House/Apartment

How and when to secure a house or apartment off campus.

I got a house close to the base of campus in Summer 2020 and this is an approximate sequence of events and resources I found (but not necessarily used) to help get a place to live.

Picking Your Group

UCSC Community Rentals - Before You Rent

The most important thing I would do before even starting to look for a house is to find a solid group of people to live with. Personally, I think a group of 3 - 5 people is a great middle ground for house cleanliness and fun but also somewhat private and quiet to study. Make sure you talk about everyone’s preferences, living condition/way of living, and price ranges. It is very competitive to find housing in Santa Cruz, so you want to pick a solid group who can communicate and be ready to apply to maximize chances of getting the house. You should be doing this around February.

After you have your group picked out, have everyone in the group start searching any and all websites for house listings that match the group’s preferences, while simulateously filling out a renter’s application packet. Some landlords ask for it and some don’t, but it takes a little while to put together, so start early. See the link above for more information on it. This also the time to take the quick Canvas Renter’s Workshop. Some landlords ask that you complete it and show the certificate of completion (mine did), but even if they don’t ask, there is still some good information in there about off campus housing in general. You should be doing this in February - March.

Here is a list of sites to search for (in no particular order, not exhaustive):

Contacting Potential Landlords

Keep searching all the sites you can and when you reach out to landlord via email or text (however they prefer), I would recommend only having one person communicating with the landlord and then they will convey the updates to the rest of the group - it is usually much more oragnized and less confusing to keep track of who is talking to who. You should be doing this starting in March - April.

When you first contact a landlord to express interest in their listing, I recommend you do the following:

  • quickly introduce yourself and your group - names, majors, year
  • express interest in that specific listing - give the address of the place so they know which one in case they have more than one
  • try to sell yourself and your group a little - make yourselves sound like good tenants (and make sure that is the reality too)
  • ask about availability for a tour, applying, and signing the lease so they can get a feel that you are serious about securing this house.

Keep this initial email/text with the landlord SHORT. Get to the point - housing is competitive in Santa Cruz, so you don’t want to deter landlords with a long essay. Make it easier for them.

Note: This process of searching for potential houses and contacting landlords usually takes a while, so be patient and keep searching. Many landlords will ghost you, leave you on read, or take a while to reply. Don’t take it personal and just move on to the next.

Pay attention to the date the house is available for new tenants if it is mentioned in the listing online. If it isn’t online you can ask about it in the initial email, but it will be in the lease. I prefer a start date/time that is anytime outside the school year in case my group doesn’t want to resign for another year or we get kicked out, we won’t be doing this whole process again while taking classes. Most leases are 12 months long, so you will be paying for the summer months rent anyway, but you can ask for a month to month lease or a term shorter than 12 months (although landlords do not prefer this).

Reading the Lease

After engaging in talks with landlord and you seem to have a place that will be yours, the landlord will send you the lease and give you a little bit of time to read and sign it. Please read the lease completely.

Note: Look for contradictions, unfair rules, things that stand out or don’t make sense, and ask for clarification. Make sure you, your group, and the landlord are all in agreement about the terms of the lease BEFORE signing. If you don’t read the whole thing, then at the very least, read the first couple pages since that is where the main points are usually.

Move In and Things to Set Up

Next is to pay your (refundable) safety deposit, get the keys, and move in! Congratulations! Some houses are prefunished, but I would say most are not. So figure out if anything comes with the house and fill in the missing furniture or appliances with your group.

Read the terms of your lease to remember what utilities (PG&E, water, trash, cable/internet) you are and not responsible for paying and get those set up. I would say that usually one person takes responsiblilty to pay for one utility to make it fair and everyone pays them back.

Note: start setting up the utilities (especially internet) as soon as you get the keys to make sure you have a smooth start.

Be a good housemate, roommate, neighbor, and tenant. It isn’t technically your house, but you should be treating as if it is (or risk losing a lot of your safety deposit)!

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