The best advice is to contact in advance at home to avoid waiting to be slaughtered abroad.
Today, I combed and summarized the overseas renting strategies for international students. You only need to read them carefully to avoid stepping on the pit ~
Housing type
Generally speaking, there are several options for studying abroad and renting a house.
1, dormitory (dormitory)
The first is the dormitory provided by the school. Campus dormitories make people feel more at ease, just above or next to the campus. But generally speaking, the number of dormitory places in the school is limited, and besides local students, there are many foreign students, so you must apply in advance. Although living in schools in many areas is expensive, it is safe and convenient.
Campus dormitory is generally the first choice for international students, but there are few houses and many applicants. Therefore, international students have to rent a house off campus.
2. Outside school
If you can't apply for a dormitory on campus or you can only live off campus, there are generally the following kinds of off-campus rentals.
(1) shared apartment
The housing provided by the rental platform and the shared apartment are generally large houses rented by a group of students, and everyone shares the expenses and daily chores. Residents take turns cooking, cleaning the house together and doing outdoor maintenance of the house together. Because shared apartments are generally cheaper, it may be difficult to find a room.
(2) Private housing
Similar to China, the landlord rents his own house, posts it on the rental website, rents a single room or rents it out as a whole, but the overall rent is definitely expensive, so he usually shares it with others. This is similar to sharing an apartment.
(3) Living with the landlord
There will be some families in the local community of the school who want international students to live in their homes, and the school usually has a list of these families. Or the landlord rents out his spare room, and you can do some housework, such as babysitting or housework. In exchange, families provide students with free housing or lower rents. However, if you live with the landlord, the differences in living habits and culture can easily cause friction, and it is still quite difficult to get along with the landlord.
Lease channel
1, application for school dormitory
It is safer and easier to apply for the dormitory provided by the school, but it is more difficult to apply.
2, the school forum, or contact seniors.
There will be posts in the school forum to share. This is the easiest place to find information about renting a house for international students in China, and you may meet like-minded roommates. During the holidays, a large number of students will post and share information on the forum. If possible, it is the most effective and accurate way to find a house by contacting the seniors and sisters of the school. They have field experience and can tell you a lot about their experience. More importantly, although finding a house is a common problem faced by every student, the fastest way to get these minority information is to find it because the situation in each place is different. In the QQ group of some school students, there may be authoritative experience in finding a house written by previous students. Many freshmen also hide some China intermediaries, so it is the most smooth and practical to communicate with China people. Although their house is not much cheaper, it can at least ensure that the deposit you paid can be returned in time, and if there is any problem at home, you will find someone to repair it in time. At the same time, the inconvenience may be that there are more people sharing a family, and it is easy to produce contradictions when using public facilities.
Step 3 rent a website
There are two main types of rental websites.
(1) Domestic Student Renting Website
It is mainly a website for international students to rent houses, and there are also cooperative houses overseas. Contact in advance before going abroad, and we will choose the housing according to your situation. Awehome website provides customized services, and will screen the houses for you according to your rental budget, environment, location and other factors. Moreover, it will provide you with an inspection report, and someone will personally inspect the house and provide you with an inspection report in the form of pictures and videos, which is more intuitive. And can provide shuttle service, more worry-free.
Part of Awehome's listings in Toronto
(2) Foreign rental platforms
Foreign professional rental websites are not only for students, but also for society. However, Bian Xiao does not recommend that children's shoes rented abroad for the first time choose this way to find a house for two reasons. First, compared with student housing, this kind of housing search is more risky and easier to be cheated or suffer losses. Second, even if you find a house, you may be far away from your classmates. When you are new here, you can act alone, which is not convenient for mutual concern and communication.
Matters needing attention in renting a house
1, house location
Pay attention to whether the housing location is close to the place where you study, how the surrounding environment is, and whether it is convenient to travel.
Home page list details
2. Room equipment
Whether the room is fully equipped and all kinds of household appliances are complete, life will be very cheap and it is convenient to cook by yourself. On the contrary, if household appliances are really what you need, they will be expensive to buy.
3. About roommates
There are three kinds of roommates. One is to rent a house with friends you know. It's no big deal, and there's nothing to worry about. Another is to live with the owner, and finally compete with a strange friend for a house. In the latter two cases, we must pay attention to their behaviors and habits in advance. If you live with the owner, pay attention to the details of his behavior when looking at the house.
If you share a room with other strangers, generally speaking, people who share a room online will leave their contact information. You can add a contact information, so that you can get a general understanding of each other's quality from their tone during the chat. It is important to clearly lay out some requirements of both parties to see whether pets can be kept, which pets are unacceptable and whether there will be noisy situations (playing the piano, etc.). ) and whether there will be peace. Only by making it clear can we avoid disputes with roommates to the greatest extent. If you feel that you can't get along, then find another house as soon as possible!
4. About signing a contract
The contract is necessary, and most of the pits for renting houses are in the contract. First of all, the contract must be signed! No matter long-term rental short rent! In addition, even if the contract is in English, it looks a bit difficult. Please be sure to dig it out word by word! Don't rush to sign, or there is no place to cry when you die! Generally speaking, the lease contract should at least have the addresses and houses of both parties, how long the lease period is, and in what form the rental deposit will be paid. And before moving in, it is best to take pictures of the house for the record, so as to produce evidence in case of disputes in the future (for example, the landlord may blame you for damaging something). Otherwise, you will be badly cheated.