Student Housing Agony Aunt: A Hedgehog's Tale

It’s that time of year when students start panicking about housing for the next year. But don’t fret! Help is at hand. In a new regular feature, follow these lovable Hedgehogs to see how they deal with their own problematic house! This week, Thor recounts how he went about choosing his housemates, and finding a house to live in… Even if the house did turn out to be a bit broken!

Seeing all the freshers running around the streets of Exeter frantically searching for a house is bringing back memories of when I was in a pickle thinking about who to live with.

By November I was surprised at how many of my friends had already been forming groups and going off to find houses through estate agents, some of them had even signed contracts! It all felt a bit fast, I had only known my new friends for 10 weeks. Call me a commitmentphobe but decisions like these would never be made this fast in the real world; imagine moving in with your girlfriend after only 10 weeks!

Image Credit: Thor the Hedgehog

What’s more, I wasn’t even sure I wanted to be living with my friends from halls in a year’s time. Don’t get me wrong, we got on just fine, but I felt there were some underlying tensions that could have escalated during the year. My closest friends were at Woodland Creatures Society, and I was quite keen to live with my fellow hedgehogs Bert and Erica, but it felt a bit strange to approach them about living together when we hadn’t been friends for very long. It had been playing on my mind and on top of adjusting to university life it was just an extra worry.

But then one morning as I was shuffling through the cold forum on my way to my Animal Behaviours lecture I spotted a stall called the Housing Campaign. Perfect! I had a chat with the guys on the stall and they said it’s absolutely fine not to know what you want to do at this stage and it’s still very early to be looking for a house. They explained to me the different stages of the housing process and we were still in the stage of looking at who you want to live with- phew! The Housing Fair wasn’t even until January and there would be a whole bunch of accredited landlords and their properties. They said the majority of second and third year students don’t get their houses till well after Christmas because they understand from experience that rushing into a house can go awfully wrong.

I didn’t want to rush into a house with my flat mates Franklin Fox and Barry Badger and then lose them as friends if we argue. Another great thing they told me was that the Students’ Guild Advice Unit does free contract checks before you sign to make sure your landlord is being fair, just take it up to their office on the first floor of the forum. This is such a great service and stopped us making some quick decisions that might’ve lost us lots of money.

I felt so much better having spoken to the friendly guys at the stall, I’ve seen them again in the forum this year and went to say thanks for all their reassurance. I went to tell all my friends there’s no need to rush and maybe we should see how we feel after Christmas. That way I was able to see who I felt most comfortable with, as I would be seeing them every day for a year and I wanted to be in a happy environment for when the work kicked in! Although, nothing will ever compare to my cosy little hedgerow back home in the forest for these cold winter months!

So in the end I convinced my friends to take it easy and think about it over the Christmas holidays and I came back and made the decision to the live with Bert and Erica. It can be really difficult telling people you’re not going to live with them, but if you make sure you’re tactful and considerate, you will still have your friendship intact. I’m very happy now living with Bert and Erica who became my best friends over first year and so glad I decided to wait and not rush into a house with Franklin and Barry. I still see them quite regularly and I think we get on much better is year than when we were living together. Although I’m very happy with my housing situation, we have started facing a few troublesome issues with the house… More on that next week!

Are you looking for a house? Want to get in touch to ask us anything? Get in contact via Facebook and Twitter.

 

Thor the Hedgehog

 

How To…Find The Perfect Student House!

It’s that time of year again, and the house hunt is about to begin. It may seem ridiculously early (it is!), but the Charlotte Trefusis’ following tips will help when you start the search for your future house!

Image Credit: Gamma Man

 1. Good location or save your money?

Student houses range from ten minutes away from campus on Pennsylvania Road, to forty-five minutes away from campus in the St. Thomas area. Being far away is not necessarily a bad thing, as you can get more affordable houses for a little as £75 a week. Exeter is one of the most expensive cities to live in as a student when it comes to house prices, alongside London, and house prices can rocket depending on where it’s located. But for the lazy ones out there, bear in mind that you may not want to be TOO far away from campus! So think about how close you want to be to town, clubs, uni, the station, and so on.

 

2. Consider the bills, and what will work for your group

Included – Some houses come with bills included, which many students see as ideal. However, this does not mean that your bills are free. The landlord or agency just sort out the payment for you, and doing it yourself can be better if you are tight on money.

Glide – With their tag line being “bills made simple”, this is a company set up to take the pressure off. They give you a set quote per month for bills and you can include as many utilities as you like. However, you still pay for the use of the utilities even in holidays and when you are at home. Glide tends to work out as slightly more expensive than doing it yourself overall, but it may save you and your housemates arguments and effort.

Joint account – This is a good option if there is an organised member of your group! You can have as many names as you like on the account but one of two tends to be better. Everyone then pays the money periodically.

Individually – It can also work when each member of your group takes a different utility as is responsible for ensuring that it is paid, and the rest of the group of course pays them back. This system requires everyone to be organised, and can cause issues when people take a while to pay others back.

