hold to an out of hours plummer on a letting agents website in the middle of January when your toilet bowl has suddenly broke.

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Flat Viewings:

Once a viewing has been arranged, bring all your flatmates and be prepared to sign contracts that day. Sometimes letting agents will have open viewings for multiple parties at once and your flat may be swiped from you before you even get the chance to view the kitchen (speaking from experience here). The competition are all desperate to secure a roof over their heads before the last available room in Glasgow is inevitably snapped up by a group of five girls all somehow called Sophie.

Be respectful and chatty to the person giving you the tour as they have the final say when deciding between competing groups who will get the flat. Ask lots of questions, including if there is a strong WIFI signal, the average cost of electricity bills, how maintenance issues will be resolved, is the shower gas or electric, does the washing machine work. You’d be surprised how many considerations there are when looking at properties. Don’t be afraid to actually test the taps and if the toilet flushes.

At first glance it can seem ideal but sometimes pictures online can be very deceiving; make sure to look for any signs of dampness, mould, mouse-traps, cracks or any damage that they have tried to hide from the listing. (again I am speaking from experience).

Next Steps:

If you are happy with the property and ready to proceed speak to the letting agent immediately and inquire about next steps. They will ask you to fill in an application form and to have secured a UK based guarantor who would be able to pay for you in an emergency event where you are unable to pay rent for the property. If selected from the pool of applicants then they may ask you to pay a holding deposit to ensure that you will proceed with the flat and they will put the property on hold for you and not show it to anymore applicants. Once these steps are done you will sign a Tenacy Agreement, pay the remaining deposit, and they will provide details of your move in date.

Move In:

Spin a wheel to decide on bedrooms, spilt the cost of supplies such as a kettle, toaster, airfryer, etc, and prepare to move in.

I hope this guide was helpful, a lot of this is based on information I wish I knew as a naive first year who had no clue what to do when looking for a flat, 3 years and 3 flats later I’m hoping this new one is a winner, but each Glasgow flat has its own unique quirks and it’ll never be absolutely perfect but that’s all just part of the student experience.

Let the flat hunting games begin!

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