Finding student accommodation in Cardiff
Jordan, Senior Property Advisor, shares a few tips that can help you at the start of your search for student accommodation...
Estimated reading time: 4 minutes.
Living comfortably in your student accommodation really can make a huge positive different to your overall university experience. Knowing where to look for private student flats and house shares, which areas to consider, finding other suitable students to live with - these are just a few of the questions you’ll want to answer.
To help you with student life in Cardiff, we’re here to share a few tips….
When you should start looking for student accommodation
Cardiff has a huge student population well over 30,000. Among them are 8,000 international students from around 150 different countries. As you can imagine, there is a great deal of competition for student accommodation so to secure an ideal place you really need to get the ball rolling as soon as possible. Scouting potential places up to a year in advance, or as soon as you know you’ll be attending university in Cardiff or will want to move out of halls of residence, is the best way to position yourself to secure your preferred student accommodation. Be mindful that due to competition for housing among students, the longer you leave it the less options you will have to choose from.
Tenancies typically run from July through to the end of June the following year, so most viewings for the following academic year take place as early as November. For smaller one- and two-bedroom student flats, you may find more choice into February and March, though these are likely to cost more as the rent and bills won’t be split between a group.
Where you should look for student accommodation
Many freshers secure accommodation in student halls through their university but come the second year many students decide they want to venture out into their own student flats and house shares. This is the type of student that makes up the bulk of private student renters. Private student accommodation can be best found through local letting agents, particularly those who specialise in student lets. These letting agents will be able to give you the run down on the areas that are best suited to the location of your university, as well as give you expert guidance and advise on student accommodation in general.
Read: Is student private housing better than university halls?
What to look for when searching for student accommodation
When searching for student accommodation in Cardiff it all comes down to what will make you happy. You’ll want to think about the type of location - if you want a social lifestyle you may want to look at places close to your campus that has access to nightlife, cafes, and all amenities you’ll need during your university years. If you’re after peace and quiet, you may want accommodation that’s a little further afield but that still offers great transport links into the city and your campus. You’ll also want to know how many other students you plan to live with so that you can look for flats and house shares that will comfortably accommodate that number of student tenants.
Read: Best areas to live in Cardiff for a student
Finding other student housemates
There are plenty of ways to find other suitable student housemates to share with so that you can have an active social life and keep student living costs down. You can put the word out among students on your course and anyone else you befriend during your time at university. Many students use social media to advertise for other potential housemates as well as old-fashioned noticeboards or word-of-mouth. You can also speak to local letting agents to see if they know of any households that may be interested in an additional student tenant - rooms are often available in student flats and house shares ready for you to move straight in and make new friends.
These are just a few of the things to help you get started with finding suitable student accommodation in Cardiff. It can all seem a bit daunting with other things to sort, such as bills and getting to grips with student life in general, but if you give yourself a head start you’ll be able to make the most of what you might look back on as the best years of your life!
Here at CPS Homes, we’re experts in student accommodation, so don’t hesitate to get in touch to find out more about how we can help. You can also check out our student guide for tons of useful information. To reach out to us to discuss your move you can call 02920 668585, e-mail enquiries@cpshomes.co.uk or pop into one of our three Cardiff based branches.
The information contained within this article was correct at the date of publishing and is not guaranteed to remain correct in the present day.
