In the first instance you should contact us by email or phone to arrange a viewing, and we will email or send you a specimen house-specific tenancy agreement. If after viewing the property and having examined the tenancy agreement you wish to proceed, the tenancy is secured when all tenants have signed the tenancy agreement and all have paid their share of the agreed security deposit.

Often tenancy agreements are signed several months in advance of the start of the tenancy. The security deposits in part are to ensure us of your commitment to the tenancy, and to protect us against financial loss should you withdraw for any reason. Mainly however, the deposits protect us to some extent against financial loss due to damage to the property or unpaid bills, etc. The deposits (less any necessary deductions) are returned to you no later than ten days after the tenancy ends.

Yes, all tenants will be given their own copy of the tenancy agreement along with a receipt for their security deposit.

The houses are extensively equipped for comfortable living, including sophisticated cooking if needed. To practically assist our tenants coming from abroad, we provide them with basic bedding and bed linen, but our experience is that UK based tenants prefer to provide these items personally.

Yes. As soon as the departing tenants move out, any necessary repairs are swiftly carried out, and any missing items from the inventory are replaced. The house is then professionally cleaned prior to the new tenants taking residence.

You will be given a list of contact numbers when you take up the tenancy, and in all cases you should contact us promptly if you are having any problems. Whatever the problem, we will take steps to rectify matters as soon as is appropriate for the circumstances (clearly a torrential leak from a burst pipe would be dealt with more urgently than a broken toaster).

No, our insurance only covers the building itself and any contents provided by us as landlords. You will need to take out insurance cover for your own belongings through a specialist insurer (such as Endsleigh). The Students Union should be able to assist you with this.

As tenants, you will be liable for gas, electricity and water charges for your property, unless the property details state that some of these are included in your rent. The method for paying for these utilities varies between houses, so you will be given full and specific details regarding the payment methods for your property when you take up the tenancy.

As long as all tenants in a property are full-time students of either Durham University of New College, there is no liability to Council Tax. We do however require all our tenants to obtain an appropriate certificate from their educational establishment confirming their full-time student status, so we can pass this on to Durham City Council. Unfortunately, due to previous problems in this area, any Council Tax ultimately paid by us through failure of students to produce this documentation in a reasonable timeframe must be recovered from the security deposits.

All of our properties except those in Nevilledale Terrace have free on or off street parking for a minimum of two cars. Tenants in our Nevilledale Terrace properties can obtain parking permits for a maximum of two cars per property through NCP by paying an annual fee of approximately £35. These permit holders can also obtain heavily discounted parking 'scratchcards' for use by other tenants if needed. Full details will be given on taking up a tenancy in either of these two houses.

It depends. Our Framwellgate properties include this in the rent, our central Durham properties do not. If you intend using a TV in your property and a TV license is not included in the rent, you will need to buy one at any Post Office.