Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Contents
Overview ................................................................................................................ 3
Temporary accommodation ................................................................................... 4
Permanent accommodation .................................................................................... 7
How to find accommodation .................................................................................. 9
Where to live?......................................................................................................... 11
Important information about renting ..................................................................... 13
Moving in ............................................................................................................... 16
Useful contacts ....................................................................................................... 19
Please note
The information provided here is intended as a guide only. The accommodation facilities
referred to in this guide are not owned or operated by ACU, nor do they have any
affiliation with the University.
It is the students responsibility to make contact with providers, arrange inspections and
to make their own judgment on the suitability of the accommodation being offered.
ACU will not be responsible or held liable in any way to tenancy or any other
negotiations between the provider and the student.
Information updated: November 2013
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Overview
Welcome to ACU!
Looking for accommodation, especially in unfamiliar surroundings, can be a daunting
and time consuming process but be patient! It is quite common for it to take up to four
weeks to find suitable accommodation.
Moving can also be an expensive process so it is better to spend time finding the right
accommodation rather than to move into a place quickly and find out shortly after that
it is not suitable.
The process of renting can be confusing and if you are unsure about anything, including
any paperwork, GET ADVICE. Do not sign anything if you do not understand it.
Find out as much as possible about the accommodation before you commit.
Keeping safe
It may also be the first time you are living away from home so it is important that you
consider your health, safety and wellbeing at all times. Information can be found here.
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Temporary accommodation
Many students prefer to look for temporary accommodation on arrival in Australia and
move to longer-term accommodation once they have settled in.
There is a range of temporary accommodation available and most of it is within easy
reach of ACUs North Sydney campus.
Below are some suggestions with details and costs (please check with the provider
directly for up to date costs).
A Bond/Deposit is required for all bookings.
North Sydney Campus
Glenferrie Lodge:
From $45* a night in a dormitory (4 beds)
From $60* a night in a single economy
From $65* a night in a single standard
*all rates include hot buffet breakfast and shared
bathroom facilities.
Go to www.glenferrielodge.com for more information.
Carnarvon Lodge:
Greenwich Village
UniLodge Sydney
Semester in Australia
This service is for students who are in Australia for one semester only and includes an
accommodation service where you can organize a place to live before you leave home.
www.semesterinaustralia.com
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Guest Houses
Urbannest
Strathfield Campus
Ibis Budget Enfield
Canberra Campus
Northbourne Lodge
Canberra YHA (Youth Hostel) From $28 per night for a dorm room (10 share mixed)
From $35 per night for a dorm room (4 share single sex
dorms)
From $99 per night for a double room
Look at www3.yha.com.au for more information.
Mackillop House
If you are looking for short to long term hotel stay, you can find reduced rates through
www.independentstudentliving.net.au. This company offers hotel deals for students although prices are cheaper if you decide to stay for longer periods. This website is
suitable for North Sydney and Strathfield campus only.
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Other alternatives for cheaper temporary accommodation are back packers, youth
hostels or bed and breakfast type accommodation and many of these can be found by
searching the internet.
Some of this accommodation may be suitable for longer term stays over a semester and
you should discuss the price for a longer stay as it may be discounted.
Hostelworld (www.hostelworld.com) also has an excellent range of hostels.
Homestay
Students can organise Homestay for both temporary accommodation and permanent
accommodation. There is a minimum length of stay of 4 weeks for temporary bookings.
The cost of homestay is from $200 per week (depending on the type of homestay
service you choose), plus $240 booking fee.
Payment must be made prior to Homestay accommodation being confirmed.
Students can book through our Homestay provider The Australian Homestay Network
(AHN)
For more information and to book:
Phone: 1300 679 829
www.homestaynetwork.org.
Payment must be made prior to Homestay accommodation being confirmed.
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Permanent accommodation
Looking for accommodation can be time-consuming and demanding but it is better to
take your time and find the accommodation which is right for you.
Factors to consider include:
Location
Type of Accommodation
If you have come to Australia with friends you may wish to obtain a house
together or alternatively you may be seeking privacy and wish to have
accommodation on your own. If you are going to set up or move into a sharehouse then it is important that you discuss how the bills will be paid, how
groceries will be shared/divided, cleaning schedule and agreements about
noise, parties and having people over.
Do you want your own kitchen and bathroom or are you happy to share with
others?
