Students may live wherever they choose in London. We suggest that because you are only there for a short time, it is best to live either within walking distance or a short underground ride from school. Living in the suburbs will save on rent, but it will both increase your commuting expense and take valuable time that you would rather spend on other things. As a general rule, one should try to live within the District and Circle lines of the underground, or near one of the close-in stops on the Northern line like Camden Town or on the Central line like Queensway or the Metropolitan line.
The College of Law of England and Wales is located in the Bloomsbury district, an area of low -rise buildings where residential and commercial uses mix easily. The closest tube stop is Goodge Street, on the Northern line. It is easy walking distance to Tottenham Court Road on the Central line, and a longer walk to Euston Street on the Northern Line.
Most students either live in dormitory rooms or rent apartments (the English term is “let flats”.
The dorm option is usually less expensive, though occasionally a student finds a truly bargain apartment. Bloomsbury is filled with dormitories belonging to both University College London and the London School of Economics, and also has dorm-like residences belonging to other institutions.
Some provide breakfast with the room; others do not. Students usually make arrangements for dorms over the internet. A student should expect to pay about £30 per night for a dorm room in Bloomsbury. No dorms have posted their rates for next summer when our website was published. In response to your application, we will send you contact information and descriptions of some dorm-like residences in Bloomsbury.
The great advantage of renting an apartment is that with a kitchen, a student eliminates the necessity of eating every meal in a restaurant. It also permits one to have the occasional guest if there is a suitable couch. There are buildings in the area that specialize in short-term apartment rentals, and London’s Craig’s List normally had many listings. In general, students pay less per person for an apartment housing more than one student than they do for a student seeking housing alone. A student should expect to pay £35 and often more per night, and to put down a security deposit equal to the rental amount for the entire period before moving into an apartment.
Your apartment will usually be fully furnished and equipped with cooking and eating utensils, towels and bedlinens. Some apartments have washing machines; none have dryers. One uses the laundromat in the neighborhood. Many apartments do not have working telephones. Some apartments have access to the internet (and sometimes you can tap into a neighbor’s wifi). Occasionally, landlords leave dishwashers, microwaves or VCRs for your use. It is the very unusual apartment that provides air conditioning. In response to your application, we will send you contact information for sources of rental apartments.
Here are some tips on finding housing that students from prior Institutes have provided:
Hostels and Hotels
HostelWorld- you can rent private rooms
After you have done your search you should sort through them by "rating." It will sort by highest rated first, then if you click into the hostel and scroll to the bottom it will give you a breakdown of their ratings, and if you click on "click here to view ratings and reviews" then you can read what people have said about the hostel. I wouldn't go through Europe any other way.
Jessica Schroeder-USD student
The Internet Guide to Hostelling
Listing of the inexpensive and where widely available dormitory-style accommodations can be found
Flash Booking -- Hostels to Hotels with pictures of available places and pricing. Do a search for places in London. Information on all places available will come up.
Allstays - London Hotels, Hostel's, B & B's, Guest Houses
Above prices are subject to change without notice.