The OCHA Housing Registry lists non-Columbia-owned, furnished and unfurnished rooms and apartments for rent. Most of the listings are located in the New York metropolitan area.

Listings are posted for three weeks or until the lister removes or directs OCHA to remove the listing, or OCHA determines, it its sole discretion, that the listing should be removed.

Listings are displayed on our Web site. The most efficient way to submit listings is by establishing an online account with OCHA which will allow you to place listings from your own computer. Request an online listing account by sending an e-mail to ocha@columbia.edu.

All listers must be aware that their listed apartments or rooms are offered in accordance with applicable University, city, state, and federal statutes and regulations governing equal opportunity and non-discriminatory access to housing. OCHA, in its sole discretion, reserves the right to remove or modify any listing.

Listers who charge a fee to rent their units MUST clearly disclose it along with the amount when placing the listing. Listers who charge a fee without clearly disclosing it, will have their listings cancelled and will not be allowed to list apartments or rooms with OCHA in the future.

Request an online listing account by sending an e-mail to ocha@columbia.edu.

Once you have your login you are ready to list your property. Please save your login information, as it will be valid for future use.

LIST

Click above to list your room or apartment and follow the instructions. Both user name and password must be typed in lower case. Your listing will appear on the internet within 24 to 48 hours of the next business day pending OCHA management review.

When you try to connect with the Columbia Web server for the first time, your browser may indicate that it is being presented with a certificate signed by an unknown authority and ask you to proceed through a set of dialog boxes before permitting you to connect to the site. Do not panic. Most browsers come with a pre-loaded list of certificates. Unfortunately, the Columbia CA certificate is not one of these. Follow the onscreen directions on how to accept Columbia's certificate. Click here for more detailed instructions.

For maximum security, if you are using a shared workstation, we strongly recommend that you exit or restart the browser before leaving the workstation.

Tips for Completing the Listing Form Online

When you list an apartment or a room with the OCHA Registry, you will have a choice of being contacted by e-mail, telephone or both by potential tenants.

Your e-mail address will be kept confidential. Potential tenants will not be able to see your e-mail address unless you write back to them.

In the field "Unit Location," please enter street coordinates instead of a street address. For example: If your apartment is at 420 W. 119th Street, Apt. 3B, you might put down "On 119th Street between Amsterdam Avenue and Morningside Drive on the 3rd floor."

Once you have listed your room or apartment, an "Ad Posting" confirmation page will appear on the screen containing your confirmation number and the date the listing will be removed. You will also receive an e-mail with the same information. Please keep the confirmation code. You will need this code to renew, remove or modify your listing.

How to Renew, Remove or Modify a Listing

If you have listed your room or apartment through your OCHA online account, and would like to renew, remove or modify the listing, follow the instructions that were e-mailed to you when you established your online account. Click here to view the instructions.

If you did not list your apartment online, contact the OCHA office so that we can renew, remove or modify the listing for you.

FAQ's for Listers

How can I list my room or apartment with OCHA?

Send a request by e-mail to ocha@columbia.edu to request an online account. Once you have an account, you'll be able to place and manage your listings yourself from any computer.

Is there a fee to list with OCHA?

No, there is no fee to list. Columbia University offers the OCHA database as a free service to the community.

I want to offer a room in my apartment free of rent in exchange for help a few hours a week (walking my dog, babysitting). Can I list with OCHA?

Yes, OCHA accepts exchanges. You can enter "$0" in the "Rent" and "Deposit" boxes on the listing form. You have up to 254 characters to explain the details of the exchange in the "Other Information" box on the listing form.

I have a rent stabilized apartment and I want to sublet it. Can I list with OCHA? Are there any guidelines I should know about before subletting my rent stabilized apartment?

OCHA accepts listings of rent stabilized sublets as long as you follow the subletting guidelines of the New York State Division of Housing and Community Renewal (DHCR). The DHCR oversees rent stabilized apartments. Go to their Web site at: http://www.dhcr.state.ny.us/, click on "Rent Administration," then on "Fact Sheet #7" for the subletting guidelines.

In listing a share, what roommate preferences can I specify?

OCHA follows University, city, state, and federal statutes and regulations governing equal opportunity and non-discriminatory access to housing. You may enter a request for a male or female roommate or a smoker or non-smoker.

How do I know when my listing expires?

The expiration date will appear on the confirmation page that you will see on your screen immediately after you submit the listing. If you entered an e-mail address in the listing, the expiration date will also be e-mailed to you.

My listing is about to expire, how do I renew it?

1. Go to OCHA's Web site and click on "Submit Available Rooms/Apartments."
2. Type in the user ID & password that was assigned to you.
3. Click on "Modify Listing" and enter the confirmation number (H + 9 digits) as well as either the e-mail address or the telephone number in the listing.
4. Click on "Save" and "Confirm." This will automatically renew your listing for 3 weeks.

If your listing has expired and you have not yet rented your apartment and would like to continue listing with OCHA, you will have to enter it as a new listing. The system is not designed to allow you to renew a listing that has expired.

I went into the OCHA Housing Registry to renew my listing and I received an error message that said "The listing code is invalid." What does that mean?

It means that your listing has expired and cannot be reactivated. Listings stay in the system for only three weeks and then are automatically and permanently removed. You can avoid this message by renewing your listing before it expires.

I entered my listing in the OCHA Housing Registry database yesterday but nobody has called me about my listing yet. How do I know that my listing is in the system?

When you submit a listing to OCHA, you receive an immediate confirmation message by e-mail that confirms that the listing was received. It then takes 24 to 48 hours for the listing to be processed before it appears on the Web site.

First, check your e-mail for the confirmation message. After 48 hours, call OCHA so that we can verify that your listing appears on the Web.

Beware of checking your listing too often. Every time that you view, edit, or renew your listing, you take it out of circulation for 24 to 48 hours.

Web Site and Database Questions

I am unable to enter the OCHA Web site. Is your Web site up and running?

If you are unable to access the OCHA Web site, try accessing the Columbia University Facilities main Web site at http://www.columbia.edu/cuf. If you also have trouble accessing this Web site, it means that our Web site is down for technical reasons and that you should try again later. Also, if you are using a firewall make sure it is not blocking the Web site.

I am unable to enter the Housing Registry to search or list an apartment. What should I do?

If you are unable to enter the Housing Registry to search or list an apartment, there are a few possible explanations:

Make sure that you are using the correct user name and password. Remember user names and passwords are case sensitive.

1. Even though this application does not write cookies to your hard disk, your browser MUST have cookies enabled. For more information about cookies and how to enable them, consult your browser's documentation.

2. You MUST access this site from the OCHA Web site, and not from a bookmarked page. The reason for this is that the data in the Housing Registry is campus-specific. Close your Web browser, reload it and try again. You may have browsed through other Web sites with active content which may affect the way your Web browser behaves.

3. The Housing Registry is designed to work with Internet Explorer 5.0 or higher.

4. If you are using a firewall, make sure that it is not blocking the Web site.

If you have tried all of the above and are still unable to enter the Housing Registry, please send an e-mail to the OCHA Webmaster .

If you have tried all of the above and it still doesn't work, please contact OCHA.