Private student buildings in Sheffield are mostly in and around the city centre, on the east side of the campus. Those around St George’s Close and Edward Street are within 10 minutes on foot of The Diamond. Those behind the railway station are 30 to 40 minutes from the Students’ Union. Rooms are let with bills included, and most contracts run for 40 to 51 weeks.
The University of Sheffield’s own rents for 2026/27 run from £151.41 a week, for a room with a shared bathroom at Crescent Flats or Endcliffe Vale Flats, to £240.38 a week for a studio at Laddow Studios on a 51 week contract. Most of its other contracts are 42 weeks, from 20 September 2026 to 11 July 2027.
New undergraduates are guaranteed a room in University of Sheffield accommodation if they apply by the university’s deadline, which was 3 September for 2026 entry. Insurance and Clearing applicants are covered too. Applications go through the university’s online accommodation portal. Firm-choice applicants who apply in the spring pick their own building, flat and room, and later applicants give preferences and are allocated one.
Most of the university’s rooms are at Ranmoor and Endcliffe, two villages either side of Fulwood Road that it puts at about 25 minutes’ walk from campus and 35 minutes from the city centre. Its City residences are much closer in. Allen Court is on St George’s Close and St Vincent’s Place is on Hollis Croft, the same streets as private buildings on Mystudenthalls.com.
A private room is open to you in any year, first year included, subject to each provider’s eligibility rules. The building, the room type and the length of contract are your choice, and the contract is with the building’s provider. A university room comes on the university’s own contract, 42 weeks for most undergraduates, and its rent covers contents insurance and a programme of events and sport on top of bills and internet.
Walking times are to The Diamond, at the city-centre end of the campus, and to the Students’ Union on Western Bank.
For the city as a whole, see student accommodation in Sheffield.
The campus is on the western edge of the city centre and above it. The university gives 29 minutes for the walk up from Sheffield station to Firth Court and 24 minutes for the walk back down.
The University of Sheffield tram stop is on the Blue and Yellow routes, and the Blue route takes 10 minutes from the Sheffield Station stop. Travel South Yorkshire’s student tram tickets cost £16 for 7 days and £47.30 for 28 days, and need a University of Sheffield ID card. The 28 day ticket is sold in advance only. A short single is £2.50 and a short return £4.20. With a Zoom Beyond pass, for 18 to 21 year olds, they are £2.10 and £4.10.
Buses from Sheffield Interchange, 5 minutes’ walk from the station, reach West Street in about 10 minutes. The tram and bus times are riding times, without the walk to the stop or the wait. Single bus fares in England outside London are capped at £3, and the Department for Transport has said the cap drops to £2 from 1 January 2027 until the end of that year. From Ranmoor and Endcliffe, buses to the city centre run about every 10 minutes.
For a train home, the station is about 20 minutes on foot from the Edward Street buildings and about 15 minutes from the city end of West Street.
In a private building, bills included covers gas, electricity, water and internet. Some add contents insurance and some do not. A TV Licence is not one of those bills. If you need one to watch or record live television or to use BBC iPlayer, it is £180 a year.
The university’s rent covers utility bills and internet too, and adds contents insurance, laundry credit, and Residence Life events and sports activities.
The usual private room is an en-suite bedroom in a shared flat, where the kitchen is shared with your flatmates. Studios add a kitchen of your own, and Cosmos, Redvers Tower and iQ Brocco also have apartments. The university has en-suite rooms and studios as well, plus rooms with a shared bathroom in flats and houses at Ranmoor and Endcliffe, and one catered residence, Stephenson, at £194.46 a week.
The weekly rent and the contract length together give the cost of the year. In 2026/27 an en-suite room at the university’s St George’s Flats is £179.97 a week for 42 weeks from 20 September 2026, £7,558.74 in all. A Standard Ensuite at Straits Manor is £105 a week for 44 weeks from 12 September 2026, £4,620 in all, or £99 a week for 51 weeks, £5,049. The university’s figure includes contents insurance and its events programme. Straits Manor’s bills do not list contents insurance.
From 1 May 2026, most assured tenancies in England’s private rented sector became periodic rather than fixed term. Purpose-built student accommodation is treated differently. The government’s guidance says a contract signed after that date for a room in a purpose-built student building is not affected and can still be for a fixed term, and Unipol’s guidance adds that this depends on the building being accredited under an approved code of practice.
A University of Sheffield room is let on a fixed-term licence, not a tenancy, and students who rent directly from their university are not affected by the 1 May changes. The university manages its residences under the Universities UK code of practice.
