When should you start looking for a student house in Lancaster?

Ask around in first term and you will hear two completely different answers. Someone will tell you that all the good houses go by the end of October and you need to sort it now. Someone else will tell you their mate signed in March and got somewhere lovely. Both of them are telling the truth about their own year, which is why this question causes so much stress.

Here is the honest version: in Lancaster, house hunting usually runs from around October through to February, it peaks well before Christmas, and it varies from year to year. Nothing about that means you have to sign in week three.

How the year usually runs

Most Lancaster students start looking in the autumn term. Groups form, conversations start, and by late October a fair number of people are viewing. The universities typically run housing events in November and again early in the new year, and those tend to concentrate a lot of activity into a short window.

The pattern usually looks something like this, though the exact weeks shift:

• October: groups start forming and the first listings appear. A lot of looking, less signing.
• November: the busiest stretch. Housing events, viewings and the first real wave of signings.
• December and January: quieter over the break, then a second push when term restarts.
• February onwards: fewer houses left, but also fewer groups competing, and some good properties come back on.

The important thing is that Lancaster is not a city where everything is gone by November. Houses come back on the market all the way through, often because a group fell apart or changed their minds.

Why the rush happens, and why it is worth resisting

The panic is mostly social rather than practical. One group in your flat signs, everyone hears about it, and suddenly it feels like you are behind. That pressure is what pushes people into the two mistakes that actually cost them: signing with the wrong people, and signing for the wrong house.

Of those two, the group matters more. You can live with a slightly awkward kitchen. Living with someone you do not get on with, for a full academic year, with a joint contract tying you together, is a different kind of problem. It is worth taking an extra fortnight to be sure about who you are signing with.

The second mistake is viewing in a hurry and missing things you would have spotted otherwise. Damp in a back bedroom, a boiler that looks ancient, a bus stop that is further away than it seemed on the map. None of those are visible from a listing photo.

What to do first

Before you look at a single house, settle three things with the people you are thinking of living with.

• How many of you there are. Group size changes which areas are realistic, because some parts of Lancaster have mostly three and four bedroom houses and others have larger shares.
• Roughly what you each want to spend per week, and whether that includes bills.
• Whether being near campus or being near town matters more. This is the single biggest decision, and groups often discover they disagree about it late.

That last one is worth having out early. Somewhere like Galgate gives you the shortest commute to Lancaster University and a long way to town. The city centre does exactly the opposite. Areas like Scotforth and Bowerham sit in between, which is part of why they are so popular.

What to check when you view

Take your time and be slightly nosy. A landlord who is happy to answer questions is a good sign in itself.

• Ask what the heating costs to run over a winter, and how it is controlled.
• Look for damp in the corners of back bedrooms and behind furniture, not just at eye level.
• Check the mobile signal and ask what the broadband is like, because it varies a lot in older terraces.
• Walk from the front door to the bus stop you would actually use, and time it.
• Ask what is included in the rent and what is not. Get it in writing rather than remembered.
• Find out who you call when something breaks, and how quickly they usually turn up.

If you are looking late

Plenty of people end up looking in February or later, for all sorts of reasons. It is not a disaster. You will have less choice, but you will also have less competition, and you can often take your time over a decision in a way that people signing in November cannot.

If you are in that position, widen the areas you will consider rather than compromising on the group or the condition of the house. Somewhere like Hala or Greaves may have less obvious student appeal but often has good houses left later in the year.

The short version

Start the conversation with your group early, in October if you can. Start viewing when you are sure about who you are living with, not before. Do not sign because other people are signing. And if you miss the autumn rush, look again in February, because the market has more in it than the panic suggests.

If you tell us what you are after, we will come to you first when something matches, rather than you having to keep checking. You can register your interest here, or have a look at the areas of Lancaster to work out where you want to be.