I moved into my new student digs about a week ago now. This isn't the first time I've moved out of…read morehome, and it isn't the first time I've been living in a specialty student place (hello boarding school), but Urbanest is definitely a different experience. First of all the communal areas are pretty snazzy. Everything is modern, there are silent study areas, places to hang out, and a great balcony with a bbq that I suspect will be perfect for entertaining in Summer. The location is also fabulous, and yes, I was tempted to give them 5 stars just for being located next to Mamak Corner and only a short walk from Mandoo. This is my first taste of city living (in Adelaide) and I could get used to this. The rooms themselves are pretty small. Not impossibly tiny small, you could fit a single mattress on the floor if you were having a sleepover, but not much else. The range of crockery & cutlery also isn't quite as snazzy as they show you in the show apartment. The only real downers would be that wireless internet can be pretty darn slow, and it'll cost you $4 every time you need to wash & dry some clothes. There are activities daily, and they get plenty of deals to pass onto students. Like I said, I've been here a week. I doubt my rating will go down during my 1 year stint, but there's every possibility it will go up once I discover more things to do.

I hope this helps people who are looking for accommodations. DON'T STAY IN URBANEST. It í…read moreridiculously expensive, and not worth your money. The rooms are tiny, the kitchen is tiny, the bathroom is smaller than a normal closet. The closet is around the size of a cupboard. Don't let the pictures fool you. The rooms and windows are smaller in real life. You can't really cook in the kitchen. The utensils they give you are not enough. The bathroom's sink and shower doesn't drain properly. Worst of all, they have a 15GB cap on wifi. You have to pay more to use more. The internet add-on prices are very expensive. They want to make money off of students. Another thing, they subtract the amount of internet you use incorrectly so that no matter how much you try to limit your wifi usage, you would have to buy more data around the end of the month. The staff here are not friendly. They will appear as super friendly and helpful during the first few days, but their attitudes change after the first week. They change from happy friendly to condescending very quickly. Doing laundry here is a nightmare. They only have a few washers and dryers. Washing costs $4 per load. Same goes for drying. The dryers leave my clothes damp, and they are still damp after the second drying. Overall, if I could choose, I would not live at urbanest. It's not worth the money that I spent. The only reason why I'm living here now is because my school wouldn't let me live independently. If you're thinking about moving in to urbanest, please consider independent or shared housing. You would save a lot more money and avoid the hassle, anger, and disappointment.

I had a very serious safety concern while renting a property managed by this agency. The property…read moreis advertised as student housing, but my housemate, who was involved in multiple incidents had serious mental health issues, which shows the agency clearly did not vet tenants properly. A serious incident of a sexual nature occurred involving this tenant, which made me feel unsafe staying there. After raising the issue, the agency took an excessively long time to respond, and the housemate involved began making threatening behaviour toward me. The support I received from the agency was minimal and did not properly address these safety concerns. Because of how the situation was handled, I ultimately felt I had no choice but to end my lease early and leave the property. To make matters worse, my bond was used to cover advertising fees when the room was re-listed, which added financial stress to an already difficult situation. I would strongly caution anyone considering renting through this agency to carefully consider how they handle tenant safety and screening.

I recently signed a rental contract on a student room managed by this service. They advertised it…read moreas clean, welcoming and safe, and they had plenty of videos and testimonials showing how great their service was. In person, the property was disgusting. The toilet was blocked, a window was broken, and the room was filthy - so filthy that I don't think anyone should ever live there. The heaters didn't work, the concrete floor was stained and filthy, and there were cobwebs, old paint pots and all sorts of rubbish everywhere, including at the entrance to my room. I told the staff of my experience and received a refund. But the very next day, rooms were still being advertised in that disgusting property. If you are an international or interstate student, I very, very strongly recommend that you carry out an inspection before signing any lease for any student room managed by studentrooms.com.au. Please beware and be safe!