ANU Accommodation (2 Viewers)

[qfa380]

I know there's the epic thread up top about this but I can't read it so I'm after some help.

It looks ike I'll be going to ANU this year but it wasn't my first preference and it was really just a backup. It helped too when my mum told me the day of offers that she thought it'd be best if I moved to Canberra rather than Sydney.
Alas this unexpected change has left me without having applied for on-campus accommodation. I emailed unilodge but they were pretty useless about it and I doubt I'd get in anyway.

Which pretty much leaves a sharehouse situation as the only option. Question is of course how do I get one? I emailed a whole bunch of people from the accommodation portal that I liked (about 20) and got 5 replies only 2 of which wanted me to check the place out, but neither of which were really suitable.

Is there another, better way of finding a place? Should I call them rather than email?
I'll have plenty of time, I'll go down in the first week of February and stay at the yha until I can find somewhere thats good, but it'd be helpful to know as much as I could before I go.

Any info would be thoroughly appreciated, sorry for the essay.

 

[Studentleader]

I have emailed 4 people only got 1 reply - I'm flying over on the 31st January and staying with my Aunt until I can find a place (which will hopefully be soon!)

I'd get my own place (i.e. rent with someone else) though I'd want it to be furnished and close to uni :\

 

[vikraman]

Sorry to crush your hopes guys but it is nearly impossible to find a rental property in Canberra without searching for one at least two months in advance. Canberra has a 99% rental occupancy rate. I suggest you find a person to stay with while looking for a house, it will take a pretty long while. Try visiting a real estate agent when you're done, sometimes they have pretty reasonable deals.

 

[ajdlinux]

Yes, it takes forever to find places to rent in Canberra. I know people who have been searching since October and only just found a place. Find people to stay with and keep searching, but it's unlikely you'll find a place before uni starts.

 

[qfa380]

Damn that sucks. What do people do? Is it that hard to find somewhere to live with someone? I don't actually know any people at all in Canberra, I'm not after my own place to rent, at least not for the moment.
Is it bad enough that I should defer, at least for a semester? I don't really want to do that, at all but if I absolutely have to.

 

[Studentleader]

I was told I should arrive in Canberra 3 weeks before I need to be there in order to seearch for a rental/share house on ANU's website :\

 

[Mathy]

From http://accom.anu.edu.au/UAS/977/179.html

"When should I start to look for off campus housing?
Make sure you arrive in Canberra at least three weeks prior to your intended date of occupancy. Don’t expect to find something on the first day you start looking, give yourself enough time and make sure you have somewhere to stay in the meantime. Depending on the time of year you arrive, it can take weeks or even months to secure accommodation. The beginning of the year is the most difficult time."

Now I feel sorry for everyone that has to find off campus accommodation!

 

[azsakura]

damn.. i just hope anu can give a notice whether there are accomodation left on campus so we dont have to wait for it and just rush to canberra now..

 

[ajdlinux]

damn.. i just hope anu can give a notice whether there are accomodation left on campus so we dont have to wait for it and just rush to canberra now..

I can tell you almost with certainty that there won't be if it's anything like last year.

 

[vikraman]

I can tell you almost with certainty that there won't be if it's anything like last year.

With the new UL they should have enough space for everyone who wants to live on-campus no? 500 new places there should sort everyone out considering last year they had 140 stragglers. Highly unlikely that the number of people who want to live on-campus would increase so dramatically.

qfa380, how about family? Distant relatives even. You can't be going to uni and doing your work from the YHA. Have you tried giving UniLodge a call to find out if they still have any rooms?

 

[Studentleader]

qfa380, how about family? Distant relatives even. You can't be going to uni and doing your work from the YHA. Have you tried giving UniLodge a call to find out if they still have any rooms?

Nothing on their site I believe.

Might resort to an expensive city apartment to share P:

 

[qfa380]

Yeah I emailed UniLodge to explain the predicament, here's what they said back.
'Unfortunately, at the moment we can only offer our rooms to the guaranteed students, ie. first-year full-time undergraduate who have applied online with the University's Accommodation Services.

If you have not done so, all we can do now is ask you to fill in an application form and we can put you on the waitlist.'

