Moving into your Manchester student house: the first-week checklist
Keys in hand, boxes everywhere. These are the things worth doing in the first week that are a pain to sort out in March.
- Walk round with the inventory. Photograph every room, every mark and every appliance on day one and send anything that is wrong to us in writing. This is what protects your deposit at the end.
- Take meter readings. Gas, electricity and water if metered, with a photo of each. If bills are not included, set up the accounts in the group's names that week.
- Sort your council tax exemption. Full-time students are exempt, but the council needs to know. Your university can issue a certificate; send it to Manchester City Council so no bill arrives.
- Register with a GP. There are practices in Fallowfield, Withington and Rusholme, and the university health service covers the campus.
- Find out the bin day. Manchester collects different bins on different weeks. A missed fortnight in a house of six is noticeable.
- Check the alarms. Press the test button on the smoke alarms and the carbon monoxide alarm; tell us if any does not sound.
- Think about contents insurance. The building is insured by the landlord; your laptop and bike are not. Some parents' home policies cover students, so ask before buying.
- TV licence. Watching live TV or BBC iPlayer in the house needs one, shared between you or held by one person.
- Save our numbers. The office line, WhatsApp and the repair reporting link. If something stops working, report it online with a photo and keep the reference on your phone.
Welcome to Manchester. If anything in the house is not right, report it in the first week and we will get it sorted.
