Unite Group Student Accomdation Help Needed

desi1_2

hey I'm a first year student awaiting my results, I have applied to aston university and Bham City University. As i have applied to Bham City Uni I need to find my own accomdation So i went to look at all buildings in Bham Owned by Unite Group...

I like what i saw so i decided to reserve a room. I was told I could reseve my room for 14 days ( free of charge ) when I was trying to reserve it I was told this has now gone only down to 7 days ( free again ). Anyway, now Unite Group are telling me that if i want the room I have to pay them the deposit within 7 days and once I have sent my Deposit I have no Right To cancel and will be tied in for the whole year!!


Please find below the contract

Our Cancellation Policy

Unless you have already moved into the accommodation, you may cancel your Tenancy Agreement (by giving us written notice of
cancellation), at any time during the period ending on the date 14 days after the date we return to you the Customer Copy of this
Tenancy Letter, duly completed on behalf of the Landlord (the “Initial Cancellation Period”). If you cancel the Tenancy Agreement in
those circumstances, we will make no charge and will return to you your Administration Fee (if applicable) and Security Deposit in
full. However, once you move into the accommodation, you lose any right to be released from the Tenancy Agreement, other than in
the circumstances set out in paragraph 5 below.
Outside the Initial Cancellation Period, but before the Final Cancellation Date, you may cancel your Tenancy Agreement (by giving us
written notice of cancellation), on payment of a £50.00 administration charge. For tenancy starting on 01 September 2008, the Final

Cancellation Date is 02 June 2008.

Ok so from my understanding that means... I have to fill in all the forms with my deposit and once i get my customer copy back I have 14 days to cancel and will recieve £200 back. However when i rang today to ask about "the Final Cancellation Date is 02 June 2008." I was told I have no right to cancel once i've sent my deposit. Is This True?? are Unite Group Allowed to Tie all students in to a whole year contract? The reason i want to book now before my results come out, is because nearly every place in birmingham is fully booked. Also I do not know 100% if i will be staying in Bham therefore I just wanted to reserve a room...

Please HelP!!

CLAPTON

While I know nothing about the specific situation with unite, it is normal for student accommodate to be a one year contract and usually there is no cooling off period.

[Deleted User]

I stayed in unite halls once and it was awful. Lots of things were broken and no one fixed them. They even binned my mail! Fortunatly because they had taken so long in sending me my tennancy agreement I hadn't signed anything so I moved out and paid the rent for the 6 weeks I had been there and moved back home. They tried to object threatening me with court proceedings to which I asked them to show me a tennancy agreement that I had signed and wished them luck because I had never been given one. They then apologised, and I stayed at home and commuted to uni.