Find the perfect student pad and the perfect housemate

Student property season is well under way and our first viewings have been busy affairs. 

With more flats launching on 5 March, now's the time to find out how to avoid some of the most common mistakes when hiring a property and finding the perfect pad - as well as some tongue-in-cheek advice on vetting your prospective house mates.  

• So how many of you are there? Decide on the number of friends you're planning to move in with before viewing a flat. If there are five bedrooms, five of you need to sign on the dotted line, so you will all need to be present and available when you go to finalise the paperwork for the flat.
• How much for gas & electricity? Any advert should show an energy efficiency rating which gives you a good idea of the gas & electricity costs the flat will incur, A being the most and H the least efficient. Landlords who aren't upfront about this kind of information are likely to have something to hide - always bad news.
• Fees, anyone? So-called 'agency fees' or 'referencing fees' are now illegal and landlords still trying to charge them are quite simply bad news.
• Checking in and checking out? You should be given a thorough check-in and check-out where you  go through the property's inventory together with your lettings agent. It's the easiest way to highlight any faults that relate to previous tenants and ensure you receive your full deposit back when you move out.
• Where will your deposit be kept? As of 2012, landlords must place deposits with one of three government-approved tenancy deposit schemes. The landlord has to comply to this rule within 30 working days of the start of your tenancy and send a certificate to confirm it's been done. If your landlord doesn't comply, you can sue for three times the deposit!
• Read the small print! Make sure all of you read the full tenancy agreement before you sign it. You'll be bound to it for the next twelve months and it's important to know your and the landlord's rights.

Now, if this sounds like a lot of hard work, check out Endsleigh Insurance's tips on finding the right house mate for some light relief. And for a look at our student property viewings, click here.