By Ellen Jones, Third-year, Politics and International Relations
Bristol is a notoriously expensive city, ranking in recent years as one of the steepest cities (in more ways than one) for university students —often coming only after London, Brighton, and Oxford in tables measuring expenses such as rent, utilities, and transport. Home to both the University of Bristol and the University of West England, Bristol is a vibrant but infamously crowded city. As student populations and average monthly rents for accommodation continue to rise, the availability of good-quality and affordable student housing increasingly fails to meet the growing demand.
It’s a problem that has made the search for student housing—beginning for many as early as a month into the new academic year—a particularly stressful and expensive burden for students to shoulder alongside their studies. House-hunting seasons of previous years have seen images of long, anxious lines of students queueing outside the Bristol SU Lettings office in the height of winter, well before its doors had opened for the day.
Finding housing in Bristol is often difficult enough already. Add to that being in another country during the search, and the process becomes more complicated still. Though it’s common for students across many courses to spend their third year, or a single semester, studying or doing a placement abroad, the pressures of the Bristol housing market throw up several obstacles for anybody trying to secure fourth-year housing while unable to physically attend viewings, or visit lettings offices. To further investigate this issue, Epigram spoke to two students about their experiences, and what advice they might have to those in a similar position.
Sophie, a third-year Business and Spanish student, described familiar problems with Bristol house-hunting. While in Spain, she started searching for fourth-year housing as early as September: ‘Initially, I felt we were quite prepared, but I don’t think any of us realised how many difficulties we would face…every day we would be scanning Rightmove and calling up landlords, only to find that either a group had already reserved the property, [or] the slots for viewings had filled up.’
'I don't think any of us realised how many difficulties we would face' - Sophie, Third year, Business and Spanish
The ’fast-paced’ rental market was particularly challenging to contend with while abroad, Sophie spoke of how some of the viewings her group, who were also living in Spain at the time, did secure would then be ‘difficult for us to organize, for someone in Bristol to go and visit a property on our behalf, due to the short notice…many letting agencies said it wasn’t possible to rent to a group who they hadn’t seen in person, and that if we did want to put a deposit down, we would need to physically go to the lettings agents with our identification.’ Many agencies were dissatisfied with the alternative of the students providing digital identification, and Sophie added that these agencies were often some of the biggest in the city, meaning ‘it excluded us from a lot of options.’
Furthermore, Sophie continued that ‘none of us had access to UK phone numbers, so it was difficult to call the agencies in the first place […] it seemed like the idea of renting to a student who was on their year abroad was unheard of.’ She expected that many agencies just ‘didn’t want to go through the trouble’, and didn’t have to—in an already competitive market, Sophie felt that students abroad like her were put at a distinct disadvantage by landlords with ‘so many options to choose from [...] we were sort of stuck in a limbo’.
Ilona, a fourth-year Liberal Arts student who completed her third year in America, also described a ‘difficult’ house search: ‘Imagine you’re applying for houses in Bristol like normal, then add a time difference for communication, a reduced circle of people to contact about living with, and the uncertainty of the housing condition, as you couldn’t go and view it yourself.
‘A lot of my friends had graduated, and so I didn’t have many options,’ Ilona recalled. The time difference between America and the UK meant that she ‘couldn’t pick up calls’, which was a problem during the viewings that her remaining friends in Bristol were able to go to for her, since landlords often wanted to speak to her directly. Though she was able to secure a place with a group of students staying in Bristol, she mentioned knowing ‘quite a few people [abroad] who really struggled to find a place, while also adapting to their new location. It was definitely an overwhelming process!’
Both Sophie and Ilona managed to secure housing for their fourth year—though having contacts in Bristol did make a difference. But there is no shortage of options for those who may not have contacts in Bristol to come back to; sites such as SpareRoom often have listings for student houses trying to fill an empty room, and Facebook groups like Bristol Student Accommodation are another useful place to look.
When asked what advice she had for students looking for university accommodation while abroad, Sophie recalled her group ‘messaging literally everyone we knew who was still in Bristol, to see if they would be moving out, and then contacting the landlord directly before the property even went up on [rental] sites,’ adding, ‘even then the landlord was apprehensive, and it took some persuading, but the best thing is to be first in the queue.’
Murder of the dancefloor: Is clubbing dead?
Panic masters: The graduate dilemma
Similarly, Ilona recommended: ‘Preempt the housing situation. If you know you’re going away, ask around to see who will still be there for fourth year, and see if you can join in on their plans. Or contact other people who are living abroad, and plan your housing situation when you can.’
‘It isn’t the easiest process,’ she continued, ‘but don’t let that stop you going abroad! I promise once you’ve moved away for the year to a new country on your own, any issues that arise when you’re back will be a piece of cake!’
Featured Image: Epigram / Daisy Yates
Have you had any difficulties finding houses after your year abroad?
