By Egor Dontov
Hello guys
Today I want to discuss something that every student outside the “Toon” and many local students who wanted to finally jump from the nest and fly have faced. I am talking about finding a place to live. This might be especially interesting to the first year students, if they do not fancy being robbed blank at accommodations, but ay, can’t blame university for making money, hence providing us these great facilities.
Anyway, most of you people decide to move out of the halls after the first year, once you spent a ton of money already, on previously mentioned accommodations, you go to the agencies, who rob you again (and these guys don’t have an excuse, they are simply evil) and find a cute but very expensive house somewhere in Heaton or Jesmond. I can offer an alternative. There are a number of websites who let the landlord and potential customer meet face to face, the best one in my opinion is SpareRoom (google it). Now, before you say anything, no, I do not promote them, and they didn’t pay me anything for this, although I wouldn’t mind if they did (hint hint).
Anyway, the best offer I was able to find so far was £125/ calendar month excluding the bills. With that you get a nice little cosy room with bed, computer table, and a chair in Fenham or Elswick. Providing you would be willing to live further away from the city, I can imagine even better offers popping up in relation to price-quality contrast.
I hope this will help someone who finds himself or herself in financial constraint to save some money, but please, if you are willing to use the method I am proposing here, be careful. Part of the services agency provides is security, but if you follow tips described below, and use common sense, you should be totally ok, all while saving some money
1) Do not pay deposit until presented with a contract and moved in the house, no matter how good is the offer
2) If travelling to a less safe parts of town for the viewings try to do it during the day time, or/ and do not travel alone#
3) Always read the contract carefully, never sign without reading it through, and make sure you ask all the questions that interest you.
4) Have a thorough look around the house, try to talk to your future neighbours to have a better idea of who they are and to try and find out more about the house and the landlords
And on this note, all the best guys! Hopefully it will save you some money and improve my Karma J
