When you can't pay the rent for a few weeks, or break a window, or haven't quite got round to vacuuming, how are they going to react? Can you decorate your room? Can you put things on the wall? If the house is immaculate that's great, but how much time are you expected to spend keeping it that way? What happens to your deposit if you mark the walls or spill something on the carpet? Check that your landlord's standards match your (and your guest's) lifestyles.

How fast are they going to respond to get things fixed? When something breaks, its often hard to arrange a repair. Finding a reliable tradesman is not always easy. Most will want to be paid by you when they arrive and can only turn up when it suits them. Worse still, the better they are, the more booked up they will be. Ask your landlord what they would do if the heating broke down on Friday night just before Christmas? Do they have the resources and support to sort out problems? Do they care? How well qualified are the maintenance people?

Some landlords pay an agent (around 11% of the rent +VAT) to manage the house. This means the landlord can have an investment without getting too involved in any problems. An agent should be well prepared to deal with maintenance issues. However it also means that the rent has to cover the agent's fees. Ask the agent if they will have to refer to the landlord if you have any requests or difficulties, or whether they can make decisions themselves. Who do you call out of office hours? How many other houses do they manage? Ask if you can speak to, or meet the landlord. - It's the landlord you will ultimately have to come to an agreement with if there are problems eg with the deposit, or if you want to make any requests, so if they won't talk to you that may not bode well.

Why would a landlord need a high deposit? Ask when they have retained deposits in the past. When have they given them back? When do they want the deposit?

We firmly believe that the ideal group size is five to seven - it's small enough to be a household that communicates with each other, but large enough that you have lots of different groups of friends, can sometimes do your own thing, or fall out with a couple of people without it turning into a nightmare!

Has the house got them?

Is there one?

Good for fuel bills, but also good for keeping warm when the temperature is below freezing!

Do the bedrooms have them?

If you are unlucky enough to have chosen a course with lots of work, you may spend quite a bit of time at them!

Does the kitchen have enough equipment in it for you to make your beans on toast without any hassle?

The more you can get in, the fewer the trips to the supermarket!

Even if you haven't got a car, you'll probably get visitors who do. Maybe even your parents!

Legally there should be a gas certificate and there are new rules for fire and electrical safety. Use the voluntary code as a guide.

York in the summer is usually very warm and the garden is most definitely the best place to do your revision!