Rental accommodation payment in London

Hello everyone

I've accepted my offer for postgraduate degree at LSE and I'm having a serious concern with rental payment.

I just would like to ask how much you had to pay when booking the room in off campus accommodation and the payment plan please. I just noticed from all accommodations that I've contacted that international students are required to pay in full amount one time upon arrival unless they have UK guarantor (which of course non-UK students don't have)

This is shocking for me as it's extremely risky to pay all upfront if we have to switch to other places due to some reasons. For instance when I did my UG in Australia, the rent can be paid monthly so I'm just a bit shocked about UK accommodation rental payment.

Thanks a lot for your help 😊

It depend, if your a UK national you can pay monthly, if your international it depends on the individual agency some require all up front, some require 6 months, others monthly is fine - it really depends