House Hunting for 2nd years - advice

note - any prospective Leeds students looking at this thread - this isn't about halls, when you're in first year you are better off in halls as its easier to meet people if you dont know anybody

however for those already in first year who are thinking about house hunting these are my tips

1 - the Golden Rule
DO NOT LOOK/SIGN UP TOO EARLY

regardless of the bull that landlords and especially agencies will tell you that the houses are "going like hot cakes" or "all the good ones are going quickly" this is a myth, the reality is more like "we are capitalising on the early rush by putting the rents up and also trying to get rid of our lesser standard houses"

The reality of the renting market in Leeds is it is oversaturated with properties to rent, yes there are a lot of students but far too many landlords got on the buy to rent bandwagon and there is a surplus rather than a shortage of properties in the LS6 area. Every year there are many many properties which don't get let. So bear that in mind and when agents try to suggest to you that if you don't sign up now you will be left scrapping for rubbish, be suspicious - they are trying to kid you. If you have the nerve search after the summer exams, I usually look in June and always find places at a good price. If you don't, then look around Easter. Most of the people signing up now are going to come back telling you they paid £65-70 a week or so on, they have probably been ripped off a bit. If you sign up in June you'll get one for £50-55 a week. (nb contracts generally run from 1 July - 30 June)

2 - if you are a student at Leeds University then the Student Advice Centre usually does talks giving you advice on househunting - go to these, pick up their leaflets, they will usually offer a contract checking service as well so you can get it vetted before you sign up. Make the most of the help you have here, they can tell you the market exactly as it is.

3 - if you are a group of all girls, especially if you are southern and sound posh, then the agents are going to try and make you pay a bit above the odds, if they are asking for £68 a week its probably a £60 a week house but they think you will be gullible because you are girls and also probably have rich daddies who will pay whatever. All girls groups get shafted the most because landlords will try and put crap properties onto you. Even more important to use the Student Advice Centre and also Unipol.

4 - Unipol is the safest way of making sure you dont get a dodgy landlord who will try and steal your deposit or never do any maintenance. All teh landlords on Unipols books are approved by Unipol and they have to sign up to Unipol code of standards which goes over and above legal minimums. You can get cheaper than Unipol by going to some of the less "licensed" agencies but these can be hit and miss for quality.

5 - Students are often bad tenants, bear this in mind when you hear peoples "horror stories" about landlords, many students damage properties and so we all have to suffer because it encourages landlords to try and get a bit more from everyone as 'insurance'. Most of the landlords and agencies are ok but there are a few dodgy ones some of whom are basically crooks. Do a google search for Watchdog and Providence properties. These guys generally steal deposits, rip people off, then when they go to court they wind themselves up and reopen under a different name, be careful of Myhomez - my landlord tells me Myhomez are the people from the same family as Providence.

There are 4 main areas to live:

HEADINGLEY
Classy and trendy, this is the upmarket part and the best social scene. It is not only a student place but many young professionals (usually ex graduates) who have good jobs in the city, so its lively and a good place to be although the "trendy" brigade may get on your nerves. This is the sporty part, it has Headingley cricket and rugby ground and most of the bars and pubs are big "live sport on the big screen" venues. You will see sporting celebs out and about here mainly professional rugby league players. The downside to Headingley is it is pricey and some of the houses are not great value for money compared to their equivalents in the other parts - expect to pay £5-8 a week more for a house here. Also it tends to be noisier.

HYDE PARK
The big rival of Headingley and represents a totally different type of community, there are lots of parties here but in generally it has a less boorish feel than Headingley and is much more laid back. This is made up mainly of students and asian families, which is why there is only one main pub (Royal Park) and most of teh businesses are small asian takeaways and cafes. Hyde Park is fantastically convenient for shops and supermarkets. There's more of a community feel to Hyde Park than Headingley which can feel more about individuals wanting to impress, if Headingley is for sports people then Hyde Park is for musicians. Good value houses.

BURLEY
Closest to the city centre and good value for money here, this is a good option if you have a job in the city centre but is slightly further out from the other things socially (not too much of a problem). Mixture between students, a few familes, and a few chavs, which arent present in Headingley or Hyde Park.

WOODHOUSE
By far the best value for money, you can get fair standard houses here very cheap - if you want bargain basement you can pick £45 a week or less if you look around. This is also close to the uni and very convenient. The catch? Its more rough than the other parts. Ive known people live here and not have any problems but it doesnt feel as welcoming. Drug dealers live around here and muggings are more common here than they are in the other parts. Don't discount it though, its not a gangland war zone - just be careful.

Most students will be in Headingley or Hyde Park. If you look around campus you will see typical Leeds stereotypes. Metrosexualised gym-going guys with highlights and fake tan are the Headingley boys, and the rich blonde girls doing History of Art with mini skirts and ugg boots even in the winter are the Headingley girls. The skinny indie boys in drainpipe jeans with arty goatee beards are the Hyde Park boys, and the bohemian looking girls with rasta hair and gypsy style dresses are the Hyde Park girls.

Any questions feel free to ask for me to develop my advice further.....

Reply 1

Freud

Fab post. Sums up a lot of what we were told in the accomodation meeting in my halls, but good post. Very helpful to anyone who didn't get to go to one.

MagicNMedicine

rich blonde girls doing History of Art with mini skirts and ugg boots even in the winter are the Headingley girls. The skinny indie boys in drainpipe jeans with arty goatee beards are the Hyde Park boys, and the bohemian looking girls with rasta hair and gypsy style dresses are the Hyde Park girls.

