Finding a place to live

If you have chosen not to stay in a residence, your first step will be to look for temporary accommodation until you find something suitable close to where you are studying. Your educational institution will no doubt already have given you the names of youth hostels or reasonably priced hotels.

To ease your search for a place to stay, you can also count on the student services at your educational institution, which often have a database of available and affordable housing. You may also want to think about sharing with other students to split costs.

If you are going to consult classified newspapers ads, you should become familiar with a number of expressions and abbreviations. For example, a 2 ½ usually consists of a kitchen and another room that serves as a bedroom/living room The ½ refers to the bathroom.

All housing is equipped with heating systems. The expression "chauffé et éclairé" means that heat and electricity are included in the rent. If they are not included, find out from your landlord approximately how much they cost per month so that you can factor them into your budget.

To learn more Housing (Since the information in this section is intended mainly for permanent residents in Québec, some of it may not be relevant to your situation).