Hello again!
Here's everything you need to know about campus and off-campus accommodation!
Settling in into your new city is essential to enjoy your stay, but it's not an easy task, actually it can be a very hard task if you don't know how it works.
The first thing you need to think is if you want to stay in a campus, off-campus accommodation or leasing a place. Campus and student accommodation is way easier because you can make the arrangements at home, arrive in Sydney and have a place for the rest of your stay since day 1. Formally leasing a place can get a lot harder as you'll need to look for a place and attend the inspections while you're in Sydney which can take you from 1 to 4 weeks if not more! (So you'll need to arrange temporal accommodation while you're looking for a long term place.)
Campus accommodation
UTS offers their students plenty of in-campus housing options.
They offer share apartments (two to nine-bedroom apartments with a common living room, kitchen and bathroom facilities) or If you want to live in your own personal space they offer Studio apartments (a self-contained area including bedroom, bathroom and kitchen facilities.)
UTS Housing consists of 5 separate buildings, called Yura Mudang, Gumal Ngurang, Bulga Ngurra, Geegal and Wattle Lane which offer a range different options.
Student residences always offer affordable accommodation with all different kinds of services and they are always close to supermarkets, restaurants and services so you can have easy access to all of those.
I would recommend checking out @UTShousing's Instagram account to get a broader idea of the experience!
Off-Campus Accommodation
Due to high demand on campus accommodation there may be no rooms available but here there are a few links for off-campus student housing around UTS that offer pretty much the same services as UTS housing. (It should help a lot!).
Leasing
You may want to live in a specific location so student accommodation doesn't work for you, there is always the option to lease a property that fits your needs but you need to be really careful.
First of all you need to make sure that you're looking for a property in a safe web page, you don't want to be scammed in a false leasing profile! (The following links are professional real estate companies which should help you find something.)
This agencies work this way:
First, you'll need to decide the location you want to live in, in the web pages above you'll be asked to log your needs (location, rooms, baths, size, price etc...) Then they will show you pictures of the places available for your budget and needs.
The second part is to apply or send an email to the agents assigned for each property you like and ask them more detailed info about it, it could be payment options, leasing time, availability and everything you wish to know.
The third part is to attend the inspections, see if the property fits your needs and formally apply to those available properties, they will ask you to send a lot of information about you (Passports, bank accounts, your home's address, visa, etc... ).
The last and hardest part of leasing a property is to get your application accepted, usually inspections have many more groups of people attending at the same time and unfortunately the landlords will prefer leasing a property to a grown up couple or family instead of a group of noisy students. haha :(
Read the next post to see real students experiences about housing!
So... go on! best of luck looking for a place! Remember to share your opinion and experience with us in the comments section below!