University 'Rent' Outstanding

laurenjb

Hi,
Long story short, I decided Uni wasn't for me, on the day of arriving at University in September 2015, and I'm still being chased for 'rent'.
I picked up my keys, went to my room in halls, and left again within a few hours of deciding what I wanted for my future.
I posted the key back to them when I got home (no one would take my keys at the Uni that day), and then was billed quite a hefty sum for rent for the term. I argued that it was entirely unfair, and that I couldn't be expected to pay £700+ when I didn't have the student loan, obviously, and because I also didn't have a job. I managed to get it down to around £250, and agreed to pay £10 per month, as by this point I was on £4 per hour in an apprenticeship, and I could afford no more than that.
Now, a year and a few months later, I've received an email saying the payment plan ran out in December 2016, and I now have to clear the balance within 6 months - paying £20 per month. I am accepting of paying £10 per month again, but not any more than that, out of principle. I know that the room I was supposed to have had another tenant within a few weeks of me leaving. I just find it absurd that a year and half later I'm paying another £120 to clear rent for a room I spent all of about an hour and a half in? To top it off, the room was awful - it had broken drawers and wardrobes, the mattress was all of about 2 inches thick on a pop-up camp bed, the walls were scuffed and dirty and the lights didn't work properly.
Any advice on this? Surely I can still request to only pay £10 per month at the very most?

ThePants999

You can REQUEST whatever you like. History suggests they'd likely accept. Sadly, they don't HAVE to, though.

Browntoa

its was a whole term contract , the fact that you walked out the same day is not their problem and its their duty to recover the lost rent

Guest101

laurenjb wrote: »

Hi,
Long story short, I decided Uni wasn't for me, on the day of arriving at University in September 2015, and I'm still being chased for 'rent'.
I picked up my keys, went to my room in halls, and left again within a few hours of deciding what I wanted for my future.
I posted the key back to them when I got home (no one would take my keys at the Uni that day), and then was billed quite a hefty sum for rent for the term. I argued that it was entirely unfair, and that I couldn't be expected to pay £700+ when I didn't have the student loan, obviously, and because I also didn't have a job. I managed to get it down to around £250, and agreed to pay £10 per month, as by this point I was on £4 per hour in an apprenticeship, and I could afford no more than that.
Now, a year and a few months later, I've received an email saying the payment plan ran out in December 2016, and I now have to clear the balance within 6 months - paying £20 per month. I am accepting of paying £10 per month again, but not any more than that, out of principle. I know that the room I was supposed to have had another tenant within a few weeks of me leaving. I just find it absurd that a year and half later I'm paying another £120 to clear rent for a room I spent all of about an hour and a half in? To top it off, the room was awful - it had broken drawers and wardrobes, the mattress was all of about 2 inches thick on a pop-up camp bed, the walls were scuffed and dirty and the lights didn't work properly.
Any advice on this? Surely I can still request to only pay £10 per month at the very most?

You owe them money, you either pay an agreed amount (so £20 a month) or you go to court and get a ccj.


You weren't a tenant, and your rights are encompassed in the contract you signed

fairy_lights

£20 a month seems more than reasonable. You can't sign a contract and then just change your mind and expect there not to be any consequences - of course they would have re-let the room within weeks, demand for spaces in halls of residence is incredibly high.

G_M

I'm not sure why you call it 'rent'. It is rent. No doubt about it. You signed a contract for a room, at an agreed rent, and did not pay.

The university has ben extremely flexible, agreeing to reduce the amount, and agreeing to installmets.

The charge was not unfair, and your personal circumstances do not mean you cannot be expected to pay.

Yes, request a lower installment, and they may agree. But they do not have to.

Niv

I have very little sympathy for the OP in this case. Hopefully they will read the replies and realise that they need to realign their attitude.

TheGardener

OP - the whole run up to going to Uni is fraught and stressful. Signing up to student finance and accommodation happens at the most stressful point - when you are studying and stressing about exams and results and whether the uni you have 'firmed' will even take you when you don't even know what your exam results will be.
It would agree it is a crazy system and many students are signing up to £60K+ debts without really grasping what the implications are.

However, there is endless advice from UCAS/college/school/the uni itself and at the point you accept your accommodation offer - it is made very clear that you are signing a binding contract.

That you chose to leave so soon does not change the fact you signed the contract and you are still responsible for paying this money back. Talk to them - they seem to have been very reasonable so far despite your unrealistic 'principles' about having the pay them. As an adult, you now know that actions have consequences and on the bright side - you have saved yourself a huge student loan in making the decision when you did.

mrginge

Oh poor me, I signed up to go to university and then ran away hoping that all my responsibilities would just disappear.

Tough luck.

stardust09

This is adult life, I'm afraid. Contracts are contracts and signatures make you legally responsible for whatever you've agreed to. There might be an agreement that if you can find someone to take over your room then you're released from it early.

My jaw dropped when you wrote:

I am accepting of paying £10 per month again, but not any more than that, out of principle.

You don't hold the upper hand here - you signed a contract. They are upholding their principles and have the right to demand from you what you commited to when you signed the contract. Look at it from the other viewpoint: Your room is part of someone's business. They factor in their running costs for all the rooms in the accommodation and have to pay wages to all the staff before they even start to make any profit. You commited to having that room so they could not give it to anyone else or re-let it at very short notice. They expected you to honour your commitment - and so they should! Imagine what would happen if a large percentage of students did exactly what you did - they would be running at a loss and other students would have to pay higher rent to cover all the people who defaulted. Would you think that was fair if you were them?

Legally, they could take you to the small claims court and you could get a CCJ against your name. Do you really want that at your age? I think they were generous in allowing you a repayment plan, to be honest.

I'd recommend that you always read contracts carefully, never sign anything that you aren't prepared to follow-through with, and definitely don't complain if you break a contract and then companies enforce it. This will happen with many other future situations for you - when you buy a house you won't be able to turn up, decide it was a mistake and demand a refund; you won't be able to cancel things like dentist's appointments at the last minute without being charged; if you book an expensive holiday then get to the airport and decide you don't want to go, you'll still incur all the charges. And even with your job contract you'll have obligations - so read them and be prepared for the fall-out if you default.

Any contract you sign for rented accommodation in the future (private or local authority) will be exactly the same and we all have to abide by those rules. The best way to get out of anything is to have a non-defensive discussion with a landlord and come to a compromise - maybe even offering to advertise the room yourself to find a replacement (which, by the way, is what students do when they need to break their contracts usually). I don't know anyone who would assume your point of view, and I work with uni students!

Sorry for the rant but, respectfully, I really do think you need a reality check about how life works.

Out,_Vile_Jelly

Halls of Residence are run on a commercial basis; it's not a family home that people can wander in and out of on a whim. Unless the contract you signed contained a clause saying you could change your mind whenever you liked, then you are legally liable for the rent.

Both in and out of university, actions have consequences.