First-hand advice for new tenants
Hello people,
As many of you will be coming to Norwich, or England in general, to study, I thought it is a good idea to inform you about the critiria you should pay attention to when choosing your new house/accomodation. Having lived outside campus for 2 years and having moved into two different houses in Norwich, I can tell you that I have made all the wrong choices one can make when choosing a house so listen up in order to learn from my mistakes!
If you found an advertisment or if you heard about a house which sounds interesting, all you have to do is to find the contact information of the owner and ask him for a "viewing". He/She will then arrange for you to view the house and see it from inside. Now, this is the most important moment of your decision-making process. The first thing you need to check when you walk in the house is the temperature. If your viewing is on Summer and the house is really hot, this normally means that the house is very easily affected by the temperature outside which means that it is going to be very hot on Summer and very cold on Winter. Trust me, this is a big problem, both for your comfort and your "pocket" as you will have to use the heating and the airconditioning almost all the time. For the same reason, make sure you check if the house is double-glazed.
Also, always ask the tenants about their personal opinion of the house in private, not in front of the house-owner, so you can get a honest opinion about it. They will be able to give you most of the pros and cons of the house in an unbiased manner. Another very important thing to observe is whether or not the house and the rooms are soundproof. You would be surprised by how the amount of inconvinience you would experience when living in a non-soundproof house. You would basically have no personal space as everyone will be able to tell what you are doing, let alone that you would sometimes stay awake because you cannot sleep while your housemate is watching his/her favourite midnight show! So, again, ask the tenants or test this yourself.
One more detail you need to check is if you have phone signal in all the rooms of the house. I personally do not have phone signal in my house and I can tell you that is one of the most annoying things having to walk outside in the cold to text/call or recieve texts/calls! Ask about the speed of the internet connection too (around 8-10 megabits per second is okay). Last thing to check is the light in the rooms. England is pretty cloudy anyway so you would probably like the little amount of sunshine there is to be able to light up your room. On the other hand, you should test if the curtains are enough to block the daylight so you can enjoy some siestas sometimes. One last thing, and off the record, in case you are thinking about having some fun-times with friends at your place, I advice you to check if the neighbors are the type of people who would tolerate late-night noise. Families and old people are usually the ones who do not tolerate any noise whatsoever.
So, that's it from me. I hope this helps with your decision and you do not end up making wrong decisions like me. Have a nice stay in Norwich! :-)
All the best,
Giorgos, Greek Ambassador
As many of you will be coming to Norwich, or England in general, to study, I thought it is a good idea to inform you about the critiria you should pay attention to when choosing your new house/accomodation. Having lived outside campus for 2 years and having moved into two different houses in Norwich, I can tell you that I have made all the wrong choices one can make when choosing a house so listen up in order to learn from my mistakes!
If you found an advertisment or if you heard about a house which sounds interesting, all you have to do is to find the contact information of the owner and ask him for a "viewing". He/She will then arrange for you to view the house and see it from inside. Now, this is the most important moment of your decision-making process. The first thing you need to check when you walk in the house is the temperature. If your viewing is on Summer and the house is really hot, this normally means that the house is very easily affected by the temperature outside which means that it is going to be very hot on Summer and very cold on Winter. Trust me, this is a big problem, both for your comfort and your "pocket" as you will have to use the heating and the airconditioning almost all the time. For the same reason, make sure you check if the house is double-glazed.
Also, always ask the tenants about their personal opinion of the house in private, not in front of the house-owner, so you can get a honest opinion about it. They will be able to give you most of the pros and cons of the house in an unbiased manner. Another very important thing to observe is whether or not the house and the rooms are soundproof. You would be surprised by how the amount of inconvinience you would experience when living in a non-soundproof house. You would basically have no personal space as everyone will be able to tell what you are doing, let alone that you would sometimes stay awake because you cannot sleep while your housemate is watching his/her favourite midnight show! So, again, ask the tenants or test this yourself.
One more detail you need to check is if you have phone signal in all the rooms of the house. I personally do not have phone signal in my house and I can tell you that is one of the most annoying things having to walk outside in the cold to text/call or recieve texts/calls! Ask about the speed of the internet connection too (around 8-10 megabits per second is okay). Last thing to check is the light in the rooms. England is pretty cloudy anyway so you would probably like the little amount of sunshine there is to be able to light up your room. On the other hand, you should test if the curtains are enough to block the daylight so you can enjoy some siestas sometimes. One last thing, and off the record, in case you are thinking about having some fun-times with friends at your place, I advice you to check if the neighbors are the type of people who would tolerate late-night noise. Families and old people are usually the ones who do not tolerate any noise whatsoever.
So, that's it from me. I hope this helps with your decision and you do not end up making wrong decisions like me. Have a nice stay in Norwich! :-)
All the best,
Giorgos, Greek Ambassador
Interesting things to look out for :-)
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