Renting as a student: the contract, the deposit and the flatmate
What to check when viewing a flat, which clauses matter in a tenancy agreement, how to get the deposit back, and how to agree terms with a flatmate.
Renting a flat is the first serious contract most students sign. It is also usually signed in a hurry, after seeing two or three places, under the pressure of "someone else will take it". This article sets out what to do before the signature.
Budget on the total, not on the rent
The advertised price is not what the flat costs. The monthly total is usually:
- Rent
- Service charge (included or not — the most commonly omitted line in listings)
- Electricity, water, heating, internet
- Transport, depending on the distance to campus
A cheap flat far out can end up level with an expensive one nearby once travel is added. Compare places on the monthly cost of getting yourself to campus, not on rent alone.
Also be ready for the one-off amount due at the start: deposit (often one or two months' rent), first month in advance, any agency fee, and moving costs. For most students this is the single largest payment of the year.
What to check at a viewing
The things that photographs hide and you will live with for a year:
- Damp and mould. Look at skirting boards, the bathroom ceiling and behind cupboards. A stain painted over comes back in winter.
- Heating. What kind, who pays for it, do the radiators work. The winter bill is the one line that can make the rent misleading.
- Water pressure and hot water. Turn the tap on. Try the shower.
- Windows and noise. A flat on a main road is a different proposition as a place to study.
- Sockets, internet availability, phone signal.
- The building and the street. Come back once in the evening; a street is not the same place at night.
If you can, view in daylight and on a rainy day. The second sounds excessive, but nothing reveals damp faster.
Rental scams: before you send any money
Student listings are a concentrated target for fraud, especially at the start of term. The pattern repeats:
- The flat is listed noticeably below market price.
- The "landlord" is away — abroad, travelling — and cannot show you round.
- A holding fee or deposit is requested before viewing, by bank transfer or crypto.
- You are rushed: "someone else is interested, decide today".
The rule is simple: do not send money to someone whose identity you have not verified, for a property you have not seen. A video tour is not proof either — photographs from a genuine listing are easy to copy. A landlord who avoids showing ownership documents or ID is the clearest warning sign there is.
The clauses to read before signing
Even standard tenancy templates differ once the blanks are filled in. Check each of these:
- The parties. Is the person letting the flat actually the owner, or someone subletting? Without authority, your agreement is contestable.
- Term and termination. How long? What happens if you leave early? For students this clause is critical — you may want to leave over the summer.
- Rent increases. Does it say how any increase at renewal will be calculated?
- Deposit. The amount, the grounds for deductions, and when it will be returned, all written down.
- Bills and service charges. In whose name, paid by whom.
- Repairs. Faults from normal wear (boiler, plumbing) usually fall to the landlord; notice if the contract says otherwise.
- Flatmates and subletting. If adding someone later is prohibited, find out now.
Keep a signed copy and never sign a contract with blank spaces left in it. A space that can be filled in later will be.
The inventory record: the only reliable way to get a deposit back
Nearly every deposit dispute comes down to "was that scratch already there?". Answer it with evidence:
- On moving-in day, photograph and film every room. Keep the timestamps.
- List existing damage — scratches, stains, a broken hinge, a dead socket — in writing, signed by both sides.
- Write down and photograph the meter readings for electricity, water and gas.
Repeat the whole process when you leave. With a record at both ends, an unfair deduction stops being an argument and becomes a two-minute conversation.
A written agreement with flatmates
Friendships break over unspoken assumptions. Write these down before moving in — it does not need to be a formal document, a shared note will do:
- How are rent and bills divided? If the rooms are different sizes, is rent still split equally?
- Which costs come out of a shared pot: cleaning supplies, kitchen basics, internet?
- Which day do you settle up?
- What is the rule on guests and people staying over?
- How does cleaning rotate?
- If someone leaves mid-year: whose job is it to find a replacement, and what happens to their share of the deposit?
The last point is the one most often skipped and the most expensive to skip.
Moving out
- Give written notice within the period stated in the contract; verbal notice is invalid under most agreements.
- Leave the flat as clean as you found it. "General cleaning" is the most frequently applied deduction.
- Get final meter readings and close or transfer the accounts. A utility account left open continues to bill you after you have gone.
- Record the handover of keys and the return of the deposit in writing.
This article is for information only and is not legal advice. Tenant rights vary by country and situation; if a dispute arises, contact your university's student advice service or a legal clinic.