Seeking Student Housing in Canada? Our New Student Housing Tool Can Help

This new tool, from University Living, is a free service for students to find and compare apartment and bedroom rentals near their college or university.

Finding housing as a student can be a pain. If you're lucky, you might be guaranteed a place in residence for your first year, but after that, you're on your own. As an international student, you face additional pressure, finding your way in a new city and country.

We've written recently about how to find affordable housing as an international student, but we're happy to launch a new service aimed directly at students looking for an apartment, or even just a room to call their own.

University Living.com

University Living.com is a housing app constructed for students from the ground up, and their convenient tool is now built right into StudyinCanada.com.

Just enter your location, and make use of the many filters available to find places close to your school.

Filters make finding the right place easier

Here's a quick breakdown of the filters and how they work.

Move-in, move-out, and duration

You can specify when you want to move in, and / or when you want to move out. Go for a single semester, or up to 51 weeks. Or just keep it 'flexible' to get a wide range of options.

Room categories

University Living offers several types of rooms to consider. Here's what they are:

Studio

A single-room apartment that includes a small kitchen and private bathroom. Small space, but good for privacy.

Ensuite

An ensuite is a bedroom with an attached, private bathroom. The ensuite bathroom is not part of any common areas in the apartment.

Apartment

An apartment has at least one bedroom in addition to a private kitchen and bathroom. You might want your own one-bedroom apartment, or to share a two-bedroom with a roommate.

Shared

If you're looking to keep costs down, you might consider a shared room. This is a single bedroom with multiple beds. You'll have your own bed, but not your own bedroom.

Amenities

Most buildings offer amenities, like parking spots or air conditioning. University Living has a list of three dozen amenities like these, which you can select from to narrow down your housing search. Here's a few examples:

• Garden / courtyard
• Furnished apartment
• Concierge
• Games room
• Water / heat / gas included

Local guarantors: what are they, and do you need one?

A guarantor is a person (or business entity) who "agrees to be responsible for repaying a loan, debt, or financial obligation" if the original borrower cannot pay. So, if you rent an apartment and run out of money, the guarantor is required to pay in your stead.

University Living has an option to search for housing options that requires a local guarantor: somebody in the area who can cover you if things go wrong. Luckily, most listings on University Living DO NOT require a guarantor, so in most cases, you'll be free to sign a lease on your own initiative. (In fact, in writing this article, we were unable to find a single place that requires a local guarantor.)

So, if you're seeking the right place to live as a student, try out the University Living tool on StudyinCanada.com. If you're still looking for more opportunities, explore how to find affordable housing as a student.

Good luck!