On the ANU portal you cannot apply though, leaves me wondering what on earth she means....

Yeah Canberra is one place I don't have any relatives, at all.
The YHA is really just until I can figure something else out, I booked it today for 2 weeks, ending during O week, looking around the internet plenty of people are offering sharehouses up, think I'll be fine.
Thanks heaps for your concern though, people like you guys make me think ANU will be a fantastic place!

 

[ajdlinux]

With the new UL they should have enough space for everyone who wants to live on-campus no? 500 new places there should sort everyone out considering last year they had 140 stragglers. Highly unlikely that the number of people who want to live on-campus would increase so dramatically.

That's true, SA3 will cover a lot - still going to take a while to sort out though. Also UL is in some ways worse than living off-campus...

 

[Sammy-Blue]

Yeah I emailed UniLodge to explain the predicament, here's what they said back.
'Unfortunately, at the moment we can only offer our rooms to the guaranteed students, ie. first-year full-time undergraduate who have applied online with the University's Accommodation Services.

If you have not done so, all we can do now is ask you to fill in an application form and we can put you on the waitlist.'

On the ANU portal you cannot apply though, leaves me wondering what on earth she means....

Yeah Canberra is one place I don't have any relatives, at all.
The YHA is really just until I can figure something else out, I booked it today for 2 weeks, ending during O week, looking around the internet plenty of people are offering sharehouses up, think I'll be fine.
Thanks heaps for your concern though, people like you guys make me think ANU will be a fantastic place!

She means give an application form to Uni Lodge (probably best to fax at this stage), they do not require you to go through the accom portal. As others have said, it is possible you may still get a place due to the addition of UL3. Having said that, I would still apply to transfer to an actual college at the earliest possible date. Uni Lodge still does not have the atmosphere of the other colleges, although apparently UL1 isn't too bad these days.

 

[Studentleader]

>Email people who have made an advertisement like 3 hours ago
>Get no reply....ever...

Rage

 

[Sammy-Blue]

>implying

 

[maud]

Another thing, once you get to ANU, go to all the halls/colleges and give your name to them. There is a chance they have someone pull out of the college in the days before O-week (I have friends who have their names down to return to the hall, but are currently trying to find a house to move out to). The halls don't want empty rooms and are likely to let people move into spare rooms during O-week/after O-week for the no-shows

 

[vikraman]

Another thing, once you get to ANU, go to all the halls/colleges and give your name to them. There is a chance they have someone pull out of the college in the days before O-week (I have friends who have their names down to return to the hall, but are currently trying to find a house to move out to). The halls don't want empty rooms and are likely to let people move into spare rooms during O-week/after O-week for the no-shows

Agreed, lots of people leave because they planned to leave before but just didn't say no to a room just in case and also people who can't deal with living in college but find out too late or my personal favourite, people to decide they can't handle going to university and just kinda leave. Rooms come up open throughout the term so just be on the lookout.

 

[Nelke]

Agreed, lots of people leave because they planned to leave before but just didn't say no to a room just in case and also people who can't deal with living in college but find out too late or my personal favourite, people to decide they can't handle going to university and just kinda leave. Rooms come up open throughout the term so just be on the lookout.

So out of curiosity - how does one go about getting one of these future-vacated rooms? As Maud said, would I just go around to the dorms, talk to the Reception and say "Hey, let me know if anyone moves out because I really want to move in?" Or is there anything specific that needs to be done?

And just be on the lookout, how so? Do the dorms make an announcement or anything when there are vacancies? Or what?

 

[vikraman]

So out of curiosity - how does one go about getting one of these future-vacated rooms? As Maud said, would I just go around to the dorms, talk to the Reception and say "Hey, let me know if anyone moves out because I really want to move in?" Or is there anything specific that needs to be done?

And just be on the lookout, how so? Do the dorms make an announcement or anything when there are vacancies? Or what?

Yeah that's pretty much it, just drop by the reception and say if anyone leaves you know, i'm the man/woman for you. Use a threatening voice. Leaving a dead horses head in the Dean's bed is known to be very effective as well. They don't announce if they have vacancies, you just gotta ask diligently. Good luck!