 

3. View lots of different houses

Image Credit: candyschwartz

Houses constantly come onto the market, as people decide at different times whether they are moving out, so don’t rush your search. Ask questions when you go and see a house. It is useful to ask current tenants what they like and don’t like about their house. Some things to consider are communal areas, damp or cold, noise, security, and any general problems that they might have. Also consider whether you want a kitchen table, as many houses don’t actually have one! And it may be worth checking which pieces of furniture come with the house so that you don’t get caught out with extra expenses. Students are often happy to give genuine opinions on their house, whereas the landlord/agent naturally tend to only sell the positives. www.exeterstudentpad.co.uk/Accommodation is a good place to start your search, and check out the estate agents (Star Lettings, Leamans, Campbell, and so on). Word of mouth is also a great way to find a student house, so get chatting to your second and third year friends!

 

4. Read the contract!

Pay attention to how many weeks you will have the house, 40 or 48 weeks, as this makes a massive difference in price. An agent acts as a middle man between you and the landlord, so be aware of holding fees, as these are a sneaky extra price. For example, Star Lettings charges £90 and Campbell Property charges £250. This is not a deposit and is to cover their administration etc.

 

5. Do not panic!

There is actually a surplus of student houses out there, so don’t rush into signing for the first half decent one that you see. Take your time and you will find your perfect house.

 

 

Charlotte Trefusis

PRESS RELEASE: Princesshay’s Oasis Receives Flagship Status

Are you a fan of Oasis? Well look no further! One Voice Media brings Exeposé Lifestyle this exciting press release about your Princesshay branch – read on and be excited!

“Fashion retailer Oasis has been awarded the highly regarded flagship status. To celebrate its new title, the store will be holding a vintage tea party on Thursday 24^th October from 4pm-8pm and customers can enjoy selected discounts of up to 15%.

Oasis has been a successful retail store since opening in Princesshay in 2007 and the new flagship status will offer customers access to a greatly increased range of Oasis products, including day and evening wear, shoes, jewellery and accessories.

Image Credit: Oasis

Feature window displays will be designed and created for the store by a team of specialist visual merchandisers to further entice visitors and customers to store.

On Thursday 24^th October from 4pm, customers will be treated to an evening of vintage style luxury in fashion heaven, with a vintage tea party hosted by store manager Ceri Cudd. A team of London stylists will be demonstrating the various ways to wear a single outfit and providing style advice, whilst hair and make-up artists will be showing customers how to get that perfect vintage look. A photo booth will also be in store for customers to capture their new look.

Ceri Cudd, Oasis Store Manager said, “We’re really excited to have been awarded flagship status and what better way to celebrate than with a party!  We have lots of treats for customers and we’re looking forward to decorating the store with a vintage theme. All team members will be wearing vintage Oasis clothes, our personal favourites from the last few years, which we’re all looking forward too.”

Customers can follow the local twitter account for the store, @Oasis_Exeter to ensure that they don’t miss out on the arrival of new stock or the latest offers and competitions.”

So for all of you skim-readers out there, that’s this Thursday! Hope to see you all there!

Ben Gilbert, Online Lifestyle Editor

New Term, New Start, New Loan: Finance for Students

The first in a series of articles surrounding the world of student budgeting and finance, Toby Limbach cuts straight to the core of every student – their wallets.

A new term has a certain way of refocusing the mind on certain issues. After my slightly perplexing experience of the Spanish banking system on my eight months abroad last year (I never did understand why they refused me a debit card with my so-called “bank account”), I am glad to be back in control of my wallet and in a system I understand. Flush with student loans, as hopefully you are as well, I am going to pen a series of articles over the coming months that deal with all kinds of money issues. I’ll deal with student loans, overdrafts, a guaranteed way to earn free money from credit cards, eating on a budget, and wind up next year with the best ways to get your holiday cash.

Image Credit: demosphere

After so long in Spain I’ve just about got used to seeing pounds in my wallet, though there’s rarely much there. Cards seem more prevalent these days, and the number of people with more cards than coins seems to be on the rise. Certainly it seems the case in London, where I worked over the summer. They’ve even proposed removing cash from London buses. Everything goes on card, which comes as a bit of a shock when you see the ATM queues at the fresher’s fair and realize your shiny new contactless VISA is completely useless.

It’s the role of technology, and the (relatively broad) generation of technology-literate beings, that have prompted these changes. I’ve found students are much more likely to have cards than cash, caused by numerous benefits: the flexibility, the access to your entire bank so you’re not caught short, and some consumer protection on a credit card (more on that in coming weeks). Cash seems clumsier somehow, and if lost or stolen isn’t protected by a PIN. Yet it retains some uses, even if it does make your wallet impossibly full of heavy copper. Most would probably argue that a mixture is best, though an obvious warning to those who take cards on a night out – you know better!

I see technology as a boon for budgeting. New students, who might have to take charge of their finances for the first time, or returning students who want to get their heads around their finances, would do well to budget. Smartphone banking apps, protected by login passwords as well as your phone lock, mean you can check your balance at any time of day. We don’t have to take out £50 or £100 of cash on Monday and try to make it last until Sunday anymore, because we can keep track of what we’ve spent at any given moment. It’s incredibly useful.

Oh, and for those keen folks who like to plan ahead, give December a little extra cash when allocating your student loan to each month and swearing not to spend more. Your friends would like Christmas presents.

Toby Limbach