Student Moving Guide for Glasgow: Halls, Flats and Deposits

Glasgow has three big universities and a student population that moves house more often than almost anyone else in the city. Halls to a flat, one flat to another, everything into storage for the summer and back again. We do a lot of student removals and the same problems come up every year. This guide is meant to save you from them.

Know the peaks

Student moving in Glasgow has two crunch points and one smaller one.

Period	What is happening	How busy
Late August to mid September	Halls open, most private tenancies start	Very busy, book early
Late May to end of June	Halls close, many tenancies end	Busy
Late January	Some second-semester moves	Quiet

If your tenancy starts on the same day as a thousand others, vans and parking are both in short supply. Book your move as soon as you have a confirmed date, and if you can negotiate a start date a few days either side of the 1st or the 15th, you will find it easier and cheaper.

Where students move

The three universities pull in slightly different directions.

• University of Glasgow students cluster in the West End: Hillhead, Woodlands, Partick and out towards Hyndland. Almost all of it is tenement, so read our tenement guide if you have not lived in a close before.
• Strathclyde students are more central: Merchant City, Townhead, Dennistoun and the city centre. Parking is the challenge here.
• Glasgow Caledonian sits between the two and students spread across the city centre, Cowcaddens and increasingly the Southside around Shawlands and Strathbungo, where rents are a little kinder.

Halls to a flat

Moving out of halls is usually the smallest move you will ever do, and the easiest to underestimate.

• Halls have fixed checkout times. Book your van for the morning so you are not rushing.
• Most halls have a loading bay and a trolley. Ask reception.
• You will have more stuff than you arrived with. Everyone does.
• Bin the mini fridge if you are moving into a flat with a kitchen. It is rarely worth the space.
• Take photographs of the room before you leave for the inventory check.

For a halls move a man and van with one helper is normally plenty, and splitting it with a flatmate heading the same way halves the cost.

Flat to flat

This is the classic September move: four people leaving one HMO flat for another half a mile away, everything happening on the same day as the old tenancy ends and the new one begins.

Things that make it go well:

• Agree a plan with your flatmates. One van, one time, everyone's stuff packed and labelled by name.
• Check the new flat's floor. A ground-floor flat to a third-floor flat is a different job.
• Sort the parking. West End streets are permit zones and September mornings are chaos. See our parking guide.
• Confirm key handover times with both letting agents. A gap of a few hours between checkout and check-in is common, and the van can hold your things in the meantime if you tell us in advance.
• Do not leave the old flat until it has been checked and photographed.

Storage between tenancies

If your tenancy ends in June and the next one starts in September, you have three months to fill. Options:

1. Take it home. Cheapest if home is nearby and someone has a car. Less practical from Aberdeen or Cornwall.
2. Self storage. There are several self-storage sites around Glasgow. A small unit for a summer costs less than most people expect, and we can move your things in and out.
3. A friend's flat. Free, and usually a favour you will have to repay.
4. Leave it in the new flat early. Some landlords allow an early drop-off for a small fee. Ask.

Whatever you do, do not leave a bed and a desk on the pavement in Hillhead in June and hope. The council will remove it and may charge.

Getting your deposit back

In Scotland your deposit must be held in a government-approved tenancy deposit scheme. That protects you, but only if you can show the flat was left as you found it.

• Find the check-in inventory from when you moved in. If you never got one, that works in your favour.
• Clean properly. Oven, fridge, bathroom grout, skirting boards and under the beds. Letting agents check the oven first, every time.
• Photograph every room, every wall and every appliance on the day you leave, with the date visible.
• Return all keys and get a receipt.
• Take final meter readings and photograph them.
• If the agent proposes deductions you disagree with, you can dispute them through the scheme at no cost.

Packing for a student move

You need fewer boxes than a family, but the same rules apply.

• Books and papers in small boxes. Nobody can lift a large box of textbooks.
• Clothes in strong bags or a wardrobe box.
• Wrap the desk lamp, the monitor and the mirror. These are the things that break.
• Label with your name as well as the room, so four people's things stay separate.
• Keep your laptop, chargers, passport and tenancy documents with you.

Our packing tips go into more detail.

Keeping the cost down

• Share a van with flatmates going the same direction.
• Move midweek if the tenancy dates allow.
• Be packed and at the door on time. Student moves that run late are nearly always because someone was still packing.
• Sell or donate what you do not need before the move, not after.
• Ask us about a small move rate if it is a single room's worth.

Need a hand?

We move students every week of the year, and we know which closes are tight and which streets you cannot park on. Request a quote with your dates and both addresses, or call or message Peter on 07481 469221 and we will keep it simple.