Last updated: 5:50pm, Wednesday 27 May 2026

Learn About Housing

Our College Membership & Accommodation Office is the home of off-campus housing work at the University. We work alongside the Community Relations team, Durham Students Union and Common Rooms on housing related matters.

There are many activities throughout the year, and sources of information, that you can engage with that will support you to learn about renting and get the most out of your time in private rented accommodation.

Housing Talks & College-based Activity

College student officer teams typically schedule a housing talk in the first term of the academic year. This gives you plenty of time to think about your housing options before you decide what to do and where to live. Contact your College Common Room, Welfare team and / or Livers Out Representative to find out when your housing talk is scheduled.

Colleges will also sometimes run special events to support new students who are starting to think about their accommodation options. Make sure you are connected with your College by email and / or social media to find out when events are happening.

Student Community Wardens

Durham University's Student Community Warden service provides a wealth of well-researched content on their social media channels (Instagram / Facebook) that will help you to live out sustainably. You can connect with the students who run the service at:

Instagram - DU Student Community Wardens - Instagram

Facebook - DU Student Community Wardens - Facebook

Email – community.liaison@durham.ac.uk

Web - Student Community Wardens - Durham University

Learning About Your Housing Experience

Understanding your housing experience is important to us.

Opportunities to participate in qualitative research and surveying, to help us understand the experiences of our students in private rented accommodation, will be communicated to all students and outlined here.

Annually, our students living in College will be asked to complete surveys online about their experience in College accommodation. This is currently managed in partnership with GSL (Global Student Living). The survey for livers-in for 25/26 is now closed - a big thank you to the 1000+ students who took part in the survey this year!

In May and June 2026 we are seeking to learn more about renting in the private sector, particularly the experience of students living beyond Durham city centre. This work is managed in partnership with Cushman & Wakefield, whose teams will be on site on Thursday 28^th May, Monday 1^st June and Tuesday 2^nd June in Durham and on Thursday 4^th June in Newcastle. This will be the first stage in this project, with focus groups at a later point. All staff will carry identification.