Your accommodation is one of the most important parts of your life as a student and you should feel happy and safe living there.
Student accommodation can seem like a big challenge – particularly if it is your first time living away from home. That’s why we’re here to help you with any worries you might be having, whether you're living (or planning to live) at home, in halls, or in a private house.
Not only have we developed tailored advice for Bristol students, but we also have in-house experts in our Lettings Team who can help you find accommodation.
Check out the resources and events we have planned for you this year – which may help you know more about your rights as a tenant, as well as help find the right place to rent and people to live with!
For help on all things renting, download our:
Did you know we have our own lettings team here at Bristol SU?
Bristol SU Lettings is a team of student lettings experts with unrivalled tenant support. With them, you can get advice and rent with confidence.
Since opening in 2013, Bristol SU Lettings has played an active part in improving the moving experience for its students with its affordable quality housing solutions.
Their property listings for 2024/25 will be available at the end of January, after the exam period. You can register on the lettings website for alerts.
How can you make the most out of Bristol SU Lettings?
You can get advice from our team by:
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:
Top Tips:
You can read more about potential scams and how to spot them here.
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:
Find out some more key tenant rights right here.
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:
You can read more about these issues, and how many students faced them, right here.
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.
Check out our Housing Support webpage for further information and advice.
The move from University Halls to private accommodation is exciting, but it can be daunting to think about all the different changes you will need to make and prepare for!
That's why your Student Livinf Officer, Izzy Russell, worked alongside the uni to produce a handy 'Halls to House' booklet which you can read right here.
You can also use the University’s accommodation webpage for more advice about private renting in Bristol. Email: accom-private-sector@bristol.ac.uk
For extra information about renting, why not check out some of our articles?
If you have nowhere to sleep or might be homeless soon, or you have somewhere to sleep but nowhere to call home or you could be at risk of harm you can call Shelterline. Find out more information and how to get in contact with them here.
Telephone: 0808 800 4444 (8 am to 8pm Monday to Friday and 9am to 5pm at weekends)
We’re organising events from November to January to help you find houses, people to live with, and get advice. You can see any upcoming ones here: