Unite Students Cancellation Prisoner (can't get out of contract)

GrizzlyGra

Hi,My son started at university the start of this academic year, staying in accommodation provided by Unite Students (a private company), but has not got on well with the course so has now withdrawn and has returned home. We have a problem in that before Christmas (when he was just about surviving uni) he was prompted and encouraged to allocate a room for the second year. It now turns out that we are committed with no way out so have a bill coming our way for over £8000 to cover a room he will never sleep in.
Are companies like this really allowed to lock you into a contract with absolutely no way out?
- We understand that we should pay the balance of this years accommodation (£1000) as Unite may not be able to fill  the room at this stage of year but as it is so early in the year rooms have not even been allocated to next years students so it is not as if we have prevented someone else from having the room.
- I would suggest a young person away from home for the first time and feeling the pressure to make choices for something months in advance is a vulnerable so surely some duty of care should be applied?
- This is going to cause great hardship to my son as most of the cost would of been covered by the good old student loan but next year there will be no student finance money coming in to offset the £8000 and as I'm sure you can imagine a young lad just dropped out of uni is not going to have that type of cash to part with (I'm not sure if I am down as guarantor when signing the first contract so can't even consider defaulting as they will probably just come chase me but I also can not afford to loose £8000).  
The consequences of this are causing great distress and anxiety so any advise or comments I can get to help my son would be very much appreciated. 
Thanks all.


 

silvercar

It should be possible to rrelet the room ie get another student to take over the room. You need to advertise wherever students at that uni look for rooms.

eddddy

GrizzlyGra said:

Are companies like this really allowed to lock you into a contract with absolutely no way out?

To be fair, your son also locked the company into a contract with no way out. (The company can't back out of the contract, just like your son can't back out of the contract.)

Having said that, the company's cancellation terms suggest that if your son cancels, he will only have to pay rent until a replacement tenant can be found. See: https://www.unitestudents.com/terms/cancellation-policy

But I guess they will concentrate on 'selling' all their available rooms first, before 're-selling' your son's room. So if the accommodation is usually over-subscribed, your son may be lucky. But if they can't 'sell' all their rooms, your son may not be lucky.

[Deleted User]

I'd be surprised to find the student loan covers £8k for a room.  Or even £7k (that's £200 a week for 35 weeks).  Maybe your son needs to be taught to live a bit more frugally?  This could be a very useful lesson in life.  I'm afraid most lessons are unpleasant when you are young.., and there's a lot to learn.  I am speaking as a mum who's son also found university life didn't turn out as expected. I'm supporting him but also feel there are lessons to be learned to enable him to grow rather than the opposite.

I've tried to have a look at Unite's Website but can't seem to get any information, I suppose you have to be able to log in to see the terms and conditions of any agreement with them.  I wonder if its worth contacting the students union of the university your son attended (they may still advise) to see if anything can be done.  You may find your son has to either speak to them himself or give them permission to speak to you on his behalf.

I know I sounded unsympathetic, I'm sorry about that.  It seems to me that universities nowadays are just about getting students to sign up and pay the fees, student welfare concerns don't seem to exist.  They don't care if a student leaves.  However I did find the university accommodation were a bit more helpful with the fact my son left uni.

HampshireH

Does he have a student liasion officer he could approach? Most unis have this sort of role where they offer well being and practical guidance. Many assist with finding accommodation. Perhaps if he speaks to them  they could assist?

princeofpounds

Sorry it hasn't worked out for your son. Hopefully he finds a new path forward.
Yes, he is locked in to his obligations. That's what a contract is supposed to do, on both side. He should of course read it carefully to see if there are any break provisions, but it seems unlikely.

Eddddy does hit on one potential route forward, but I'll add a few more details. When one party fails to fulfil a contract, the other party has to make reasonable steps to mitigate their losses. What this means in practice is that Unite have to try to re-let the room. If they succeed, then your son's liability should become smaller; essentially the costs of re-letting. 

I would recommend that he contacts Unite, in writing (following up by phone is fine). He should explain his situation (no sob story apart perhaps from mentioning the difficulty of paying - it's not relevant and will just annoy them) and ask them to make their best efforts to re-let the room; the idea is to try to work with them initially. They should prefer a new tenant rather than a court case to recover money, so they probably will try.
If more money becomes due and they haven't got anywhere, then you have to make a different decision about how far down the legal process you go before you pay. But with luck it won't get there. 
You may also have to watch out that they don't let the room to a new tenant but refuse to tell you. I think that's not so likely, but if you get to the point where you are meant to take occupation, you should check if you can.