What are the differences between a flat and a bedshare?

My move isnt untill the middle of January but ive been looking on gumtree.com and accommodationlondon.net just to see what i can expect when i get there and im starting to get confused by these terms that idont understand.

Whats a bedsit?

Also, all im really looking for is a place where i can possibly have my own bedroom, i dont mind sharing a bathroom or a kitchen or a lounge, just as long as i can have my own bedroom with my own DVD player i will okay.   What exactly is that called over in the UK and how do i find it?

Is accommodationlondon.net a good place to get a place to stay for a temporary time?

Also, when i first get there, im moving alone but have aunts there, im obivously going to need to start looking for a job.  For a couple of nights would a hostel be a good place to stay? 

Any information about this would be great!

Thanks
Michelle

Ummm, if you are American you can't just come over here, find a place to live AND just start working. It's illegal  ------- unless you have the correct visa!  Is your mother British?

Hostels are fine for a few nights or more.

A flat is an apartment - without rooomates unless it specifies so.

A bedsit, if I"m not mistaken, is what we would call a 'studio' apartment -very small with no separate bedroom.

For a place to share but with your own bedroom, you might consider a house or apartment share.

Someone, will no doubt, correct me if I'm wrong!

I THINK (not 100% certain) that a bedsit is just a private room in a house that shares a kitchen and a bathroom. I think it's even less than a studio. Though I have a good friend in London who's a professional woman in her 30s who's lived like that for years and years and loves it - so depending on the situation I don't think it's as bad as it sounds. 

A bedsit is a room that usually shares a lounge, bathroom, and kitchen.  Although it seems like a lot of bedsits will have their own little kitchenettes.  This might work for you.  You can also do a flatshare where you would get your own bedroom in a flat but share everything else.

Balmer,

Chelsea has a British father and is a dual national.

Chelsea has a British father and is a dual national.

Oops! My fault! Good luck then! 

I've stayed in several different bedsits... they are usually a flat, divided up into smaller 'studio' flats. 
You share the bathroom, and sometimes share the kitchen.  But a lot of times they have their own kitchenette in the room. 
You normally dont share a lounge, either... the lounge of the flat is usually converted into a room of its own.  It doesnt make financial sense for the landlord to offer a shared lounge, when the lounge could be made into another bedsit, so more ££ for the landlord.

The last bedsit i had, my room had previously been the lounge.  It was very large (old Glasgow tenement), and i had the big bay window!     There was (all in the same room) a single bed, a couch, a dresser, a wardrobe,  a fridge, cooker & sink.  So i think the studio apartment with shared bathroom is the closest comparison.

That's probably what you want to look for, Chelsea.  The other alternative would be your own room in a shared flat.... that;s not called a bedsit, it's usually called a flatshare.  It's usually where the owner of the flat is renting out bedrooms, so you would, in this case, be sharing a lounge, kitchen and bathroom.   For me, that's not enough privacy.... i'd go for a bedsit, especially if it had a kitchenette in the room.

Thank you very much everyone! It all makes more sense to me now. 

The term bedsit comes from a combination of bedroom and sitting room, the latter being a alternate British term for a living room.