Student Accommodation Tips

Online flatting search

Accommodation for students is a significant cost of studying, often away from home, which generally involves private rent flatting, or living at a university hall of residence near or on campus. For flat hunting, this generally means searching for a suitable flat or apartment, ideally near or at your educational institute. It may require you to advertise as a flatmate or boarder, or rent perhaps with friends, in a unit to live in. This should be ideal for shared costings, making it more economical and perhaps more enjoyable as a group. This of course means shared responsibility for bill payments, cleaning, and general responsibilities, along with everybody interacting positively together. Flatmates may become friends, and perhaps interdependent, and in my past experience, more so than your own family at times. Then again family are there (hopefully) when you need them. Below are some tips for flat hunting, costings, and searching the internet for accommodation including educational institutes Image from Photostock.

 Ideal Unit and Tenant Tips
-  Suitable Tenants - responsible, and all share in costings, or fair use costs, and generally get on together
- Affordability, i.e. if you can you cope will your share of costs, perhaps monthly
- Location - On or near campus, bus or train  routes, doctors, supermarket, shops, suitable venues, etc.
- Size and general comfort and suitability of the unit and it's surrounding area and region. Ideal with your own room - for studying.
- Tasks - Scheduled system for cooking, cleaning, maintenance check lists, landlord contact, etc

Upfront Costs
A tenancy agreement, applicable fees, whether if fixed term (can include 12 months), and other important factors needs to be signed, of which bond and often advance rent payment is generally paid upfront. Visit The Department of Building and Housing regarding tenancy agreement. Their current market rents, listed by city and their suburbs display weekly rental costs. This includes the average and upper/lower quartiles for flats, apartments and houses. Also the usual living costs, need to be budgeted, along with bond and rent, often paid in advance.

Private Rental Costs
- Bond - Returned at end of tenancy, unless if payment required for damages
- Rent - Paid up in advance
- Power - Electricity and Gas -need to select a power company, compare at local distributors or visit consumer org (Powerswitch) for savings and comparisons
- Water. Depends on contract, maybe included, i.e. fixed or pay per use
- Food - Dependent on frequency of eating out, cooking, eating and shopping habits. Large supermarkets are ideal for savings, from Progressive Enterprise and Foodstuff owned stores. So it's important to budget for food. Or if desperate perhaps try (as in ask or shop) from Family, Food-Banks, Flea Markets, and the Salvation Army
- Land-line Telephone, Mobile, and Internet Connection. Shop around for broadband suppliers for bandwidth costs, cost per MB, service reliability, and customer service. Package total home deals should provide savings. Perhaps ask in forums such ac PC World NZ (Press F1/PC World Chat) for suggestions
- Furniture - Often have to buy, borrow, or rent, since many flats are unfurnished. But also bid on NZ's popular auction site Trademe. Maybe try make money by selling or auctioning items on Trademe, employing a few selling tips.

Halls of Residence
Perhaps main advantage, particularly if fully catered for, is much of general living costs and social features are laid out for you.
- No need to cook, prepare main meals, or pay power use
- Bedding, desks, and perhaps basic furniture already provided
- Quite close to lectures and classes
- access to assistants, or mangement for any issues you may have
- quick assess to faculties and facilities, e.g. computer room, library, administration, student support, etc.
- Meet others to mix and share or compare living and study experiences
- Social, recreational, sport and entertainment activities to be involved with. This might include concerts, parties, competitions, specific clubs, and movie evenings
- Possibly computer and internet access, including wireless for your smartphone or laptop
- Perhaps a choice to later move to semi-catered, or self catered flats

Flatting or living in a hall of residence is an experience, and their are many online student rental agencies, educational partnership properties, university website information, real estates and guides (PDF) for reference. Perhaps visit Google Maps, and use their excellent Street View (e.g. for University of Auckland, Open Polytechnic, or Otago) to try view your future living or institute locations, and "walk" about. Also browse City web camera websites, e.g. like Otago University. Maybe visit Design Your Dorm (DYD) to customize different size room interiors, and get ideas for adding real priced items, such as furniture, appliances, bedding, electronic, bathware,and  lighting including a move in checklist. Though it's geared for American students (and their University residence halls), but the online design utility is easy to use, and to get a good feel for design and layout for a study bedroom.

