Moving on
Letting Season
Letting season – the time when traditionally all student houses are viewed and let to new prospective groups for the coming academic year – starts particularly early in Cardiff.
Normally, the season starts at the end of October and carries on for 3–4 weeks. Because all of our houses are of the best quality, the vast majority are let early during this period.
The majority of groups who still have a year or more of their course remaining will stay on with us.
Viewings will be carried out between 12pm and 6pm on weekdays — we will notify you in advance and will always keep disruption to a minimum, but please be aware that, during this period, multiple visits may occur within a short timescale.
You can help reduce the number of visits required to re-let your house by keeping it tidy and warm and by welcoming prospective groups – the impression made on entering a house makes a significant difference to how readily a group will take a property.
Staying On
The majority of our groups stay on with us for the rest of their time at university, in either the same house or another of ours — aside from guaranteeing themselves a better housing experience for the remainder of their degree, staying on with us (even if moving to another house) ensures seamless transition from one contract to another, no need to take belongings home or pay for storage, incredible wifi, and simplified
household bills.
Our Lettings Team will contact you at the start of October to confirm your plans:
- New contracts will be drawn up for you to sign in October
- You’ll set up payment for the following year
- Your contracts will run back-to-back, with continuous occupancy
If your group stays on in the same house for a second year, our rent guarantee means your rent stays the same. Unfortunately we cannot guarantee fixed rents for over two years.
New housemates joining your group move in on 3 July, when their contract starts.
Moving to another John Winter House
Students rarely consider the issues that arise from the gap between standard student contract periods — expensive storage costs, having to move belongings twice, and effectively being homeless for five days are very much the reality for thousands of students in Cardiff each year.
If you move to another of our houses, we will make special arrangements for your contracts to overlap on July 3rd so that moving house is seamless. Cleaning and other works will be coordinated around this.
Moving Out
If you are leaving your John Winter house, you will need to return your keys by 9am latest on the last day of your contract (27th June), after making sure all removals and cleaning has taken place.
End of contract Cleaning
All of our houses are professionally cleaned throughout in advance of you moving in – the costs of this are included as part of your rent payments.
When moving out at the end of your contract, we do not require the house to be returned in a professionally cleaned condition. However, we do expect it to be left to a reasonable standard. As long as the house is left in good order and meets our minimum cleanliness requirements, there will be no additional cleaning charges for preparing it for the next tenants.
End of contract cleaning checklist
- The oven must be cleaned regularly and thoroughly with a strong alkali-based cleaner (e.g. Mr Muscle or Oven Pride). All glass, linings, and trays should be free of food and residue.
- Fridge/freezers must be emptied, switched off, fully defrosted, and wiped dry.
- All cupboards and storage areas emptied.
- All personal belongings and furniture not belonging to the house removed.
- All refuse/recycling bags removed from the property/gardens.
Additional charges will apply for removing any items left behind. There are plenty of ways to donate or recycle unwanted belongings, so please don’t leave them for us to dispose of.
After you have left
For houses not on our Bills-Inclusive package, we will take meter readings at your property on the last day of your contract (27th June). We will provide these to you shortly after upon which you should contact each utility provider (gas, electricity, water) to make final payments and close the accounts.
Please note that there are no end‑of‑contract charges unless the minimum cleaning requirements are not met, unreported damages are discovered, or waste and personal items are left behind.
References
It is very likely you will need a Landlords’ reference for renting property after you have finished your course, or may need a character reference for many reasons in your personal life or professional career.
We are very happy to supply these, however please let us know you need one before we can act as referee – we cannot give out information about you without knowing you have requested it.
Any reference requests must be made by email by the new agent/landlord after we have received written confirmation from yourself that you have given permission for a reference to be requested.