Most of all this relates PhD students who are coming as visiting scholars to Leuven, to be more precise to KULeuven.
1. It's quite hard!
First of all, don't believe to the Housing Services office that says it's easy to find something for a short term (in my case it was 3 months) in one week. You will be dead tired and no guarantee that you will find something you were searching for. Even though the Housing Service was stating this in emails and in an official Travel to Leuven book, I must say that IT"S NOT TRUE!!!
2. If you know in advance and have money...
If you just come as a visiting scholar and you know it in advance, the best thing is to book one of the Guesthousing they suggest as a place to stay upon arrival. If you can't do it for some reason, go to the next step. Many people book it for 2 or 3 months and stay there happily! Personally I stayed in the Herman Servotte and there were everything I needed (almost) : a single bed, a private shower, quite big room, wardrobe, desk, even arm-chair, and unitversity internet connection called KotNet (sorry, this time the link is in Dutch). There is a shared kitchen but it's well organized: there are 2 huge fridges and everyone has his own shelf. In my building there were only visiting scholars or postdocs, so no problem with noise or dirt.. People washed their dishes and behaved well.
3. Prices.
The prices are different. In a good location (next to supermarkets and close to the city center) you would pay 350 euro for a nice room and in a worse location and old room with old furniture you would pay around 260. Studios are more expensive: the least I saw was 420 and then the prices grow up to 500 (all included).
3. If you couldn't book in advance or don't have that much...
If you couldn't book the guesthousing or it's too expensive (460 per month for Herman Servotte is a bit too much in my opinion), you might still want to search for a private accommodation. But I must worn you that in order to find something you should be really insisting and spend 3-4 full days for that! Or maybe even more.
3.1. The first thing to do is to go to the Housing Service and ask them for a list of landlords/students who are willing to let/sublet their studios/rooms. This list is usually up to date, and you should just quickly call to all those people you are interested in and make an appointment. You can use a phone to call to all the mobile and land numbers at the Housing Service office.
3.2. In the meantime also search the web. Here is a list of the websites that I was using to find some private advertisements (thank you Google for a google translate toolbar!):
http://www.kapaza.be/
http://www.koopjeskrant.be/
http://www.opkotinleuven.be/ - there are many old ads, so just check out the new ones
http://www.easykot.be/ - here you should register and possible will find the subletting options
http://leuven.locanto.be
These are the websites that I effectively used! And here are some others:
http://www.soetewey.com
Don't use the commong websites like Immoweb or IfacService, they do only 1-3-6-9 years contracts. Also, I asked at the Immo Ter Duin agency, at XIOR and at Globiss - they don't do the short term renting. Imo, no agency does.
Well, I guess that's all folks and good luck!
