Why you shouldn’t panic about house hunting

As soon as the hangovers from Freshers start to fade, housing seems to become the main issue on everybody’s mind. Student No Fee starts their campaign in November and then everybody naturally starts to panic.

Last year SUSU tried to get all of the lettings agents to sign the No Rush pledge and not release student houses until January but this didn’t really work. However, below are all the reasons that come next September you will not be forced into homelessness

Huge supply

Contrary to common belief, there is more than enough supply to accommodate students. Students always try and rush to get a house before Christmas but in spring there are always plenty of houses left (including nice ones in Highfield).

Lazy independent landlords

It is the landlords responsibility to sign themselves up with lettings agencies. However, a lot of the landlords have full time jobs and rent on the side meaning that they are often late in getting round to advertising their houses.

September contracts

Many contracts start in July but a surprising number also run from September. For a lot of students this isn’t ideal but it does mean that the landlords owning these houses don’t start to advertise till March/April.

Help to Find a Housemate

Circumstances always change and a lot of people sign for houses when they are one person short. Therefore it is guaranteed that no matter how late you leave it, somebody will always be offering an extra room on the Help to Find a Housemate Facebook page. Living with strangers may not be ideal, but it is open. And of course, it is also possible that one of your friend’s houses may be on there.

Halls

Now that the university has the brand new City Gateway and Mayflower halls, capacity is much higher than it has ever been. If you really are desperate or don’t fancy fighting over bills, you can put in an application as an individual or even as a group.

Choosing a house is a big deal because you have to live there for the year, so don’t rush, it really isn’t necessary.

You can find out Southampton student’s highest rated landlords in the results from the Soton Tab Housing Survey here.