House Hunting In Sheffield

There are a number of different types of accommodation available for students in Sheffield, the most common being houses or flats. Occupany options vary and can include rooms in a shared house or flat, one bedroom flat/studios, resident owner and purpose built student accommodation. There is also a limited amount of accommodation for families.

Whole Houses or Flats (For Groups)
A shared house or flat is where a number of students share the common areas of a house or flat (usually a kitchen, living room and bathroom), but each have their own bedroom. The students will be required to pay the utility bills collectively and will often sign a joint contract. A limited number of landlords may include the utility bills within the rent (if they don’t, but you would like this, you can ask the landlord if they would be willing to include them).

Larger landlords start advertising accommodation for the next academic year in November, but we would recommend you think carefully before signing up for anything this early in the year. You need to make sure you’re living with the right people before you sign a contract for your next year's accomodation.

Rooms in a Shared House or Flat
Bedrooms in some houses or flats are let separately so students are not required to be in a group, but will still be able to share a house or flat with other students. The students will share the common areas of a house or flat (usually a kitchen, living room and bathroom), but each have their own bedroom. The students will be required to pay the utility bills collectively but will often sign single contracts.

One Bedroom Flat/Studio
One bedroom flats and studios in Sheffield tend to be more expensive than a room in a shared house because of their limited availability. Many of one bedroom flats or studios will be located in purpose built blocks including those specifically for students.

Purpose Built Student Accommodation
Purpose built student accommodation is usually in a complex similar to University accommodation. They are likely to offer contracts for term time only (September – July) rather than full year. You will usually have your own ensuite bathroom and share the living area/kitchen with others. You could move into a whole flat (if your group size is large enough) or take a single room where the provider would find other flatmates for you. Some of the providers have one bedroom flats or studios within the complex and it is usual for all of the bills to be included within the rent.

Deciding where you want to live is an important factor in guiding your search. The areas closest to the University are usually more expensive than areas a few minutes extra walk away. Most areas which are popular with students are within a 25-30 minute walk,these include Broomhall, Broomhill, Crookes, Crookesmoor, the City Centre, Devonshire Quarter, Hunters Bar and Walkley. Rents can vary from £55 for a room in a shared house to £125 for some City Centre accommodation so it pays to shop around with your friends.
 

For an idea of the location of these areas in Sheffield along with some key University buildings, take a look at this map.

Rent levels in Sheffield reflect the type of accommodation, location, standards and the services provided. It is common practice for landlords in Sheffield to charge rent for the full length of the contract, normally 52 weeks.

As a very general rule, the closer to the University the property is and/or the closer to the city centre the property is, the more expensive it is likely to be. As these areas are in high demand, the rental cost is usually slightly higher.

Utility bills are normally paid by the tenant, and not included in the rent. If a property listed in the search results includes bills, you will find a ‘Rent Includes’ section in the details of the bills along with the price.

To register a property with us, it does not require accreditation, but where the property does have one of the following we will display this on the website. The four accreditations you might see are as follows:

UUK (short for Universities UK) – Members of the code must be a University, and must meet the terms of the code of practice which includes one for accommodation. The University of Sheffield University accommodation falls under this code of practice.

National Code – a voluntary code for large development student accommodation where the providers meet a code of standards. For further information, click here.

Snug – A scheme run by Sheffield City Council to approve and inspect student accommodation. Smart Move Sheffield requires all advertised properties to be Snug-approved. You can find the Property and Management Standards here. Resident Owner properties are not required to be Snug approved.

Sheffield is well connected around both the University and the most popular student accommodation areas. When searching for a property on this website, if you use the map view, you will be able to see a number of different bus routes and the supertram routes in relation to the properties we are advertising. You can find further information about transport in Sheffield here.