Unfortunately, housing scams do exist. Luckily, there’s plenty of advice online on how to spot and avoid them!

A housing or accommodation scam could, for example, happen when you cannot look around a property in person – when the evidence or advert for a room, or home, being advertised for you to rent online does not match up to the accommodation you arrive at.

To spot a housing scam, try to look out for some of the following:

• The property price is low for the area, so it seems too good to be true.
• Only one image is available on the advert for a property.
• Multiple adverts for different properties are using the same images.
• There may be no information about the house facilities.
• When you ask for more detail the property ‘owner’ or ‘agent’ doesn’t provide any.
• You’re asked to pay a holding fee or deposit quickly, or you’re asked to pay money to prove that you are interested in the property.
• You may have some questions about the property but the property ‘owner’ or ‘agent’ won’t speak on the phone with you.

Top Tips:

• Make sure the price is realistic and doesn’t seem out of the ordinary.
• Don’t pay anything before viewing, even if someone is asking you to. Rent with confidence, with Bristol SU Lettings.

You can read more about finding legitimate accommodation at university.

Moving house is an exciting time, but it's vital to know your rights as a student tenant. Just because you are a student, there is no major difference in your rights as a renting tenant from anyone else. 
Here are some of the basic rights you will be entitled to:

Here are some of your key rights to know about:

• Safety and Repairs: You have a right to a safe and well-maintained property. 
  All gas appliances in the property must be safely installed and annually checked by a Gas Safe registered engineer.
  There should be adequate means of fire escape, at least one smoke alarm on every floor of the building which is used as living accommodation, and a carbon monoxide alarm in any room with a working fireplace or burning stove.
• Eviction: Your landlord cannot impulsively evict you from the property you are renting, you can only be evicted if your landlord has a possession order from the court. This would only happen for certain situations – like the property being damaged or rent not being paid. If you have a fixed-term tenancy agreement, your landlord needs to give you notice if they want you to leave before the end of the term.
• Landlord Entry: If your landlord wants to access the property you are renting, for whatever reason it may be, they legally need to give you at least 24 hours' notice before showing up. The only time they don’t need to do this is if it’s an emergency – such as there being a fire or flood.

Find out some more key tenant rights.

We often hear of housing horror stories. But over the past few years, research has been done to find out the key issues that students face while renting, which will help you prepare when looking for private accommodation and what to look out for while you're there.

Key student issues include mouldy walls and dampness, with one in three students saying they were affected by damp in 2023. But what else do students face? Some of the worst student housing issues, found by Save the Student, are:

• Damp
• Lack of water or heating
• Rodents and pests
• Disruptive building work
• Inappropriate or unannounced landlord visits
• Rising rent and bills
• Smoke or carbon monoxide alarms not working

You can read more about key student housing problems.

Knowing your rights as a renter can help you feel more confident when starting conversations with your landlord to fix a problem, or escalating a problem if your landlord is not respecting your rights and fixing it.