Ending student accommodation lease early

hagus72

Hi,
would anyone know if it would be possible for my son to end his student housing lease early due to the current situation? His Uni in Manchester is now closed for the foreseeable so obviously he wants to come home however his landlord has told him he needs to complete his last 2 payments.

I realise he probably has no way out however i thought i would ask

Cheers 

Jim

SallyDucati

Is he in halls or a private rented house?

silvercar

I assume he still gets his student loan/ grant for next term and can use that to pay his rent.

need_an_answer

We are in exactly the same situation.
You need to read the tenancy agreement regarding ending/breaking the contract...sadly most of them will be for a fixed period of time.
As silvercar says hopefully the student grants will come in in April and can be used towards paying the outstanding rental payments.

That's what I'm hoping although in my offspring's situation there will still be a shortfall.
We are bringing our student home at the weekend and they are unlikely to return to the university town until the end date of the tenancy when we will clean and remove any other belongings.

greatcrested

He's still a student. And should still be studying. Universities generally are continuing to teach, albeit online and skype etc.

If he chooses to move home and study from there, that's his choice.It does not affect his tenancy.

need_an_answer

greatcrested said:

He's still a student. And should still be studying. Universities generally are continuing to teach, albeit online and skype etc.

If he chooses to move home and study from there, that's his choice.It does not affect his tenancy.

I would actually beg to differ on this...as a parent of a student in this situation I  have read the actual guideline as given by the university that my student attends.
The directive was very clear in telling them to go home.
Home could indeed mean their rented accommodation but its perfectly reasonable to assume that home is where you live with family etc
I am not in favour of trying to wriggle out of the tenancy my student has...simply because things are moving fast and at the moment the directive from the particular university is that it will remain closed until 31st may....the course does not actually terminate until 14th june so there is a slight possibility that something could happen to place the students back at uni until that date...

greatcrested

So all the overseas students are being told to arrange flights out???

And the mature students with no family to 'return to' are being told to go... where?

I'm pretty sure 'go home' means don't come to lectures, library etc but go.... well to wherever they live ie university accommodation, private rental or wherever they happen to currently live.

need_an_answer

greatcrested said:

So all the overseas students are being told to arrange flights out???

And the mature students with no family to 'return to' are being told to go... where?

I'm pretty sure 'go home' means don't come to lectures, library etc but go.... well to wherever they live ie university accommodation, private rental or wherever they happen to currently live.

I'm sure your input will really help the OP  with their decision going forward.
Its clearly a worrying time for all not just students so lets not nit pick on the meaning of "go home"

greatcrested

But that's the crux of the OP's query.

University is telling the students to 'go home' and OP is asking whether this justifies (legally? morally?) ending the tenancy early. The answer is

a) 'go home' does not mean vacate current accommodation and

b) even if it did, the governement has not as yet passed any leglislation covering this scenario to allow a contract to be brought to an early end

If the tenant wants to surrender their tenancy early, they should follow the normal process of tea 'n cake /coffee 'n gateau / juice 'n crumpets.

need_an_answer

Then surely the answer lies in the tenancy agreement....surrendering the agreement early doesn't mean they may be let off rent..
Most of the agreements I've ever seen are fixed term...and believe me tea and cake doesn't often work with the student LL.

kuratowski

greatcrested said:

But that's the crux of the OP's query.

University is telling the students to 'go home' and OP is asking whether this justifies (legally? morally?) ending the tenancy early. The answer is

a) 'go home' does not mean vacate current accommodation and

This is not true.  I have seen an actual example of such an email (from UCL in this case) and it is crystal clear they are telling students to leave their student accomodation and go back to their family homes.  There will only be a skeleton staff remaining to cater for the few (mostly international) students who cannot return due to travel restrictions.  All university buildings and libraries will be closed indefinitely.