Online Student Room Interior Designer Tips
(click for larger view - from DYD)

Graph of NZ Student Total Monthly Cost Shared with Three Others

Source: Adapted from North Tec Cost of Living Document

First Time Flatting Guide - PDF from Massey University

Source: Massey University

Recent News for New Zealand Student Accommodation

Ready to Leave Home

Searching Online - Google Operator Tips for Targeting Living Venues
Search for rental advertisements, often sticky notes at your campus billboard, or chat to a student representative for accommodation. But also search for guides online published by tertiary institutes. Do a Google operator search: [site:.co.nz filetype:pdf student accommodation] (excluding brackets[ ]) which yield targeted accommodation results. Then use other terms, like "University" or "Massey" or "Canterbury", etc for further refinement. University of Canterbury and Massey have pdf publications relating to halls of residence, services, facilities, selection criteria, resident periods, costings, accommodation type, and more. This search (using site:.ac.nz and intitle: - specific Google search operators) provides results for fees, living costs, and expenses for various Tertiary Institutes and Universities. But of course you can just do a standard search for specific educational institute and their halls of residence web sites.

If required, refine your search by perhaps changing to site:.co.nz, maybe removing intitle:, and adding terms for regions or Universities, e.g. Victoria, Massey, Polytechnic, Waikato, etc. Also add common terms, e.g. "apply now", "residence" "campus" "village", etc which might display results such as UStay or Campus Living Villages. The latter, CLV, has relationships with Universities and Polytechnics, and provide fully to self catered accommodation, including for summer stays. Image of globe by cooldesign.

Google Targeted Web Search for Real Estates in Auckland

(Click For Larger View)

Google Street View and Maps of University Halls of Residence

(click inside to hover about)

O'Rorke Hall O'Rorke Hall Mount Street, Auckland
View Larger Map Grafton Hall, Seaview Road, Auckland
View Larger Map Ilam Apartments, Homestead Lane, University of Canterbury
View Larger Map Bishop Julius Hall Waimairi Road, Canterbury
View Larger Map Victoria House, The Terrace, Wellington
View Larger Map UStay Urban Apartments, Willis Street, Wellington
View Larger Map

View Multiple Street Images - Enter any Street location and select Radius

Source for Infinite Maps - Noah Veltman's website

Perform a Internet search to find flatting websites such as Student Rent, Flat Finder, NZ Flatmates, Student Accommodation (For Dunedin), NZ Herald, Auckland University, Easy Room mate, Trademe Properties, and others. Hence find a flatmate, browse listings, create a listing, and view latest listings. Also search online for real estate companies, such as Edinburgh Realty, Bayleys, Real Estate NZ, etc, as they may have student units available for rent. Or try a Google real estate targeted site search: [site:.co.nz student flatting accommodation MREINZ] again without the brackets, and using a real estate term, e.g. MREINZ, or Real Estate. Perhaps add a City (e.g. Whangarei, Auckland, Hamilton, Wellington, Christchurch, Dunedin) and combine with a Educational Institute name or region (e.g. Victoria, Waikato, AUT, MIT, Bay of Plenty, Polytechnic, Otago, University, etc), and/or a Suburb name to produce specific locality search results. Visual tip -Maybe also click Google's Map and Image links above or left of your search results for visual evaluation, including for the general area, to search for local shops, bus stops, parks, or venues that may appeal to you. But can also start from a basic search...

Custom Search

Videos of Tertiary Institute Accommodation

Massey Student Lifestyle	Life at Otago University

Summary
Building developments have been catered for students adjacent to tertiary institutes, e.g. around Dunedin to perhaps suit more particular student flatting needs (Otago Times). Also search and research for general information, i.e. News sites, Government sites (e.g.TEC, Study Link), and student related websites (e.g. NZUSA) for student accommodation developments, campaigns, fees, and funding allowances. Depending on your choice of study and location (City and Suburb), you may want to research local regions if suitable accommodation exists for you. Fortunately their are various student accommodation properties such as Homestays, Hostels, Halls of Residence or Student Villages (ex dormitories), Backpackers facilities (for temporary stay), and private rental homes, flats, and apartments. Hopefully you can find a suitable place, and flatmates near your learning institute.

Student Accommodation Tips