Deposits are capped by the Tenant Fees Act 2019, which covers student lettings and licences. The most a provider can take is five weeks’ rent as a tenancy deposit, where the year’s rent is under £50,000, and one week’s rent as a holding deposit. Some providers take a smaller deposit, and each one’s payment terms say what is due and when. The university takes its deposit when you sign and returns it, less any deductions, within 28 days of the end of your contract. For the private side, see our guide to getting your tenancy deposit back.
University rent is paid in three instalments, in October, January and April on a full-year contract, by direct debit from a UK bank account or by recurring card payment, or all at once.
Whether you need a guarantor in a private building, and whether they must live in the UK, is for each provider to decide. Guarantor services will stand in for a fee where a provider accepts them, and our guarantor guide sets out how they work.
The Students’ Union building on Western Bank has the Coffee Revolution café, Bar One for cheap food and drinks in the evening, and the Foundry for live music, comedy and club nights. Its Film Unit sells cinema tickets for £3. The Information Commons library is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
Weston Park is directly behind Firth Court and the Western Bank Library, and Crookes Valley Park is about 5 minutes’ walk from the Students’ Union. West Street and Division Street, with their bars and independent shops, start across the road from the campus. From Ranmoor and Endcliffe, Broomhill is about 5 minutes’ walk and the Peak District around half an hour by bus.
iQ Knight House and iQ Steel are both within 5 minutes of The Diamond and 10 minutes of the Students’ Union, with the Edward Street buildings a few minutes further. Sort the results by distance to see the current order.
University rooms are £151.41 to £240.38 a week in 2026/27, and an en-suite at Ranmoor or Endcliffe comes to £8,220.24 over its 42 weeks. Private starting prices are £75.05 to £188.00 a week with bills included. There is more on budgeting for rent in our guide to what student accommodation costs.
Every first year who applies by the deadline is guaranteed one. The guarantee is for a study bedroom in university accommodation, not for a particular residence, and family accommodation is not covered by it.
Yes. Nothing obliges you to take the university’s room. Private buildings take first years, and how to book student accommodation explains the steps.
Applications open in March if the university is your firm choice and in August, on A-level results day, for insurance and Clearing applicants. Returning students can usually apply from November for the following year.
It did for 2026 entry, for anyone who applied by the September deadline. Applicants at that stage do not pick their own room. They give preferences and the university allocates one. A private room is booked directly with its provider at any time of year, and our Clearing guide covers the rest.
Returning students can stay in university accommodation, and the private buildings take second and third years directly. Those around St George’s and Edward Street are a 5 to 15 minute walk from the campus.
Most of the university’s 51 week contracts are kept for postgraduates, at Allen Court, St Vincent’s Place and several Ranmoor and Endcliffe residences. New postgraduates are covered by the guarantee if they accept their offer and apply by its deadlines. In the private buildings 51 week contracts are common and open to anyone.
The guarantee does not distinguish between home and international students. Exchange and visiting students who come for a full year are guaranteed a room. Those who come for one semester are not, though a limited number of rooms are kept for them. Private providers set their own rules on guarantors and payment for students from overseas.
Not from St George’s, Edward Street, Shalesmoor or West Street, where the Students’ Union is 15 minutes or less on foot. The Moor is borderline, at 15 to 20 minutes. From the station end, Park Hill or Norfolk Park, the £16 student 7 day ticket costs less than four days of short returns at £4.20 each.
Full-time students can be exempt from council tax, and a flat where everyone is a full-time student gets no bill once the exemption has been applied for with Sheffield City Council. If one person in the household is not a full-time student there may be a bill with a discount, and with two or more there is no reduction. Our guide to council tax for students covers both cases.
Several private buildings have them. Straits Manor has a 17 week contract from September and a 32 week contract from January, and iQ Brocco has contracts starting in January and February 2027. The university’s one-semester rooms are for study abroad, exchange and visiting students.
University prices are the university’s published rents for 2026/27. Private prices are the starting price each provider currently lists.
Whether you’re staying in the University of Sheffield or Sheffield Hallam Uni student accommodation, finding the time to socialise with your favourite friends in a Sheffield gaming bar is an absolute must. You might be surprised to learn that there are loads of modern and retro gaming bars within walking distance from your Sheffield student…
Sheffield’s student life is an ever-expanding scene that shows no sign of slowing down. The once ‘Steel City’ of the north offers more than just the production of fine steel instruments. Sheffield is now home to a bustling student life, with 60,000 students flocking to the city for their studies. Sheffield’s two exceptional universities, the…
