Life With Homes for Students: What's Included and What to Bring
Choosing student accommodation involves a question that trips up almost everyone at some point. What comes with the room, and what do you need to bring yourself? Inclusions vary between properties, so the answer is to trust what’s in your contract. Even so, there are a few things worth understanding before you start packing, or before you’ve chosen where to live.
What Comes With the Room?
Most purpose-built student accommodation, including Homes for Students properties, is built around a similar starting point. Expect a furnished room as standard. This usually means a bed, desk, a wardrobe or some other form of storage. Utilities and WiFi are also included in your rent, too. However, the speed and services you’ll receive will vary by location. You can check what amenities your property has on its dedicated property page.
Kitchens are a similar affair. Communal kitchens typically come with the larger appliances already fitted, including a fridge-freezer, an oven, and a hob. Once again, specifics still differ from building to building, so treat this as a general guide rather than a guarantee.
What’s Rarely Included?
Regardless of which property, some things will be left for you to sort. Bedding is the clearest example here. You’ll get a bed frame and mattress, but not a duvet, pillows, or sheets. Kitchens work the same way. The big appliances tend to be there. The plates, pans, cutlery, and smaller tools that make a kitchen usable day-to-day do not.
This is exactly where UNPACKED fits into the picture. A bedding pack covers your duvet, pillows, fitted sheet, and covers that are sized to fit your specific bed. A kitchen pack covers dinnerware, pans, an oven tray, utensils, a tin opener, a colander, knives, chopping boards, and tea towels. Both arrive in one labelled box, waiting in your room before you get there. That holds no matter what your particular property does or doesn’t provide.
What’s Down To You
Beyond bedding and kitchen basics, a shorter list remains entirely yours. Clothes, toiletries, tech, and personal items don’t come with a property or any pack. The same goes for smaller extras like storage boxes, a desk lamp, or anything you’d use to decorate your walls. These come down to personal taste rather than copy-and-paste inclusion.
Three Layers, One Decision
It helps to separate this picture into three parts. Your student accommodation covers the room and its fixed items, confirmed in your contract. UNPACKED covers the essentials that rarely come included: bedding and kitchen basics. Everything smaller and more personal is yours to pack.
Before You Choose
If you’re comparing properties for next year, the same structure is useful as you’re browsing our locations. Ask the property team what’s included rather than assuming based on price or reputation. Two rooms at a similar cost can include very different amenities. This sort of thing matters once you’ve moved in and start to feel envious of your friends’ room.
Wherever you choose to live, you’ll need the essentials. So, take your time and choose the property you want to live in, and take a look at the UNPACKED range to see how they can help you in the future.