Some student accommodation providers offer private rooms with shared
kitchen and/or bathroom facilities. Share-houses are when a group of
people, either friends or strangers, rent a house together, having their own
bedrooms but sharing all other living areas.
Private accommodation is usually more expensive but you get to have your
own kitchen and bathroom.
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Would you like to move into a fully furnished house with a family/host who
would provide all/most of your meals?
Living with a family or host is called Homestay or boarding. The price can
seem quite high but the amount that you pay includes the cost of food
(usually at least breakfast and dinner is provided), utilities and rent. You also
do not need to worry about organizing furniture or connection of gas/water
and electricity.
Costs
It is important to have a budget in mind when looking for accommodation. The budget
should include everything, such as:
-
Rent
Groceries/Food
Travel money
Utilities (phone, gas, electricity etc.)
School fees (if applicable)
Text books/ stationery/ photocopying
Entertainment
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Camperdown Memorial
Park
Cheap eats in
the local area
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Canberra
ACU Student Accommodation Canberra
ACU is pleased to offer three accommodation options for students in 2014:
ACU Managed Residences self-catered accommodation in share houses managed by the
university
MacKillop House (for females only) dorm-style accommodation with meals provided
Australian Institute of Sport dorm-style accommodation with meals provided
For further information, please click here.
Private rental and share-house accommodation:
www.realestate.com.au
www.domain.com.au
www.roomz.com/rooms
www.flatmatefinders.com.au
www.flatmates.com.au
http://au.easyroommate.com
www.shareaccommodation.org
www.sharedstudentaccommodation.com/wantroom
www.gumtree.com.au
Student Accommodation Providers
www.unilodge.com.au
www.austudent.com
Homestay Accommodation Providers
You can apply for homestay accommodation by going to the AHN website
www.homestaynetwork.org
Newspapers
The Age Newspaper Saturday Edition lists rental properties
The Sydney Morning Herald Sun - Saturday and Wednesday editions.
The Mosman Daily
The Glebe
Notice Boards
Many people advertise house shares on notice boards around the campuses so it is
always worth a look here too.
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Where to live?
These are some popular suburbs for students to find affordable and accessible rental
properties:
Close to the Uni*:
Suburbs close to North Sydney: Crows Nest, Kirribilli, Milsons Point, Chatswood, St
Leonards, Waverton, Wollstonecraft.
Suburbs close to Strathfield: Strathfield South, Burwood, Enfield, Five Dock, Ashfield.
Suburbs close to Canberra: Watson, Downer, Bruce, Ainslie, Hackett, OConnor.
20-60 mins travel by train / bus / bike:
Sydney Suburbs: Western (Burwood, Ashfield) and Southern (Hurstville, Rockdale,
Kogarah) suburbs.
Canberra Suburbs: Most suburbs within Canberra are quite close (within 30 mins travel
time to each other).
*Accommodation close to ACU, especially North Sydney campus, can be quite expensive
and in high demand. Further away from campus, accommodation is often of better
quality and cheaper. But your travel expenses may be higher you need to look into these
things when deciding where to live.
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Sydney suburbs
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For more information about the terms and conditions of each agreement, follow this
link to the Renting Guide.
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Moving in
Utilities and Phone connections
In some accommodation situations, such some student accommodation facilities, you
do not need to worry about paying or connecting utilities (electricity, gas, water) as
these will be included in the price of your rent.
If you move into a private rental property or an empty share house with friends it will be
your responsibility to organize the utility connections. Utility companies usually require
at least 48 hours notice to have the utility switched on and can sometimes charge a fee
for the service. Rental agents can sometimes organize these for you and although you
will have to pay a fee for the service it may be a quicker and easier option that
contacting the companies yourself.
Most international students do not install landline phones and are happy to use their
mobile phones for day to day use instead. If you do wish to install a landline it is
important to remember that you are charged rental on the phone line, not just for the
calls you make. The cost of local calls in Australia is 0.50 cents per call.
Furniture
If you are moving into an unfurnished property then finding some furniture will be a
high priority when you move in!
Second-hand furniture is a great option for students trying to find cheap household
goods. Op-shops (Opportunity shops) often have pre-loved tables, chairs, couches etc.
that are very cheap, and so too do private garage sales.
Find superstores around Sydney:
Ikea www.ikea.com.au
Fantastic Furniture www.fantasticfurniture.com.au
The Good Guys www.thegoodguys.com.au
The Moore Park Supercentre (Sydney), has a few of these shops and there is a bus that
runs from Central Station directly to Moore Park (near Centennial Park). For a small
charge you can get your furniture delivered.
