Looking for a house? The Sussex Student Letting office is your place to go

Its come to that time of the year where everyone is running around in a manic frenzy to find their humble abode for next year. I tell say onto you, nervous reader who no doubt is stressing over where they will live, you have probably read up hundreds of guides online of how to prepare yourself for off-campus student accommodation; all of which only add to the worrying and sleepless nights.

Sussex Students’ Union however have your back. The Union has its own student lettings office, a non-profit group of people who want to make house hunting as painless as possible. The lettings office do not charge administration fees and has saved students over £44,000. Landlords must also pass evaluation to make sure that the properties that are on offer are of a much higher quality to live in. These evaluations include passing fire and security tests, adequate furniture, and that properties are of “satisfactory state of repair”. The full evaluation can be found here.

So the Sussex Student Lettings office saves you money, has properties that have passed evaluation, and has landlords that won’t push you into spending more money. Sounds like a pretty good deal.

So what about the other agencies in Brighton? How do they compare?

The Union also released a report regarding Sussex students’ experiences with letting agents in Brighton. In 2014, 38% of students reported that they experienced pressure from their landlord or letting agent in order to secure their accommodation, The majority of property managers in which properties had a gas supply had not shown students a copy of the gas safety record.

The report also found when students moved in, 40% of respondents stated that the property was not the condition that they expected. Overall, students did not feel as though their property was particularly well-insulated.

The research published showed an even split of students ranking their experience with Brighton lettings agents very good and very poor.

Sussex lettings office however was rated extremely highly by students for their help in finding housing. One such review reads:

“We had zero problems with SSL, thus far they have always reacted quickly and politely when we needed them and the property we got through them is in a great state and for a very good price.”

“The house was spotless when we moved in and even had a welcome card, a box of chocolates and a starter pack! Apart from that, we were provided with a bucket, two mops, a chopping board, a broom and other household tiny items that are usually an obnoxious expense after moving in.”

From a personal review, I found the lettings office extremely well run and the properties on offer were amazing. The landlord we currently have is lovely who not only completely redecorated the house for us but bought us cutlery, a new microwave, bowls, wine, Christmas presents, and sat down with us and helped us set up all our bills. Honestly, you would be a idiot not to at least look at their site.

Which, by the way, you can find the site here

Sussex Student Lettings first housed people in 2012 when they housed 81 students. Last year they housed 238.