Every students
experience of renting housing is different.
Here are a few case studies of Nottingham students to give
you a flavour of what you might expect.
Interviews by Francesca Boyd, Platform
We hear from Mark, Sarah,
Sandra and Mike about their
housing situation as well as students' main housing complaints - fire
alarms and nightmare flatmates.
| Mark,
18, originally from Leeds... is studying sports science
and management at Nottingham Trent University and has been living
on Clifton campus since the beginning of the first term. |
How
are you finding your time at Clifton Campus so far?
It’s
fun, it’s alright I suppose, the social life is alright,
the course is a bit difficult but overall it’s alright. |
Does
being so near to university not make your course a bit easier,
what’s your earliest start?
9am
everyday, so it would have been much harder if I had to travel
from the city every day…. |
If you
could travel back in time to the beginning of the first term,
equipped with the knowledge you have now, would you live in
halls?
Yeah,
it seems as good as any I’ve seen. The accommodations is
alright, its clean, and maintained, the rent is reasonable,
but it’s a bit pokey |
Pokey,
how?
The
rooms are a bit small and we could do with a lounge or something. |
Have
you had any ‘run ins’ with anyone?
Not
really, except they (the resident managers) seem to fine you
at the drop of a hat, they fined our flat for leaving empty
boxes in the kitchen and alleged fire damage to the kitchen. |
Where
will you be living next year?
Hopefully,
in the city, because that’s where all the action is. |
What
would you give Clifton Campus out of 10?
I’d
give it a 6 or 7. |
| Sarah,
19, is from London... she studies English at Nottingham
Trent University and has also been living on Clifton campus
since the beginning of the 1st term. |
So,
Clifton Campus, what do you think?
It’s
really good I really like it; it’s good to be surrounded
by lots of people and make lots of friends. Although it can
get a bit noisy sometimes, but that can be seen as a good thing. |
What
are your flat mates like?
One
or two of them are really quiet; don’t really talk to them
much though… |
|
Because,
they’re quiet?
Yeah,
they don’t talk, we just let them get on with it, and
there are plenty of other people around. Oh yeah one or two
are obsessively tidy, they clean constantly and because me
and my other flat mate are quite laid back about stuff like
that we have tended to clash on one or two occasions
|
Do you
feel safe in halls?
Yeah,
there are so many people here who are bound to notice if anything
dodgy is happening and the residence manager’s office is
just around the corner. Although the fire alarms go off at really
inconvenient times |
Like
when you’re in the shower?
Yeah
or at 3 am in the morning, |
Where
will you be living next year?
Hopefully
in West Bridgeford |
What
would you give Clifton campus out of 10?
I’d
give it a 7 or 8. |
| Sandra,
19 is from Birmingham... and is studying social sciences
at Nottingham Trent universities city site and lives on the
city campus. |
Life
in the city, how’s it treating you?
It’s
really good here, not exactly the Ritz, but it is really fun
socially. Your right next to everything in the city so you can’t
get bored. |
What
do you think of your flatmates?
They’re
alright seem to get on really well with them, touch wood, although
there’s one who’s a bit strange, but I won’t
go in to that |
|
No,
please do, how is he strange?
Well
he locks himself in his room, he doesn’t go out, he won’t
come into the kitchen when anybody else is in it, there was
this one time when he sat down to a meal at the kitchen table
and started to eat for what must have been a good few minutes,
cause most of his food had been eaten and then when we came
in and said hello and started to prepare our own, he got up
went to his room, slammed his door and you could hear it being
locked from the kitchen, maybe we smelt.
|
Do you
feel safe in the city site?
Yeah,
because you know that lots of others are around especially if
you’ve made friends, or are easy to get on with, plus the
reception is at the entrance of the building. There are fire
alarms and other stuff too. |
Would
you do it again?
Yes,
definitely, just because I’ve met some really sound people. |
What
would you give it out of 10?
I’d
give it an 8. |
| Mike,
23... studies humanities at Clifton Campus and has lived
on the Stratford Road in West Bridgeford since his second year
at Nottingham Trent University, here is what he had to say about
private accommodation: |
What
do you think of the area?
It’s
a really nice area, probably the best student area in Nottingham,
lots of facilities, everything is within 5 minutes walk, there
are most high street stores there and banks and its safe I have
only heard of one burglary since I have been there |
|
What’s
your rent like and was your deposit much?
It’
£195 a month, which isn’t bad, the deposit was
one months rent but I had to pay a retainer of three and a
half months rent.
How long
did it take you to find your new property, and what channel
did you take e.g. estate agents, housing list, independently,
through friend/family?
In the
second year we went knocking on doors, we’d ask the students
if they didn’t mind showing us around if they said no
we got straight on the phone to the landlord and said we were
at your property now do you mind coming here and showing us
around. You’ve got to put yourself about to find the
best.
|
|
What’s
the landlord like is the property well maintained?
The
landlord is terrible, he’s really lazy, and there are
a lot of repairs that need doing. There were bills out standing
from the last tenant which we had to address. We get on to
him straight away about things but, he lives in another part
of the country so it is difficult. If you can get a landlord
that lives nearby that would be better for you.
|
What
are your housemates like; do you live with any one you lived
with when you were in halls?
All
the people I moved in with in second year were the people I
lived with in the first year, we got on really well, we were
fortunate in that respect. |
How
would you compare living in halls to living in private accommodation,
is it better or worst?
Halls
is like a community, whereas a house is like a family. You have
someone always looking out for you in halls like the residence
managers, the cleaners and such, but in a house you are completely
your own person, you are responsible for you. |
Do you
have any tips for 1st years searching for somewhere to live
next year?
"Choose
carefully who you live with and when you go to a house have
a good look around make sure you are sure everything is in order
cause you will be living there for some time" |
| Fire
alarms!!!! |
| "I
met this really beautiful girl at a club, it turned out that
we had both gone to the same secondary school, we were both
really attracted to each other and at the end of the night she
came back to mine "for coffee", we’d got our
kit of and where in the middle of "doing it" when
the fire alarm went off, that was at 2 am in the morning. It
kind of killed the mood" Anonymous |
|
"The
alarm went off when I was in the middle of showering, I hoped
it was a test, but it was real, the fire engines had come,
it’s not a good feeling to be forced out of your warm
shower and be made to stand in the court with just your dressing
and your trainers on" Andrea, 18
|
|
Nightmare
flatmates
|
| "I
met this really beautiful girl at a club, it turned out that
we had both gone to the same secondary school, we were both
really attracted to each other and at the end of the night she
came back to mine "for coffee", we’d got our
kit of and where in the middle of "doing it" when
the fire alarm went off, that was at 2 am in the morning. It
kind of killed the mood" Anonymous |
| "My
flat mate eats my food and then pretends like he doesn’t
and to top it all he claims that none of the dirty dishes in
the sink are his yet he cooks at least one meal in our kitchen
everyday and is the "fattest bastard" I know here"
Anonymous |
|
"They
never wash up and this weird smell from their room seeps through
the corridor!!!" Disgruntled student
|
Now try our house
hunting hints. Also read about where
you could live and how much
you should expect to pay. |
