First and foremost, congratulations on finding your perfect student home! In order to make the booking process as smooth as possible, we have summarised a few of the key booking questions for you. Please do read them before booking.

One – Property Type

Accommodation in Singapore is divided in to student apartments, serviced apartments and privately rented accommodation.

Two - Room Type, lease, floor, direction, roommates etc

You must always confirm the booking information with your consultant when you go to book an apartment or property to rent. Examples of important information to check include: apartment name, room type, lease term, number of rooms etc.

If you have a roommate or floor preference, you must indicate this in the apartment application form. Uhomes will push your preference to the apartment provider and the apartment themselves will try to meet your requirements. However, neither uhomes or the apartment 100% guarantee you will get your preference. In fact, the apartment retains the right to change your room without consulting you. We cannot help where an apartment decides to do this. (If you arrive and the apartment has changed your room, you can contact us and we can try to help you resolve the situation, but the apartment has the final say on your room).

1. Rooms in Singapore do not necessarily face north, south, east or west. As a result, no apartment will consider a request as to the direction a room faces.
2. An apartment will not release any information on the nationality or race of its residents. Please understand this is a sensitive issue and you cannot require them to share this information.

Please bear in mind that photos on the uhomes platform are provided by the apartment or rental property themselves (only a small number of photos/videos are taken by uhomes). Rooms are often nicely decorated, and apartments will organise professional photographers to take beautiful photos of the room. The images are therefore a guide to how the room could look rather than the actual situation of the room.

3. Student apartments do not indicate the specific room number, it is not possible to indicate the room number when making an application to a student apartment. Renting in an apartment is different, the contract will be specific to a room itself, so the room number is defined but may vary from images or floorplans you have seen before.
4. Images may vary. Room Type images are accurate when they were uploaded, and are only representative of that type of room, not of the specific room you are actually booking.
5. Roommates and Rooms: All residents will be students. Smoking and the keeping of pets is not allowed in any Japan property.
6. Live Broadcasts are carried out for each property. Please watch them before booking in order to get the most accurate impression of what your room and the property will look like.
7. Emergency protection: Student Accommodations are required to find you alternative accommodation if an emergency (e.g: burst water pipe) means you cannot live in your room. Please contact reception immediately if you notice anything unusual or non-functioning in your room or communal area.

Your uhomes consultant is not a lawyer. They will provide you with help as well as they are able to, drawing on their own overseas study and working experience of the apartment rules. However, they cannot translate the contract terms, or provide you with professional-level advice on the legal ramifications of the contract. Our consultants views do not represent the exact views of the apartment provider. If you do have serious concerns about some terms of a contract, you will need to hire a lawyer to give you professional advice.

Four – Booking Process

1. Submit the necessary materials

ID (ID Card, Passport or visa and offer) and the relevant booking information including: name, gender, nationality, no. of tenants, age, apartment name, room type, move in date, and lease term

2. Apartment Confirmation

To confirm your successful booking, one months rent is payable as a deposit. There will also be a one-off registration fee and a management fee. Your deposit confirms your booking and will be returned to your at the end of your tenancy providing you pass the room inspection, but the registration and management fees are one-off, non-refundable fees.

3. After Confirmation

You will be provided with a rental agreement contract to sign. Please read this very carefully and make sure you understand what you are signing. You should keep one copy for yourself. 

4. Set up payments

Rent payments may be monthly or may be one-time payments, please check your contract

5. Pre-Move in

Double check all of the information including Apartment name, room type, rental prices, room and roommate preferences. We will try to accommodate those requests but please note that neither uhomes nor the Apartment guarantee you a specific room or roommate.

6. Collect Keys

Take all the relevant documents and confirmations when you move in to ensure the apartment can find your details

Five – Fees and Charges

1. Deposit

In Korea, the deposit can up to 10 times monthly rent. That is not a typo. Please be aware that you will have to have this money ready so as not to delay the booking process.

2. Rent

Rent is normally paid monthly but many Student Apartments will require you to pay the full rent in one go. Uhomes can assist with this process. Only a small number of apartments accept monthly rent payments.

3. Bills

Bills in student apartments should include water, electricity, gas and internet. Most apartments include these utilities for you but you need to check the contract. For privately rented accommodation you would need to share bills with your roommates and pay in full yourself.

Six – Move in, extensions and refunds

1. It is not possible to move in early. All apartments in Japan do not allow early move in. This is because the previous resident has not moved out, and when they do the apartment has a very short turn-around time to clean and make the room ready for your arrival. Extending your lease should be done 2-3 months before the lease ends, and you will need to continue to pay rent as usual during this process.
2. Subletting may be possible, but please note you may be charged by the apartment if you wish to transfer the tenancy to someone else. You may also not get your deposit back, depending on the rules of the particular apartment. Uhomes can help you find a new tenant if you wish to sublet, but please note uhomes bears no liability or responsibility to successfully arrange for a new tenant in the case of subletting.
3. Try to move in between 09:00 – 17:00 on Monday to Friday as these are the office times of the apartment so someone will definitely be there to assist you. If you arrive after this time, you may need to book a hotel for that night before moving in the next day. Bring your passport and a printed copy of your rental agreement. Pay close attention to the inventory list and take photos and notes where you think there could be an issue.
4. You must clean your room before leaving, return all the keys to the apartment and confirm your move out. Any loss, damage or cleaning fees can be deducted from your deposit so make sure to keep records of any inventory, take pictures of the status of the room and the objects in it.

Seven - Why uhomes

When you book with uhomes you get a designated consultant to explain the benefits of each property and help you select the most ideal property for you from our entire platform. That consultant will also help you book as quickly and as efficiently as possible. We use our consistent communication with the Apartment to make sure this happens without incident. There are also offers and promotions as well as group booking that may not be available elsewhere.

Nine – Offers & Promotions

Uhomes works hard to provide you with the best offers and promotions, our cash back offers are the strongest on the web, and we have group booking functionality to get your group offers. Other promotions include the chance to win free airport transfers, local travel cards and other gifts.