Choosing wisely your student accommodation is certainly important – the right choice will make you remember it your whole life, with fondness for the right reasons. And vice versa, your wrong choice will urge you to try hard to forget it, so you would certainly not want to make a hasty decision regarding the matter.
Your enthusiasm and excitement may get the upper hand … and in most cases, they certainly do, misleading thousands of students choosing among the various student properties Newcastle offers. Most of the time when you hear students complain about a horrible place they are inhabiting, you will also hear them admit they made a rash decision and did not pay attention to one or even more warning signs.
Not rushing to a decision is certainly important, but it is equally important to be on the lookout for telltale signs of a student accommodation that might prove a dud:
Too Good a Price to Be True
Firstly, when you rest your choice on some great accommodation but realise its price is way too good to be true, must ring a bell that it is exactly the case. You always get what you pay for – that is basically the law with student digs. You don’t need to shell out a fortune to settle for a really nice place, but you must not expect to pay peanuts and get a palace for them. Don’t fall in the trap of too low prices, they are just not realistic.
Terrible Reputation
It is a matter of course you should not only rest your choice on word of mouth when choosing your student residence and the location. Opinions are helpful, but tastes differ, and what is great for some may be utterly evil for others. Your choice must certainly be a residence that ticks all the boxes of your needs. However, when you come across a place that has not received a single word of praise or approval, keep in mind there must be a reason behind that. That home may be nice looking, coming at the right price, and with the right connections – but if almost all people around say you’d better keep off it, your safe choice is to go along with their advice.
Accommodation Is Not Agency-Represented
Looking at the best student accommodation agencies in the UK online, or at room-finder services, you will have a proper selection of the best, fully-vetted houses and rooms from the best in the letting business. Agencies abide by the rule of showing places they have checked extensively and know they can put their name to them – and there are thousands of accommodation places that no reputable agency would venture to offer on the market. Which is why if your chosen place is not listed anywhere online, and certainly seems not to be backed by an agency, that is a telltale sign you must be cautious.
Run-Down Exteriors
If your newly found place looks lovely on the inside but also comes with an unkempt exterior – that is a telltale sign of the lack of interest on part of the landlord or the property owner. It’s the same as buying a car, clean inside, but unkempt and almost falling to pieces on the outside. Just like the car exterior would put you off immediately, so should the neglected exterior of the property.
No Feedback to Be Found
Be sure to look for feedback to base your decision on it. That can be feedback from people who have stayed in that property before, or people who have done business with the owner, for example. Getting negative feedback from one or two disgruntled people is normal, but if you cannot get any feedback whatsoever, that must really tell you something is being hidden, not accidentally, but deliberately.
Needlessly Complicated Contracts
The more complications with the contract, the higher the chance of being short-changed. Don’t sign contracts which say you must pay for each tiny chipping in the wall paint.
They Rush You Into Signing
When they rush you into signing, that should raise a red flag of something being up. The best student accommodation providers in each city enjoy lots of punters begging for rooms – and they themselves don’t need to rush anyone into signing. And vice versa, desperate landlords worried about securing tenants are fast to rush students into entering a deal. The moment you see that they pressure you into making a decision and signing, back out of it straight away.
