House hunting, Student style.

By Jess Pryce

It's that time of year when students have to engage in the somewhat daunting task of finding a house for next year. In the previous weeks, my flatmates and I have encountered some interesting and shocking places, which most landlords claim are ‘top of the range' student houses'.

Let's break this down for you...

Retro House

House number one on our viewing list was somewhat retro in decoration, aptly named for the 60's style décor and pure unkempt state of the house, it was enough to have us running back to halls in a second, but we bravely carried on and after a quick yet fulfilling breakfast at the local greasy spoon, we were picked up by an estate agent and taken onto house number two.

The Palace

This was it, we had found our dream house. We were already imagining the parties and arguing over bedrooms... but wait there one minute Mrs Landlady; you want us to pay £900 in rent before we even move in? No chance! So sadly we left our dream house behind and went on our way. After a quick trip to a flatmates siblings house to show us what a REALLY bad student house was like, we proceeded onto the pub to agonise over our prospective homelessness next year...

The Depressant Hole

This large three storey house left us speechless... (A rare moment if you have met my flatmates), it was unimaginably disgusting, cold, dark, dirty... I could go on forever, and so after various flatmates voicing their opinions to the landlord, we slipped quietly out of the house to be confronted with a wall covered in broken glass to prevent intruders... fear enveloped us all. So, somewhat optimistically we went onto to house number four.

The Final Resort

Compared to the previous one, this was nowhere near as bad, but only somewhere we would choose as our ultimate final resort. As five female students, we knew that an actual palace was out of the question, however we still had some standards, and living in these places for two or three years just wasn't it.

And so dejectedly we slunk on home back to halls, faced with the prospect of homelessness next year. When suddenly the right phone call took place... and we were greeted with the..

Fabulous House

Within minutes of walking into the house we had all but declared our love to the landlord and become his newly adopted daughters. We had found a fabulous house. Perfect for five girls. And even the offer to decorate it how we wanted, the excitement was almost too much.

The next day we had signed the contracts, and received our official receipts. As of August 2008, the house is ours. Our housewarming party plans are already in preparation.