A well-checked home near your child's university in Kensington

We search for 4 weeks (longer if we both agree, at no extra cost). We visit homes in person or show them to you on a live video call, and negotiate the rent and terms with the landlord for you.

Safety in the home is the landlord's legal duty. Before the student signs, we check that the landlord has provided the gas safety certificate, the electrical safety report (EICR) and the energy certificate (EPC), that the smoke and carbon-monoxide alarms work, and that the deposit will be protected in a government scheme. At the viewing we also look at the front door and the entry system.

Most homes we suggest are let furnished, with a bed, a desk, storage, a kitchen and a bathroom. Some include bills and Wi-Fi; we tell you clearly for each one. A home where everyone is a full-time student is exempt from council tax, but the exemption is not automatic: you apply with the university's student certificate. With your consent, we fill in the application.

Gas, electricity, water and internet accounts in the student's name. The student pays the suppliers directly, by card or direct debit.

Council tax: with your consent, we apply for the student exemption with the university's student certificate (councils do not accept a CAS or an offer letter). If one adult in the home is not a full-time student, there is only a 25 % discount; with two or more, the full bill is due. Any council tax is paid directly to the council.

TV licence: needed to watch live TV or BBC iPlayer, one for each separate tenancy. There is no student discount.

With package 3 (an unfurnished home that you furnish yourself with our advice), we advise on what to buy. You order from the shops and pay them and the delivery directly. If the student is not in London yet, we can be there to receive the deliveries. We never buy furniture to resell it to you, and no money passes through us.

The student pays the holding deposit and the deposit directly to the landlord or their agent. We never hold your money. The deposit is capped at 5 weeks' rent (6 weeks if the rent is £50,000 a year or more, about £4,167 a month) and must be protected in a government-approved scheme within 30 days; it comes back at the end, minus any agreed deductions. The landlord or their agent should record the condition of the home at check-in and at check-out, ideally through an independent inventory clerk; these reports are what any deduction is judged against. We check the check-in report with the student and raise anything missing straight away. The student never pays for the inventory. A holding deposit is at most 1 week's rent. Tenancy rules in England changed in 2026 (Renters' Rights Act), so we go through the agreement with you line by line before the student signs.

In England, someone under 18 cannot hold a tenancy in their own name. If the student is under 18 when you sign with us, a parent or legal guardian signs our agreement as the client and pays the fee; the student is the person we search for, who lives in the home. We then search only for: a tenancy in the parent's name, with the student living there; a room in university halls or a private student residence that accepts under-18s with a parent's agreement; or a tenancy that starts on or after the student's 18th birthday.

Rent is paid by bank transfer to the landlord or their agent, never in cash and never through us. Since 1 May 2026, for most private tenancies, a landlord may ask for at most 1 month's rent in advance, paid after the tenancy is signed. Do not pay several months upfront. Before any first payment, check the bank details with us on a WhatsApp or video call: bank details sent or changed by email are the most common rental scam.

Not for most private tenancies (assured tenancies). Since 1 May 2026, under the Renters' Rights Act, a landlord or agent cannot ask for, encourage or accept rent before the tenancy agreement is signed, and once it is signed can ask for at most 1 month's rent in advance. Paying 6 or 12 months upfront, which is how many overseas students used to be accepted, is no longer the way in. University halls and some other lettings follow different rules.

Many landlords ask for a guarantor based in the UK, and with rent upfront now capped, this is often the first question families abroad ask. The usual routes are: a guarantor who lives in the UK, such as a relative or a friend; a commercial rent-guarantor company, which the student or family chooses and pays directly; or university halls or a private student residence, which often need no UK guarantor. Each landlord or agent decides what it accepts. We do not sell guarantor services and take no commission from guarantor companies.

We work only for the student and the family, and only you pay us. We take no fee, commission or referral payment from landlords or letting agents, and we never act for them. When we negotiate the rent and terms, we do it for you.

We take no commission from furniture shops or from gas, electricity, water or internet suppliers. If that ever changes, we tell you in writing, before we recommend a supplier, who pays it and how much.

The landlord or their agent must check the student's passport and visa (the Right to Rent check). Students from abroad usually do this with a UKVI share code, and we help the student get one. Landlords usually also ask for the university offer letter. We tell you exactly what to prepare.