Find charity shops around Sydney:
St Vincent De Paul and Salvation Army stores for second hand items.
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The Trading Post Newspaper Trading Post newspaper and website comes out every
Thursday for private sellers of all types of items including furniture. Website:
www.tradingpost.com.au.
You can also find second hand goods on:
www.gumtree.com.au
You may also want to look into renting furniture and household goods, try the Yellow
Pages index under Hire- Household Appliances and Furniture. Website:
www.yellowpages.com.au
If you dont much like the idea of second-hand furniture there are also many stores that
carry affordable household items:
www.kmart.com.au
www.target.com.au
www.bunnings.com.au
www.bigW.com.au
www.ikea.com.au
It is worthwhile to visiting a number of different shops before you choose one. You will
find that the price and quality of the items will vary quite substantially between
different retailers. While it is expensive initially to set up your home with furniture,
remember that when you leave it is possible for you to sell them to other students or to
second hand shops/disposals or even to advertise them in the local newspaper.
Connecting Services
Unless someone is already living in the accommodation, the new tenant must organize
utility services, such as telephone, electricity, gas and water. This requires contacting
each individual company and arranging for the services to be connected from a specified
date. The companies providing these utilities also require a small security deposit.
Instead of making numerous calls to different companies, there are utility provider
companies who do all the work for you. If someone has vacated the property before
you, contacting these utility companies for connection of services will ensure all
previous accounts have been finalised and paid for by the previous tenant.
There are a number of these companies who will help you by arranging your phone,
electricity, gas, water, internet and pay TV. This company does not charge for its
services; however you will have to pay connection fees for the utilities you require. You
can contact each of the various utility suppliers yourself if you prefer e.g. Origin Energy
for gas and electricity, or Optus or Telstra for phone and internet connections etc.
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Connectnow
UtilityOne
eMove
FastConnect
Origin
Telstra
Optus
www.connectnow.com.au
www.utilityone.com.au
www.emove.com.au
www.fastconnect.com.au
www.originenergy.com.au
www.telstra.com.au
www.optus.net.au
Paying Bills
There are a few different ways that you can pay your bills in Australia. Check with the
service provider or read your bill to check which payment options they accept. Some of
the options are:
Australia Post Office - if you want to pay by savings card or with cash this is a good
option, but check with the provider as some companies charge a fee for paying by
Australia Post.
BPAY where you use internet banking to pay bills using a customer reference number
and company billing number. Ask your bank for more details, but generally this is a safe
and easy way to pay your bills.
Credit Card If you have one it can be an easy way to pay bills (usually by phone or
internet).
Direct Debit You can set up a direct debit from your bank account so the money is
debited every month, but the money needs to be in the account otherwise fees occur.
Cheque You generally have the option to pay by cheque by attaching your cheque to a
tear-off slip from the bill and mailing it to the company. Make sure you are very careful
in addressing the envelope to avoid your cheque getting lost in the mail.
Housemates
It is important to be open and honest about what you expect from your fellow
housemates when you initially move in. You should discuss things such as cleaning
schedules, bill payments, gardening (if applicable), grocery shopping (such as who buys
the toilet paper/cleaning products etc). You should also discuss things like appropriate
time for music/TV to be switched off, a policy on having visitors and depending on the
size of the house, a bathroom schedule. Talking about this at the beginning will
hopefully eliminate difficult situations later down the track.
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USEFUL CONTACTS
NSW
Tenants Union Hotline
Phone: 9251 6590
Website: www.tenants.org.au
The Tenants Union of NSW has an excellent website full of useful information about
tenants rights. It includes on-line access to the publications the Tenants Rights
Manual, as well as the very handy and accurate Tenants Factsheets, which cover
everything from Leases and Bonds, to your status in share housing, how to get repairs
done, give notice or access the Residential Tenancies Tribunal.
ACT
ACT Office of Fair Trading
Phone: 6207 3000
Website: www.ors.act.gov.au/community/fair_trading
Tenants Advice ACT
Phone: 02 6247 2011
Website: www.tenantsact.org.au
National
Commonwealth Ombudsman
Phone: 1300 362 072
Website: www.comb.gov.au
Rent Australia
Website: http://www.rentaustralia.com
Has some good information about renting in all states, including legislation and fact
sheets.
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