First and foremost, it is essential that you work out who you intend to be living with during the next academic year. It may be that you choose to live with people from your first year accommodation, friends from your course or a combination of both. This is important as it will impact the number of bedrooms that you will require.

You can narrow down your choices using our ‘Property Search’ options:

• Location/University – the website will display the houses closest to your location/University of choice first and the distance to the University will be visible (this information is based on Google Maps data)
• Minimum and maximum number of bedrooms
• Availability - most of our tenancies start between July and mid-September and run for 12 months

Something else you’ll want to consider is price range. Have an honest and open conversation with your future housemates about what rent each of you can afford and are willing to pay, this may be a sensitive topic for some but it’s best to be honest before your group start seriously considering renting specific houses. Bear in mind that some properties have bills free or included with the rent, have a look at our ‘How to tell whether bills/services are included’ section for more information about this.

Each advert should have a video tour,360° tour, photographs and a floorplan. If you’re registered on our site you can also ‘download a sample agreement’ via the adverts.

If you have registered on the website you can view sample tenancy agreements on each advert.

The sample agreement is a copy of the specific tenancy agreement and guarantor form for the house you’re looking at. When looking at a sample tenancy agreement pay particular attention to:

• The tenancy start and end date – this information can be found on the front page
• Who manages the property, Adam Bennett Lettings or the landlord – this information can be found on the front page
• How often rent is due, it is usually due quarterly (every 3 months) and the first instalment will be due on or before the tenancy start date – this information can be found on the front page
• Custom clauses – see clause 3. ‘The Tenant agrees with the Landlord ‘– and then scroll to clause ‘27’ of this section to see custom clauses

If bills are included/free with the rent you’ll see icons in the bottom left corner of the photographs for a house, if there are no icons then bills are not included/free with the rent and you’ll need to organise these. Please note, some houses don’t have any gas appliances.

If bills are included, they are included on a fair usage policy.

While we want you to be as comfortable as possible in your home, we do need to ensure that gas and electric usage is not excessive and is kept within fair and reasonable limits, this is why bills are included on a fair usage policy.

Below is a table showing the annual utility allowance for 1 – 10+ bedroomed properties. The figures in the table are based on bills from previous years and research about average annual utility consumptions for UK households. The allowances are generous and if you are sensible with usage, it is unlikely you will exceed them, but you will be required to contribute towards the utility costs if as a household you go over the allowances.

If your utility usage is deemed excessive, you will be contacted as soon as this becomes apparent to us or the landlord.

No, for the safety, wellbeing and privacy of current tenants we do not offer physical viewings. We have however captured comprehensive marketing materials. The marketing on the adverts is designed to be as true to life as possible and we capture the footage on a regular basis.

To secure a property please call a member of our dedicated sales team who can create a Tenancy Agreement while on the phone to you, phone numbers are listed below but please read ALL of the following information before calling.

Before a Tenancy Agreement can be created each member of your group will need to register on the adambennett.co.uk website, you will each receive a verification email as soon as you’ve finished registering, you ALL need to have verified your email address via the emailed link before we can add your group to a Tenancy Agreement. Everyone must register with their full name as it appears on their legal documents (birth certificate/passport) and their permanent home address (not their University term time address). The Tenancy Agreement will be sent out via email to electronically sign so it’s crucial that email addresses are entered correctly.

The member of the group phoning to secure the property will be asked for each tenant’s full name and the email address they registered with (if any of the information is incorrect, we won’t be able to proceed with creating the Tenancy Agreement). Before creating the agreement we will go through the tenancy details, you can view these details in advance by downloading the 'Sample Agreement and Guarantor Form' on the property advert, please see the 'What is a Sample Agreement' section of this page for more information.

If you’re happy with the tenancy details, we will create the Tenancy Agreement. Once the Tenancy Agreement is created we’ll email the full group with information about what to do next. At this point you’ll be given a deadline to electronically sign the Tenancy Agreement – this is usually 48 hours. If the Tenancy Agreement is not signed within the deadline we will re-advertise the property.

If one or more of your group are not comfortable signing for a house please do not pressure them to make a decision, you’ll be signing legally binding documents and once you’ve signed them you will be held to the terms of the agreement. Give people as much time as they need to make an informed decision. All members of your group should discuss signing for a house with your guarantors before calling our sales team. If you’re unsure what a guarantor is, please see our ‘What is a Guarantor’ section.

Sales team phone numbers are below if a line is engaged please try another number:

(01904) 414 444
(07562) 340 258

You don’t need to pay anything upfront, but you will be required to pay a deposit within two weeks of signing a tenancy agreement, deposits are usually £450 per tenant.

Once a tenancy agreement has been created, you’ll be required to pay your deposit, unless otherwise stated the deposit is £450 per tenant and needs paying within two weeks of the tenancy agreement being created.

To pay your deposit you’ll need to log onto your Adam Bennett account and go to your ‘Dashboard’, once there you’ll find a link which will take you to the deposit payment page.

If you have signed for a property managed by Adam Bennett Lettings then rent will need to be paid via the website too. To pay rent you will need to log onto your Adam Bennett account and go to the ‘Rent’ tab to find a link which will take you to the rent payment page.

If you have signed for a property which is not managed by Adam Bennett Lettings, rent should be paid directly to your landlord.

A guarantor is somebody who will sign to pay your rent in the event that you default on a payment. Usually this will be a parent or guardian, and they will usually need to own their own property. We recognise that students will come from a diverse range of backgrounds and family situations, so if you feel unsure or need any further advise as to who can be your guarantor please ask a member of staff before you sign the tenancy agreement. You will be expected to arrange for both your guarantor and yourself to sign the guarantor form within two weeks of signing the tenancy agreement. Your guarantor will also need to provide a copy of a document containing proof of signature; this could be a driving licence or passport. They will also need to supply a copy of a document containing proof of address, such as a utility bill. All of this will need to be submitted within two weeks of signing for a property.

From 1 June 2019, the only payments that landlords or letting agents can charge to tenants for new contracts are:

• Rent
• A refundable tenancy deposit capped at no more than 5 weeks' rent where the total annual rent is less than £50,000, or 6 weeks' rent where the total annual rent is £50,000 or above
• A a refundable holding deposit (to reserve a property) capped at no more than 1 week's rent
• Payments associated with early termination of the tenancy, when requested by the tenant
• Payments in respect of utilities, communication services, TV licence and Council Tax
• A default fee for late payment of rent and replacement of a lost key/security device giving access to the housing, where required under a tenancy agreement

A number of our properties are suitable for people with disabilities requiring easier wheelchair access and ground floor facilities such as bathrooms and bedrooms situated on the ground floor. Many landlords are willing to consider reasonable adaptations to their properties to make them friendlier for disabled people, please contact us for further details on which of our properties may be suitable for your requirements.

As a student tenant of an AdamBennett.co.uk property, you will be expected to follow and adhere to the points outlined here