Breaking news: you will not be left homeless if you haven’t found a house in November

The month of November rolls in, and cue the wave of panicked freshers expecting to be left without a home for their second year if they haven’t found a house and signed a contract by the end of this month.

You’ll probably end up living here

This rush leads to a few fairly inevitable conclusions, firstly vis-a-vis potential housemates.

The horrifying prospect of being left alone without anyone to live with takes over all reason, and hundreds of freshers will decide that six weeks of knowing someone is long enough to commit to a 44 week-long housing contract with them.

Equally rash decisions are often made regarding the future house itself. Suddenly, paying £130 per week for a single bed in a house 25 minutes’ walk away from main campus seems reasonable, as there is always the chance that the city will run out of houses.

You shouldn’t be paying extortionate rent to live somewhere as far as Mount Pleasant

Enough of this madness.

Disgruntled second and third year students are forced to begin as early as November to expect their landlord to show prospective renters around their house, usually in the morning after a night out, and if they are particularly unlucky they can expect groups of wide-eyed freshers knocking on the front door at all hours “just to have a look around”.

Freshers, save us from having to tidy our rooms more often than we should, and from having to clean up the mess from pre-drinks anytime before the next evening. Let us have this month to mentally prepare.

Save yourselves from spending another year living with that irritating housemate whose “quirks” will not become any more bearable.

Wherever you live, you’ll probably end up always meeting your friends here

Taking the time to properly assess who would really make a good housemate, exploring several houses around different areas and with different landlords is worth it.

So take a step back, relax, and remember: it’s perfectly possible to find a good house in a decent area for under £100 per week, and it’s even possible to find one in term two.