missed rent payments urgent help please

Leory

00ec25 wrote: »

I cannot speak for your HEI, but here all we do is send a reminder to the parents home address each vacation to see if they will then embarrass you into paying up (obviously the debt is yours not theirs, but this often works!).

Out of interest are you allowed to do that?
when working in FE we could send letters to parents/guardians due to their age, but data protection prevented us from doing such a thing when they became an adult.

I dont think i would have liked such an approach when I was at uni. To give students the chance to behave like an adult, surely you need to treat them as an adult first?

BitterAndTwisted

Sending a reminder to the parents home address each vacation does not mean that the said reminder was actually addressed to the parents. I don't believe that 00ec25 said or even hinted that they would be.

Leory

Having the parents address could be gained through next of kin for example.
Students 'home' address does not have to be with their parents during vacation periods and a great number are not.

these are all ifs and buts however, it was just a query as to whether it is allowed in such an instance. and/or do students have to have a guarantor these days?

00ec25

simblack wrote: »

00ec25, why must you be so defensive? .

my staff working in the debt recovery dept deal with such sterotypes every day and of necessity have to be patronising because of the (sterotypical) inability of those (but not all) students who are in debt to manage their own affairs

you posted only enough info to try to illicit the prejudiced view that you wanted as an end result.
My statement that unis are soft in their dealings with students is a statement of fact and a deliberate policy at this HEI, which I have endorsed, not a chip on the shoulder.

simblack wrote: »

What’s more it my prerogative to spend my money as I like.

Our processes are designed to treat students as responsible adults who, when presented with a bill, accept they have to pay for the service they use. If they have financial problems, my staff are available to advise them appropriately. If they refuse to pay we will always catch them when they graduate (or withdraw) anyway, either by denying graduation or taking them to court. In the fullness of time we would therefore be taking you to court because you "chose to spend your money as you liked" and not to pay your bills - that's neither soft nor patronising .

Leory wrote: »

Students 'home' address does not have to be with their parents during vacation periods and a great number are not.

these are all ifs and buts however, it was just a query as to whether it is allowed in such an instance. and/or do students have to have a guarantor these days?

you are correct, the letter is addressed to the student not the parent, and is sent to the non term time address declared by the student.
As you realise this may or may not be the parental address, and may or may not lead to the parents seeing the letter and asking the questions. It is a chance we take, but statistically it does show results when you analyse income levels over the year

we do not require a guarantor, that is a fact of our "soft" policy

TeamLowe

in the first year my university took payment for rent about three days after the loan payment went in, for the whole of that term, which i thought at the time was standard practice. my first payment was missed because my loan was late and i had 28 days to pay. my private landlord in the following two years had the same policy
i wonder if this is because the Uni have learnt the hard way about trusting students with budgets, as it seems from 00ec25 posts that this is a regular occurence

molerat

The OP is obviously studying for a degree in "It's Someone Elses Fault". I feel a steep learning curve coming if this happens with Council Tax, private rent, credit card bill or Income Tax. Many of those organisations don't !!!!! foot around the matter. Yes it is the organisations responsibility to collect the sums but it is your responsibility to ensure that they are paid.

it isn't always possible to know instantly if the payments haven't been taken

You might have got away with that one 20 years ago. I know that a DD has not been taken the day before it is due to be taken, wonderful things these computers and the Interweb.

moromir

simblack wrote: »

I maintain that it was the uni's fault...it was the uni's job to take payments.

You haven't mentioned by what process you thought the university was collecting the money - I'm assuming Direct Debit and I'm assuming you actually filled in and returned the form correctly?

Whilst you have a right to an opinion, please take advantage of your university's library and borrow a book on basic contract law.

I'm sure that you will find that infact, it is your responsibility to ensure that payment reaches the person or company that is owed for providing a service. If you are unable to pay that person because you can't contact them, incorrect details etc (for whatever reason) you have a duty to keep that money available in order that they can claim it within x many years (under certain circumstances).

Regarding your various comments about not knowing 'instantly' payments weren't going out etc, you don't need to know 'instantly'. The first month's bank statement would have told you all you needed to know.

I appreciate that it is not nice to come back to a thread full of hostile replies, but please try and see how your post comes off, you're blaming everyone but yourself for the situation that you are responsible for, you've blatently admited to spending beyond your means (this IS a money saving website which is full of people who struggle with very little money and a blase attitude upsets a lot of people), and you've openly lied to try and garner support for your OP.

As a 24 year old recent graduate (who was capable of looking after herself and does take responsibility for her limited income and budget), I firmly believe universities should have a compulsary induction module about finance, personal responsibility and living away from home. I came across people who had no idea of the difference between a SO and a DD, people who didn't know how to write a cheque or cook anything that didn't require a microwave and people just can't function in the real world like that.

woody01

simblack wrote: »

Hi all,

Any help is much appreciated.

Since september I have been living in a rented student flat. The university should take the payments out of my account every month. However since january they have not been. It is an error completely on their behalf.

The university are now continually hassling me asking for one huge lump sum for the missed payments. Do I have any right to ask for the repayment to be spread out over a longer period or even reduced as it is their fault and they did not keep up to their end of the agreement? I did not realize the payments had not been made and losing all this money at once will leave me in a financial mess!

Thanks for your help!

Did you not put the money to one side for when they came looking for it? Nope.

Therefore, you are liable to pay on demand. If you haven't got the cash and spent it its YOUR fault....not the Uni's

Lil_Dee wrote: »

And we wonder why people don't come back to this place

I take it none of the posters above me have ever been young and reckless, or made a mistake in their lives !! :think:

I'm sorry, I don't know the answer to your question Simblack, but wanted to re-assure you that there are still some of us around here who like to abide by the rules of the forum, and still think that being nice to others makes this world a better place.:wave:

Is young and reckless a polite way for saying dim?

00ec25

TeamLowe wrote: »

in the first year my university took payment for rent about three days after the loan payment went in, for the whole of that term, which i thought at the time was standard practice.

yes most universities will tie the collection of tuition and accommodation related debt to the SLC payment dates - so once per term is standard - unless you are an overseas fee payer or a PG as it obviously does not apply.
Allowance will of course be made where SFE/SLC make a mess and we will go "soft" on students who thus clearly have no money to pay us

a "wise" private LL times their rent demands to as close as possible to the time when the student has (not yet spent :rotfl:) the money, but not all LL are specialists in the student market and will thus operate on the traditional monthly approach. If your uni has an accommodation accredition service this is why those private LL may be a better bet as they will have been vetted for many things, one of which should be their approach to debt management.

DVardysShadow

simblack wrote: »

It was worth a punt asking!

ok, time to own up... I did know the payments had not been coming out. Not instantly mind you so during this time I did overspend. I guess it's better to look dishonest than stupid!

On this forum, we can only answer questions according to how they are put.

But i would say that a contract is a partnership where both parties acknowledge their mistakes and both parties do their damndest to make it work.

• The University were at fault for not collecting the money
• You are a bit of a chump for not spotting it immediately
• You are at fault for letting this run on past the time when you discovered the problem

As far as I can see, the correct resolution of this is for you to pay immediately and in full for the period you were aware of the problem, taking whatever finance you need to do this. And for you to tell the university that you intend to pay the remainder and to negotiate terms.