The Ultimate UCLA Summer Sublet Guide

The University of California- Los Angeles, or UCLA, is the highest-ranked public university in the United States by the Washington Post and is home to 45,000 students in more than 130 undergrad majors. While many students live on campus, especially as a freshman, many upperclassmen decide that they want to move off-campus. This can be a tough thing to navigate, especially in a large city such as Los Angeles, but with enough information, you can feel confident about the move. This guide provides comprehensive information for UCLA students looking to navigate the summer sublet landscape, whether you're seeking to sublease your apartment or find a place to live during the summer months.

Understanding UCLA Housing Contracts

All contracts and rental agreements are set to end on July 1st each year. However, there are opportunities to renew the contract for the next academic year as long as residents remain eligible and submit the required application declaring their intent to renew for the following academic-year term. Students may request a summer extension to their contract if they need to stay on campus past July 1st but do not wish to renew for the full academic-year term or are no longer eligible for the full academic-year term. The extension typically lasts until August 15th of that same summer.

While most summer extension requests are approved, Housing Services does reserve the right to deny a summer contract extension request, as there is a review process in place. If a summer contract extension request is approved, the student will be provided with additional information regarding payments and due dates.

Subleasing Your Unit

If you can't be at UCLA during the summer but still want to renew for the following academic year, you might consider subleasing your unit. If a resident of Single Graduate Housing wishes to keep their contract, but must be away for the summer or for a period of time during the academic year, residents do have the option to sublease their units with prior approval from Housing. Please see here for instructions and the details regarding a request to sublease. It's important to note that residents in Student Family Housing may not sublease their units.

Subleasing allows you to maintain your housing contract, including benefits like the 3-year housing guarantee for Single Graduate Housing residents, which is for 3 consecutive years.

Finding the Right Neighborhood

Finding a neighborhood off-campus is an important decision, but luckily, UCLA is surrounded by a variety of great neighborhoods. Here’s a breakdown of popular areas for UCLA students:

Westwood: The campus itself is in Westwood and there are plenty of apartments here. It is home to most of the sororities, so this neighborhood is perfect for those who are interested in Greek life or who love parties. Most UCLA students live on Hilgard Avenue.
Area West of Campus: The area west of campus is also dense with apartments. Street parking is hard to find, but the campus evening vans, and security escort programs operate in this area.
Wilshire Boulevard: There are a lot of apartments on Wilshire Boulevard, which tend to be lower in rent and are close to the free UCLA Campus Shuttle.
West LA: West LA is located south of Westwood and west of Veteran Avenue. Many students choose to walk or bike to campus due to the proximity of this neighborhood to campus. Students can find spaces to rent east of the 405, and there is a cluster of apartments located along Santa Monica and Olympic Boulevards.
Brentwood: Brentwood is located two miles west of campus. Most of the apartments are located within the triangle created by Wilshire, San Vincente Boulevard, and Bundy. While this area is more known for its condos, there are still several apartments to choose from.
Bel Air: Bel Air is located directly north of campus, but students may find it difficult to find space to rent here or things of interest. There are no apartments located in this area, though there may be a few rooms to rent within houses or condos.
Santa Monica: Santa Monica is located near campus, about 15 minutes from Westwood. It is widely popular because of the beach, parks, libraries, buses to UCLA, clean air, and rent control. Due to its popularity, long waiting lists, low turnover, condo conversions, and competition, rent tends to be more expensive in Santa Monica. Students have a greater chance of finding a place to live in Ocean Park on the south side and in the inland area off Santa Monica Boulevard since there is a higher rental turnover rate and the rent is cheaper.
Pacific Palisades: Pacific Palisades is located west of Brentwood and north of Santa Monica. It is popular for the apartment shares and rooms in homes that are in the hills and canyons that overlook the ocean. On the downside, there is limited bus service, making it difficult for some to get to campus, but on the plus side, it is known for its beauty and is near the beach.

Dining Options

Since off-campus students do not typically utilize dining hall services, knowing where to get the best food before, between, and after classes is important, especially if you have full days on campus without time to cook.

Coffee Shops: Like many college campuses, there are a variety of coffee shops on and near campus, including Café 1919, Jimmy's Coffeehouse, and Bruin Café.
Fast Food: There are also a variety of fast food options available, including Panda Express, Chick-Fil-A, and In-N-Out Burger. For a slightly more upscale quick dining option, Wolfgang Puck Express has a location at UCLA. Other chain options are Taco Bell and California Pizza Kitchen,
Cultural Restaurants: For a more unique experience, there are a variety of cultural restaurants, from sushi at Tomodachi Sushi to Nina's Mexican Food. College is a great time to explore foods you never tried before, and the convenience of having these places around campus makes this time ideal.
Restaurants and Bars: BJ's Restaurant and Brewhouse is located south of UCLA in Westwood Village. They are known for their pizza, handcrafted beer, and their Pizookie. Broxton Brewery is another popular bar near campus, located in Westwood.

Transportation

Getting around UCLA is an important thing for students who live off-campus.