Good job I'm not a blonde mini skirted ugg boot wearer, I wouldn't want to be a walking stereotype! :p:

You've made Hyde Park appeal to me a lot, and I want to be able to walk to uni :smile:

+rep

Reply 2

MagicNMedicine

Hyde Park is great for walking to uni, and its a nice feeling every morning to walk in through the park along with many other students, especially in the summer. As a guide, it takes 10 min to walk from the mosque up Royal Park road to the Business School, so anything up to 15 min to other parts of campus.

The streets in Hyde Park are in groupings of other streets with similar names, eg there are the Harolds (Harold Road, Harold Avenue, Harold Terrace, Harold Grove, Harold Mount....) and the Autumns (Autumn St, Autumn Place, Autumn Ave, Autumn Grove...) and the Mayvilles and the Norwoods and the Hessles......can be a bit confusing at first when you think "oh Ive looked on that street" then you realise you looked at a house on Hessle Road and the next one you're going to is Hessle Avenue.

This all means though that when you're in Hyde Park its quite an easy place to find your way around as you work out what the groupings are like.

The bigger houses (useful if you are in a group of 6+) tend to be situated close to the park itself, these are big and impressively grand houses, look lovely - they can be draughty though and chilly, and the rents here are more in line with Headingley prices.

The heartland of Hyde Park is around the mosque, this is the most visible landmark in the region. All of the little shops are round here and the Royal Park pub, Brudenell Social Club. The Brudenells are known as the house party streets - fantastic if you like that sort of thing, they are going to be noisy though so bear this in mind, but these streets buzz with life. The Hessles and Harolds are often good price and some of the houses are very new inside with ultra modern kitchens, these tend to be very small often with very compact kitchens/lounges/bedrooms - but easy to keep warm. The Mayvilles and Walmsleys are superb places, you can see the mosque at the end of the road but you are only 10 min or so walk from Headingleys social scene here as well. Slightly cheaper but also well located for Hyde Parks amenities are the Thornvilles.

Going down towards Burley you have the Autumns and Carberrys, small houses like the Harolds/Hessles but fewer students here, these are mainly families, so its a bit quieter. I spent one of my years down this region, it was quite different from mainland Hyde Park but quite nice and there was more of a neighbourhood feel with the locals and students mixing well.

Tips on places to shop...
Co-Op is 24 hr (apart from closes early on a Sunday afternoon), Sainsburys at Jacksons is good quality but small and sells out by the end of the day. For cheaper food go up to Nettos or Iceland in Kirkstall (15-20 min walk away from Hyde Park). Then there is Maumoniat (International Supermarket) great for people who like cooking and has more ingredients than the main chains, although don't expect to be able to get African or Caribbean food here, the "international" essentially means "islamic". Abu Bakr is a bit like International Supermarket, very friendly staff in here although you have to pay in cash so bear that in mind - this is a good place for buying meat as the Halal butchers in here is better value for money than the supermarkets.

For small fruit & veg shops there is Mr Riaz store by the mosque and another on the corner of Alexandra Road opposite Yorkshire Bank, these are fresh and convenient but you have to search through to pick the best quality as they just have loads delivered in bulk.

There are lots of takeaways of which a lot are cheap greasy and poor standard, there are some decent ones though, my favourites being

JJs on Brudenell Rd - very good quality for a takeaway, this is a curry house with good size meals and they put effort into it, the chef and his staff here are very friendly

Pitza Cano - an Iranian pizza shop by the bus stop on Queens Rd, pretty much restaurant quality

Peter Chans - a Hyde Park institution, one of my old landlords said he first lived here in the 1970s when the original Peter Chan was here, now I think its his son who is "Peter Chan". A Chinese on Brudenell Grove.

Melati City - similar quality/price to Peter Chan, but Cantonese so slightly different menu, this is on the corner of Woodsley and Hyde Park roads.

Places to hang out and go for a drink:
- Royal Park pub is the most popular, right next door (and hidden away, a surprising number of people dont know about it) next to Abu Bakr is the Brudenell Social Club, they do gigs here and famous bands do secret gigs sometimes as well.
- Barakas - Moroccan (I think) eating place, bring your own bottle, there's a corkage charge if you don't drink. Nice atmospheric place inside, bit like the tavern in Starwars.
- Hukas (near Peter Chans) is similar to Barakas but they serve drinks here.

Reply 3

abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz

damn this must have taken a long time.

Would it not be better in the article sections though or even the leeds wiki

Reply 4

Kreuzuerk

Wow this is truly excellent, I'll rep when I can.

Reply 5

potteralan

Cheers for this very useful

Reply 6

Nicholas Urfe

Although I live in Hyde Park, I think if I was to turn back the clocks, I'd move closer to Headingley.

Reply 7

KatieUni08

Thank you so much, this has been really useful although we're struggling to find a 4 bed with 2 bathrooms in hyde park or headingly!
+rep
x

Reply 8

andrewmacrobert

This is just a warning.
I have just been conned out of £450 deposit by dodgy landlord Simon Lewis who has several properties around the Burley Park/Headingley area of Leeds. Despite me meeting all the criteria (over 2 months notice, proof of bills paid, flat cleaner than when I moved in) and even helping find new tenants by showing them around he still refused to give me my depot back and now just ignores me. I found out from Unipol that he had already been struck of their lists for recommended student accommodation a few years back for not returning deposits. He works with 'The A-Team' letting agency and his properties appear with their signs on them.
The worst thing is that he doesn't even care that I still have a key for the property which is terrible for the current tenants if you think about it.
Anyway this is just a warning to anyone thinking of renting from him in the future. Simon Lewis dodgy landlord. No photo available strangely enough anywhere on the internet.
If anyone else has had similar experiences or even with the same guy feel free to contact me.