Student Housing For Couples
Student housing for couples is a question I get asked a lot. If you want to live with a partner, you just need to make sure that you meet and are looking for the right things.
Firstly, you both need to be students. In most places, they aren’t going to accept a student and a non-student because the mix isn’t good. There is potential to cause conflict due to the way each one would live their lives.
Secondly, it will be very hard to get dual occupancy in a house with a group. The reason for this is because the house has a set amount of beds and people allowed per house. By having more it can compromise the fire risk assessment and other licenses from the local council.
Dual Occupancy is what it’s called when a student couple wants to live together.
If you want to live together you are going to need to find one bedroom. Whether that is a studio, one-bedroom apartment, flat or anything similar.
Things to Lookout For
When you are looking for a dual occupancy you need to be aware that if one of you leaves, then you are still both liable for the rent.
You will have to sign the tenancy as a couple which is why you are 50% liable for the rent, deposit and all the rest.
They might charge more for being a dual occupant, this will vary between landlord, agent and accommodation provider. There is no set average, each is different.
How to Find Places That Accept Couples
Well firstly, you need to find the people who are selling the one-bedroom places. These are more likely going to be the bigger companies that own or operate the big blocks. The reason for this is because it makes it more viable than an agent or landlord turning a house into studios.
This means you are more likely to find rooms with the bigger companies, however, sometimes they can costly. If you move quickly you might be able to find places with local letting agents who may have slightly cheaper rent.
Make sure you follow the usual process as you would if were going to get another house. If you are unsure, please check out some of my other blogs.
What to do if One Person Leaves?
As mentioned before, even if one person leaves you are both most likely liable for the rent as you will have signed one agreement.
If you do want to part ways, then you are either going to need to continue paying the share of the rent or make sure that one person can afford the room by themselves.
If you can’t do that then you are probably going to have to sell the room. This then leaves you with the dilemma of needing to find another room.
Bills as a Couple in a House
If you manage to find a one bed flat and it doesn’t have bills included, these will work the same as if you were in a group.
The bills will have the main person, they don’t really want to deal with anyone else and then the bills will come out of bank account and you will have to sort the transfer of cash out after.
However, like many other student houses, if it has bills included you don’t need to worry or alternatively, there are bill management companies that can manage it for you. You can do the bills yourself as the main reason students use bill management companies is to split the bills individually, but if you are living as a couple, you don’t need to worry about that aspect.