Finding student accommodation in foreign countries is a challenging task, with an added hassle due to the unaccustomed rules and regulations that may cause a problem in specific foreign countries. Hence, to make your studying experience more engaging in a new place, you need to find some suitable dwelling that is safe, as well as economical.
What are the Points to be Considered While Selecting Student Accommodation Abroad?
1. Perform Your Research
Before deciding to move into new accommodation in a foreign land, the student should,
- Perform exhaustive research on which university to choose for their specific educations. Different universities have different options for foreign students. Students should justify the pros and cons of each university separately.
- The decision of booking accommodation will depend on the proximity of the house from a particular university.
- Apart from speaking with the specific university where he or she gets an admission, the scholar needs to online research on various realty portals, such as VentureRadar to get relevant information.
- Travel portals like TripAdvisor or Google search need to be done before the final decision is made.
Hence, finding perfect student accommodation in foreign countries well ahead of the university exams begins is of utmost importance. Preferably, they should look by doing appropriate research once they get an acceptance letter from a specific university.
2. Plan Your Budget
When deciding on any university for the desired course, students should at the same time plan their budget accordingly. So, they need to resolve if the rent for accommodation comprises of the price of utilities, or it is to be paid individually. Among the utility bills, come the electricity cost, water bills, and laundry, water, garbage, and LPG costs. Now, most universities include these in their rent, whereas for off-campus residences, utility bills need to pay individually.
Apart from these, students should keep in mind the costs of daily necessities, public transport expenses, and other ancillary costs that may occur from time to time. It is necessary to note for the students, that they should always stick to their budget, and never attempt to go beyond it. The temptation of nice accommodation may be there, but students must be accepting those against the cost of their limited savings.
3. Select the Locality
When opting for the desired universities, scholars need to select the right location for their student accommodation in foreign countries. Among the important factors, the foremost to be considered is whether the residence is close to the university or college campus. However, this clause only arises in the case of off-campus accommodations. Again, scholars need to be aware of the overall safety of the locality, and the prevailing culture of the specific location of the dwelling. Besides this, in the case of off-campus locations, students need to judge on the accessibility factors, such as convenience regards to public transport, medical shops and facilities, and essential grocery shops.
4. Meticulously Examine the Agreement for Accommodation
- This is especially for off-campus residential places, as in on-campus, the specific university takes all the responsibility. Hence, students should carefully examine the lease agreement before paying and staying.
- A copy of the original contract needs to be given to the scholars, wherein the agreement should emphasize the tenancy starting date and tenancy period, the actual rent to be paid by the students, and the fixed payment date every month.
- Again, at the time of booking, landlords often may ask for a security deposit to be paid in advance. So, students need to be sure about the character of the landlord and his dependability factor before paying any sort of money as rent.
- Students need to carefully read every clause of the contract, like if it is a joint contract, should they sign the same. And, whether any legal implications can arise from the joint tenancy.
- Again, whether the students require a guarantor for signing the lease agreement, and if they need to submit the educational institution’s acceptance letter copy.
- They should also clarify whether the landlord in the off-campus dwellings requires some month’s advance payment for offering the accommodation.
- Also, they should ask about the utility bills expenses, wherein they are included in the rent or to be paid separately.
- Moreover, students need to clarify from the landlord, whether they need to pay for the damages done by them unintentionally in the house. Again, should they pay for any improvements done from the side of the landlord?
Last, but not least, whether the students need to pay any sort of fine to the landlord if in any case, they go away from the residence before the tenancy contract ends.
5. Evaluate the Chosen Accommodation Type
There are many options for finding suitable student accommodation in foreign countries. Scholars can select an individual room for rent in a building that can be shared with other students, a room in a special student residence, or a complete apartment for rent. Now, a student residence has some added advantage with it. It offers a higher level of comfort, apart from a structured rent price already in place. Besides, it has cleaning facilities included in the rent price. Students can speak directly to the university regards to the student residence to gather information about any agreement previously defined with ex-students.
Again, an entire apartment to be taken for rent by students can be hard to find, if any, can be a very costly affair. Pupils aiming to go abroad for advanced studies should always make prior searches before getting admission to any specific universities. They can find accommodations in student-specific online sites like Uniplaces, Facebook groups, and old or ex-students referrals.
6. Winding-up
Eventually, students also should be aware of online scams from classified websites like craigslist, wherein they must never send money for booking before getting the accommodation or meeting the owner. They should make it a final point to ensure that the rented accommodation, especially off-campus ones are secured and comfortable from every aspect, and is a guarantee of their money’s worth.
Also Read our blog on 👉👉 Life of a Student in Student Accommodation
