House hunting is always a nightmare, but avoid these common horrors

Freshers, second years, maybe even third years – it’s getting to the time where if you haven’t already sorted your accommodation for next year you really need to get to it, otherwise you’ll be living in a house your mum will definitely not be proud of. Most student housing is pretty grim as it is, so don’t let it get any worse than it needs to be.

Finding the perfect student house can be an absolute nightmare, especially if you leave it to the last minute. Last year my housemates and I visited a whole bunch of houses and to be brutally honest, the whole thing was a nightmare.

Here’s a few of the horror stories everyone encounters house hunting.

The Murder House

Don’t go in there

Yes, you read that correctly, Murder House. This house was by far the worst I looked at. The website pictures offered little in terms of the house’s interior, but from the outside it looked fairly decent. There was a small drive at the front, a small patch of grass and a garage at the side. So far so good. But when confronted with the actual building it became clear the pictures were definitely taken a very long time ago.

The grass had become a jungle, the drive was covered with weeds and rubbish and the garage had basically become a tin, metal sheeted box. As I approached the door to knock, the door frame was covered in spiders and cobwebs, the windows were the same. No answer at the door, unsurprisingly. Think a creepier version of Halloween but in January. The whole place was just so creepy and the chance that someone had been murdered there seemed extremely probable, hence the name.

The Creepy Basement

That look of horror when you suddenly realise you’re viewing the most awful house ever

It sounds cool having a basement right? Not in this house. The girl ushered us to go down to take a look. Wires flew about everywhere, an old orange light swayed above the stairs, each step down to the basement creaked and the more we walked down the stairs the creepier it got. There was a dirty mattress at the bottom of the stairs and to be honest all it needed was some creepy music and it could have easily been an episode of American Horror Story. Safe to say we didn’t get that house.

The High House

The next house on the list looked really nice and I was extremely keen to see this one, considering the bathroom looked completely different from the mould-stained, black slime covered ones we’d previously seen. My housemate and I knocked, no reply. In a desperate hope, I knocked for the fourth time and someone finally answered. Her hair was wet and I suddenly realised I’d disturbed her whilst being in the shower. At first she hastily told us to come back in an hour or so, then just let us come in there and then anyway. Turns out her and some friends were actually smoking weed. God’s know what in their living room.

The Andy Murray Enthusiast

The ‘what the hell just happened’ look

Not so much a horror story, more a “what the hell just happened?” kind of experience. I visited the next house and after a few impatient knocks a bedraggled, messy girl (#studentlife) finally answered. After explaining we were here to look around, she grumpily told us to just look around the house ourselves because she couldn’t be bothered showing us around and would rather watch Andy Murray on TV – weird.

The Rugby Player’s Room

LAD LAD LAD

Unfortunately, I ended up looking at a house that housed a rugby player. When it got to his room the smell of B.O. was literally that bad it could almost knock you out – let’s just say the fresh air after leaving that house was very much appreciated and for some reason the house just didn’t seem appealing after that.

Here are some tips to avoid making the same mistakes that I did.

• Definitely view as many houses as you can.
• Take your housemates with you, I can’t imagine a creepy basement seems appealing when alone.
• Act fast – otherwise the good houses are going to be gone.
• Choose wisely – you’ll have to put up with it for a whole year.