Student Lets - What to Look for
The academic year for most universities and colleges begins this week and it won’t just be Freshers’ Week that consumes students’ energies.
Most first year students will never have lived away from home before and the likelihood is that the majority will be resident in first year halls, however, many students will be living in properties owned by private landlords, properties that they viewed and chose a year ago, but many students will have forgotten what the property looked like, some may not have even been present, leaving the decision making up to their friends.
The first thing which you to establish before looking for a place to live for second and third year, is finding a solid group of friends that you will enjoy living with. You do not have to be best friends but at least get on with them well enough that you can commit to living with them for the next couple of years.
Eight Maids sharing a flat would be a Breach of HMO Regs if they are not related
A house in multiple occupation (HMO) is a property rented out by at least 3 people who are not from one ‘household’ (for example a family) but share facilities like the bathroom and kitchen. A landlord who wants to let a property as an HMO in England or Wales must contact the local authority to check if a licence is required. Easy to follow rules are as follows:-
a licence is required if rented to 5 or more people who form more than 1 household
A household is either a single person or members of the same family who live together. A family includes people who are:
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Married couples or couples living together as married (including people in same-sex relationships)
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Relatives or half-relatives e.g. grandparents, aunts, uncles, siblings, nieces, cousins
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Step-parents and step-children