BruinBus: The BruinBus offers a year-round bus service that serves the UCLA campus and the Wilshire Center.
Charter and Driver Services: There are also charter and driver services that serve UCLA departments and student orgs. These vans are operated by Community Service Officers who carry two-way radios to provide a direct link to the UCLA Police Department. It is not available on holidays or during breaks. Students who wish to use this service need to download the UCLA Safe Ride app to request a ride.
Public Transportation: UCLA is close to Los Angeles public buses and students can opt to buy a transit pass if they plan to use the buses for commuting to an apartment or to a job or internship. This is a great way to save some money, especially on a student budget.
Walking and Biking: Students who choose to live in the Westwood neighborhood have access to walking and biking to campus.
Bus Routes:
- Westwood: Big Blue Bus routes #1, #8, #11, and #12/Super 12 and UCLA BruinBus Campus Express and Wilshire Center routes.
- West LA: Big Blue Bus routes #1, #2, #8, #11, and #12/Super 12, or the Culver City Bus #6.
- Brentwood: Big Blue Bus routes #2 and #3 (#4 connects with #2 and #3), and Metro line 2.
- Bel Air: Students who do find space to live in Bel Air usually walk or bike to campus.
- Santa Monica: Big Blue Bus #1, #2, #3, #8, #11, and Metro line 2 to campus.
- Pacific Palisades: Metro line 2.

Parking on Campus

UCLA has a variety of parking spaces around campus, from lots to structures. Students who want to park in non-metered parking areas need to apply for an e-permit. The e-permit uses the car's license plate to verify that a student can park in a specific place.

For short-term parking, UCLA has Parking Pay stations that allow you to select how much time you need. Full-day passes are available at these locations. Parking Pay stations are ideal if you know exactly where you want to be. These stations accept $1- and $5-dollar bills, as well as VISA, MasterCard, and Discover credit cards. Students may also pay via the Parkmobile app.

Read also: Navigating Tech Breadth at UCLA

Since campus is busy during the academic year, spots tend to fill up quickly. It is suggested that students plan accordingly and carpool if possible.

Safety and Security

UCLA prioritizes the safety and security of its students:

UCLA Police Department: UCLA has its own police department that is trained on campus and is familiar with the campus and its surrounding neighborhoods.
Emergency Alerts: These alerts inform students of official information during emergencies or crises that disrupt the normal operation of the campus or put the university's community in danger. Students can receive these alerts via text messaging by entering or updating their cell phone information through McUCLA.
Community Service Officers (CSOs): Community Service Officers offer a variety of safety services for students. As mentioned in Transportation, these officers are responsible for the evening van service. CSOs are also available for free walking escort services. 15 minutes before a student needs to leave a location, they should call (310) 794-WALK and provide their current location, where they are going, and their name and callback number. These escorts are equipped with pepper spray and connection to UCLA Police officers in case of danger. The escort service is available anywhere between Wilshire and Sunset, and Veteran and Hilgard.

Shopping

Having places to shop, from clothes and groceries to more fun items, is important for many students. Luckily, UCLA has all the above.

Essential Items: For essential items such as groceries, there is a Target, CVS, Rite Aid, Trader Joe's, and Whole Foods Market on or near campus.
Clothes Shopping: There is also an Urban Outfitters nearby for clothes shopping needs.
Fun Shopping: For more fun shopping trips, there is Aahs! Gift Store for party supplies and gag gifts. Westwood Square Mall is also near UCLA's campus for fun shopping, as well as clothing needs.

Timing Your Sublet Search

Students’ sense of urgency to sublet vastly differs because academic calendars rarely matching and companies awarding their summer internships at different times. Over the past 4 years, Leaseful has collected and analyzed tons of data to determine the best time to list your place and find your own sublease. Their goal is to get everyone on the same page and make subleasing easy for students across the world. From their data, they’ve found these are the optimal times to find accommodations and list your own place for sublease:

Hosts: List your place as soon as possible. This helps your listing rank higher in our search algorithm and enables you to get the most student views on your place. Our data tells us that if you list your place before April 15th, you have a 72% chance of finding a subleaser by June 1st.
Guest: Start sending messages ASAP. UCLA is also on the quarter system and students don’t finish school until June 15th. This is awkward and for most students trying to find a place is like putting a square peg in a round hole. Fear not, we consistently have ~50 furnished apartments that are always available for students to sublease (through our Partners) that are very reasonable. We don’t list these places as not to hurt students host ability to sublet, but just live chat us if you are interested in the listings. We have these places in Westwood and downtown.

Additional Summer Housing Options

UCLA offers summer housing for students who are in your situation. You’ll need an official summer internship letter and a copy of your college ID to live in their dorms.

Read also: Understanding UCLA Counselors

However, UCLA also is weird in the sense that the majority of rooms are doubles and triples. This means you would have to share a room. The average rent in Westwood for a furnished single room for the summer is $1630.

Leaseful has college ambassadors and proprietary social acquisitions channels to aggregate all of these available furnished apartments onto our platform.

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