Moving From Cardiff Halls to a Student House

Renting in Wales runs through Rent Smart Wales. The Welsh Government puts it simply: all landlords must register to rent a property, and all letting agents must have a licence. A landlord who manages the property themselves needs a licence too, which means training and a fit and proper person check.

Before you sign anything, check the landlord or agent against Rent Smart Wales. It costs nothing and takes a minute, and it is the single quickest way to spot a house being let by somebody who should not be letting it. The Welsh Government explains the scheme on its Rent Smart Wales page.

Cardiff runs two Additional Licensing schemes for houses in multiple occupation, one in Cathays and one in Plasnewydd, which covers much of Roath. The Cathays scheme went live again on 1 February 2023 for five years, and the Plasnewydd scheme on 1 January 2021 for five years. In those two areas a shared house needs a council licence whatever size it is, rather than only the larger houses that need one elsewhere.

A licence is issued after a satisfactory inspection and lasts five years, and the schemes exist partly to tackle waste, anti-social behaviour, energy efficiency and property security. Ask to see the licence for the house you are about to sign for. Shared Regulatory Services publishes the detail on its HMO licensing in Cardiff page.

Under an occupation contract the landlord has to give you a written statement of the contract within 14 days of moving in, and protect your deposit and give you the scheme information within 30 days. There are safety duties too. The Welsh Government's fitness for human habitation rules require working smoke alarms, carbon monoxide detectors where there are fuel burning appliances, and an electrical installation tested every five years.

The electrical report matters more than it sounds. The current report has to be made available to you within 14 days of the occupation date, and if the test happens later, within 14 days of the inspection. A landlord who cannot produce one is letting a property that does not meet the standard.

Halls are simple: rent includes the bills. A house rarely does. Gas, electricity, water, broadband and a TV licence all become somebody's job, and in a shared house that usually means one name on each bill and a standing order from everyone else.

Council tax is the one that catches people out. Full-time students are disregarded for council tax in Wales, and a property occupied only by full-time students is exempt, but it is not automatic. Tell the council's council tax team as soon as the contract starts, because the bill goes out to the property whether or not anyone has mentioned they are a student.

Halls rooms are furnished, so the first-year move is usually clothes, kitchen kit, books and a few boxes. A house may be furnished, part furnished or empty, and that decides the size of the van more than anything else. Read the inventory before you plan the move, because a house with no desk or no chest of drawers changes what you need to bring.

Anything you buy second hand to fill the gaps is a separate short job rather than part of the move. We collect single items across the city, which is covered on our furniture and single items page.

The streets around the universities are terraced and tight, and most of Cathays sits inside a parking zone where there is no uncontrolled parking between 8am and 6pm. Resident bays run from 8am to 10pm every day and are for permit holders, and limited waiting bays allow two hours without one. A van can still stop to load, but it has to be genuine loading and it has to move on afterwards.

So the practical plan is simple. Tell us the street, not just the postcode, and we will work out where the van can stand. Several housemates moving the same day should be one booking with several pickups, not several bookings. Our area pages for Cathays and Roath go into the parking on those streets in more detail.