In the previous blog, I have introduced the on-campus accommodation. In fact, for those who are returning students without doing a placement or exchange, it will be safer to find off-campus accommodation because there is no guarantee for a successful on-campus accommodation. Thus, I will be writing about the considerations for applying off-campus accommodation. You can also refer to the student guide here to gain a better understanding.

Housemate👥 and budget💰
After making the decision to live off-campus, it is suggested to start searching for accommodation after Semester 1 ended. The first thing to consider is the people who you will like to live with. For most of the off-campus accommodation, it normally offers 4-6 rooms in total. It is always exciting when you have those pictures to share accommodation with your 3-5 beloved friends throughout the year. 💭😆 However, you must consider each other’s personalities, lifestyles and habit because it may cause arguments with them easily especially living under one shelter. Since then, you guys can start to negotiate the desirable rental price and have a consensus like a schedule for rules and doing the housework between you guys.

The tenancy agreements usually stretch out for the entire year than paying for the academic year like the university accommodation. Just want to give you guys a brief idea for the average market rental price, it lies between £150 – £160 per week. Locations further away from the university or town centre can have a lower price for those who have a tighter budget. If you have a lower budget, Some of the accommodations may have the electricity, water or gas bills included but it normally costs about £10 a week in total depending on the consumption.

Location
There are 4 main areas for accommodation as attached below. It will be great if the locations are within 15-minute walking distance to the university. Even so, you can also take the distance of the train station, Tesco, GSA into consideration.

• 

University of Surrey Lettings (USL) is managed by the university’s head leasing scheme to offer accommodations for students in a not-for-profit nature. Moreover, USL accommodation includes all bills like electricity, water, gas. They do not require a guarantor or deposit fee, this helps to make the application process to be more direct and cost-saving. The average USL accommodation rent is around £590-£650 depends on the location and number of rooms. To apply for the USL accommodation, you will have to forgone the option to apply for university accommodation. You can find more information about USL accommodation from the link here. Please be reminded to submit your application on or before 25th February 2020. 📌 If you have any inquiries, please feel free to drop an email to ” usl@surrey.ac.uk ” or have a conversation with the USL staff from Monday- Friday at 2:30-5:00pm at SurreyHive.

For my second-year accommodation, I am living in USL accommodation with my friend and 5 other people. It is slightly further away from the campus which takes about 20-30 minutes walking but I enjoy living here! 😉

Apart from USL accommodations, you can search through websites like Rightmove, Student Surrey Homes, Zoopla. These websites will update any available properties and some offer house viewings as well! It is better to ensure everything works well before living there, isn’t it?👀

If you still cannot find any favourable accommodation, you can try to look for Scape. It offers student accommodation with 24/7 gym, cinema room, acoustic music room, study spaces. The price will range from £190 per week by sharing a two-bedroom apartment with one person to a premium studio flat for £370 per week.

I hope the information above helps your house hunting process! I will share my experience in living both university accommodation and USL accommodation with you guys on my next blog! Stay tuned! 😗