What to do if you're renting privately

Make yourself at home, whether you're sharing a house or moving in as a lodger

Renting privately means you get to choose exactly where you live and who you live with.

Portsmouth has lots of beautiful and buzzing places to live, from the picturesque seafront to the city centre and beyond. It's a compact island city that only takes an hour to cross on foot or 20 minutes by bike, so exploring is easy too. In fact, we'd recommend leaving your car at home – you probably won't need it and parking spaces can be scarce in Portsmouth.

Your budget, how far you want to commute and your interests play a big role when house-hunting. Wherever you choose, you'll be close to everything you need. And if you ever need help, you can always talk to us. Our Student Housing Team can help even if you're not in halls.

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Where to live in Portsmouth

Central Portsmouth

The central areas of Southsea and Fratton are the most popular locations for students. They're home to much of the city's best nightlife, restaurants and culture, and the University is a short walk away. Central Portsmouth offers a good mixture of student houses, converted flats, lodgings and studios. 

Further afield

To the east and north of Portsmouth are Eastney, Milton, North End and Hilsea. They're slightly quieter than the city centre, but they've got everything you could need, and they offer great transport links into the city too.

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Two students sitting on the railing overlooking Gosport

Outside the city

In the north of the city, you'll find the residential areas Drayton, Farlington, Cosham, Fareham and Gosport. There are great bike, bus and train connections between the first three locations, and again, each has every local amenity you need.

Gosport is across the water to west, but you can catch a 5-minute ferry to Gunwharf Quays – which is a short walk or bike ride from the campus. You can take your bike on board for the journey. From Fareham, there's a regular direct train to Portsmouth that takes about 20 minutes.

In all these places, you'll find good value residential accommodation that's particularly suited to students who are moving with a family.

Sharing a house or flat

Normally, if you share a house or flat you'll be living with three to five people, bedrooms are for sole use/single occupancy. Landlords will not let these rooms to more than one student, couples or students with families.

You should expect to pay on average £95-£130 per week (bills excluded) to £120-£160 per week (bills included) per person. You should also budget around £45+ per week for food/personal care items.

You will be asked to provide a UK based guarantor before the tenancy starts. If you cannot provide a guarantor some landlords may request a large portion of the rent (six months+) upfront to guarantee rental payments.

Student House B Roll Shoot
Student House B Roll Shoot

The University works in partnership with Housing Hand, to help UK, EU and International students, provide a qualifying UK Guarantor when renting in the private sector & PBSA.

You can find rental properties through our Studentpad service. Use Studentpad to search a database of student houses, flats, private halls providers and lodgings, all of which are officially registered to advertise with our Student Housing team.

Landlords have to sign up to our Code of Practice for Safety and Standards before we put their properties on Studentpad. You can be sure of a fair deal if you find your house there.

Sharing a house with others is so much fun! We all get on very well and have cooking nights, game nights and movie nights together.

Iona McMillan, BA (Hons) International Relations and Politics

Becoming a lodger

Lodgings are where you stay with a live-in landlord – for example, when you rent a spare room in a family's house.

Being a lodger is a cost-effective way to live while you study. You can expect to pay £110-£150 a week, but all bills (and sometimes meals) are included.

person studying

Housing stories from our students

With our Housing Support team, you'll find a great place to live in no time. But don't just take our word for it - here's what our students have to say.

Georgie Penfold

Georgie chose not to apply for halls, and instead looked for housemates to live with in a privately rented house.

Wide shot of Southsea Pier
Read more

Constanza Guimera

Constanza and her partner were too late to apply for halls together, but we were quick to advise them how to find a place.

Sea view of Old Portsmouth, with outside stone benches
Read more

Jenna Hynes

Jenna got a place on her course late and was worried she might struggle to find somewhere to live. Luckily she came to one of our house hunting events for students looking to rent privately.

Colourful house with blue front door
Read more

Sorina Toltica

Sorina felt that renting privately would mean she wouldn't need to compromise on a lot of the important practical things.

Photo of clocktower on Castle Road, Portsmouth
Read more

How we can help

We offer lots of support to help you adjust to renting in the private sector. We put on housing events and drop-in sessions, and provide online resources and a student matching service.

Contact us

Get in touch with us at Student Housing

Call us on +44 (0)23 9284 3214

Email us at student.housing@port.ac.uk