Hi! I'm Sarah your livers' out rep! I'm here for livers' out to answer your questions and queries and most importantly, represent you in college. I'm also here for livers' in if you're trying to decide if living out is for you, have any questions about living out and to provide you with support for finding houses.
 Please feel free to get in touch (I love a good natter). my email is: s.b.smith@dur.ac.ukI'm also holding Skype drop-ins on Thursdays 8-9pm. Skype name: marysliversout Already living out?
Finding a house for the first time
Advice
- The basic advice is this - start early, but don't panic. There are a lot of houses in Durham; in fact, there is more accomodation for students than there are students! Remember that you will be living with these people for a year, you need to be able to get on with them! However, the popular locations do go quite quickly, so don't delay too much. Remember to visit the...
- Househunting Road Show - This is a presentation at the start of the second term that is going to tell you everything you need to know about looking around a house. There will be talks from the Liver's Out Rep and members of the college, who live out or have lived out, about the different areas in and around Durham people tend to live in let you know what's good or bad about that area and their pros and cons. There will be additional information from the Accommodation Office on what the Code of Standards means and how it protects you and how they can help you all year round.There are vital points of information you need to be considering when looking around a prospective property including:
- The laws on for example number of bedrooms to bathrooms in the HMO legislation,
- Fire regulations
- Deposits and how to get them back
- etc.
Watch this space for more details on that
- Make sure that you do talk to the Liver's Out Rep, or show up to the Househunting Road Show, or talk to the DSU Accommodation Office. Finding a house is not a simple affair and the more advice you have had the easier it will be.
- The DSU Accomodation Office is located on the top floor of the DSU and is a great place to go if you need advice. The DSU also runs "Find a House" and "Find a Housemate" events - watch this space for more details.
- Finally, it's really important to get your contract checked before you sign anything. Get in touch with the Liver's Out Rep, or the DSU Accomodation Office.
Where to find a house
- All of the houses that are Code of Standards compliant are viewable at the DSU Accomodation website
- To find out what you should be looking for in a house, check here
- You can also pop along to the DSU Accomodation Office (Top floor of the DSU)
- Alternatively, just walk around the areas you want to live in, and look for houses with a "For Rent" sign on them. Be aware though that the people who live inside are students too, and probably don't want people knocking on their doors. So feel free to knock and ask if you can look round... but be aware they're within their rights to refuse you entry. Instead, try calling the number on the "For Rent" sign to arrange a viewing.
- Letting agents - You may be aware that some Letting agents start to try and pressure students into signing for houses next year in the first term. None of the letting agents in Durham are in themselves necessarily bad. However there are some things you should be aware of:
- The way a letting agent works is to charge for being the point of contact between the landlord and the renter, which tends to involve a cost to you the renter.
- Secondly letting agents may have a certain amount they are allowed to spend on repairs to the properties, but over and above this they may have to get permission from the landlord for every spend. This can add time to getting serious problems resolved where costs are over about more than say a few hundred pounds, for example replacing a boiler.
- If you are thinking about considering letting from an agent, please bear these considerations in mind. For more advice remember the DSU Accommodation Office is always there for you.
Housing AreasTo know more about each housing area, get in touch with the area reps! They are a point of contact for asking questions about living in each area, and also a friendly face and point of contact for current livers' out. Whinney Hill Rep - Sarah Smith: s.b.smith@dur.ac.uk Viaduct Rep - Lexie Thorpe: a.h.thorpe@dur.ac.uk Neville's Cross Rep - Queenie Chan: chan.queenie@ymail.com Gilesgate Rep - Michael Mason: michael.mason@dur.ac.uk 
Choosing your Housemate
This can be tricky. If you're a fresher, you may only have known these people for a couple of months, but you're going to have to live with them for a year. Here's a list of potential problems you could experience:
Potential Problems
- Housemates that don't do their fair share of the washing up or cleaning around the house
- Housemates that don't pay their share of the bills
- Housemates that steal your food, claiming "Oh, I thought it was communal"
- Housemates that are overly messy
- Housemates that are complete clean freaks
- Strange smells coming from their cooking... or the fridge
- Loud music, or other activities
- Etc...
I'm sure you can think of a few more! Some of these might not seem like problems to you now, but remember it's different when you're living with them 24 hours a day. If you do have any problems, remember the JCR President, Liver's Out Rep and DSU Accomodation Office are all there for advice. Have a look here for some hints on getting on with your housemates.
How to avoid these problems
This is practically the Holy Grail of living out - how do you find the perfect housemates?
- Firstly, it helps if you like each other and share interests. Try to make sure that everyone in the house gets on. Choosing to live with an ex-couple, for example, might not be too fun.
- Before you even begin to look at houses, sit down and talk about any concerns you might have. These could include:
- Your price range. If you all decide to live in a very expensive area, be mindful that less well-off housemates might find it difficult to pay bills later.
- Mess. If you really reeally don't like mess, or you know you're very messy, try talking about it - if you don't avoid the problem, at least you'll be expecting it.
- Noise - if you have a lot of 9am lectures, and one of your housemates is a party animal, talking about it might be a good way of avoding potential issues.
- Food - how are you going to cook? A lot of houses cook dinner communally, sharing the cooking responsibilities over the week. It's a good way of saving money. Will you do this? For recipes, see the "How to Live Out" page.
- Any other concerns you have
- Sneak a peek inside their room at college - with their permission of course! How they keep their bedroom could be a good indicator of how they'll keep your house.
Above all, remember that it's only for a year, and that you at least you'll have a "nightmare housemate" that you can tell stories about in years to come. Like the one who left tea leaves on the toilet seat. Or the one who stole all the mugs and kept them in his room for an entire year until they grew fur. Or the one who insisted on playing Cher at 3am in the morning.... loudly...
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