Hey guys!

Anyone know of a room/looking for a house mate? I'm a PhD student looking for somewhere for the next 7/8 months. Really not having much/any luck *sigh*. Need somewhere that’s:

a) gay friendly
b) under 700 pcm including bills.

pm me if interested! Haven't been able to find somewhere that’s not a complete dive / wanting months min. Any advice also welcome!

I'd recommend spareroom.co.uk. I used it successfully twice - once when moving to my PhD location (where I didn't know anyone), and once when undertaking a short term placement elsewhere. It's pretty good for finding shorter (<1 year) rents, or searching for particular personal preferences.

Gumtree could be used in the same way but whenever I've looked at accommodation on there things seem a little sketchy!

I've used Gumtree and Spareroom. Both good, but Spareroom may be better for your purposes as you can filter by price.
Sites like rightmove and zoopla also allow you to search for rooms in shared houses. I think these are more ones where you rent single room from the landlord rather than meeting your potential housemates before you move in.