What is my position on Private Accommodation when University is closed until further notice?

Unistudent17

I am a first year student. We are provided halls of residence for our first year.
We five of us have signed for a lease agreement for an accommodation for our 2nd year residence.
Each of us have given four cheques dated for June 2020, Sept 2020,Jan 2021 and April 2021issued by our guarantor to the estate agent to secure this property.
Total value for the cheques = £5850.00.
If University fails to open in Septembert 2020, what would be our position ? Will the estate agent will cash the cheque dated for Sept 2020. (I am sure legally they could. I would like to know if by July 2020 we become aware that Uni will not open for term in Sept 2020, Should we cancel our cheques for payment?)

Thanking you

unforeseen

Your position will be whatever your contract and landlord say.
There is nothing to stop the agency cashing all the cheques now if they wish. 

In the UK the legislation is clear; 'A cheque is a bill of exchange drawn on a banker payable on demand'.[16] Under the Bills of Exchange and Banking Act 1882, part 10, bills of exchange are payable on demand and in part 13, 'A bill is not invalid by reason only that it is ante-dated or post-dated.'[17] In the United Kingdom, post-dating a cheque carries no legal weight and so such a cheque can be cashed before the due date

Unistudent17

I know the money has not left the guarantor account as of today.
This is a house that has been rented out to students through the Estate Agent for many years.
The lease is not clear about this ongoing position Covid 19 and Shut Down. That is understandable when it is an unprecedented as we hear this by ministers all the time. 
I fully understand no one can say much about the situation and our (Uni Student Position). If we need guarantee of a place we will have to be prepared to loose our first instalment cheque i.e. June 2020 and our deposit and may be if the agency has not cashed in to cancel the other three cheques and take our chance!!

davidmcn

Cancelling a cheque doesn't necessarily help. The bounced cheque is itself evidence that you acknowledged the payment was due.

[Deleted User]

Unistudent17 said:

I know the money has not left the guarantor account as of today.
This is a house that has been rented out to students through the Estate Agent for many years.
The lease is not clear about this ongoing position Covid 19 and Shut Down. That is understandable when it is an unprecedented as we hear this by ministers all the time. 
I fully understand no one can say much about the situation and our (Uni Student Position). If we need guarantee of a place we will have to be prepared to loose our first instalment cheque i.e. June 2020 and our deposit and may be if the agency has not cashed in to cancel the other three cheques and take our chance!!

You could end up losing a lot more than the first instalment and the deposit.  Cancelling the cheques (who still uses cheques in 2020) doesn't mean that the money isn't owed.  The landlord could just take you to court to recover any monies owed.

greatcrested

You've signed a contract. The landlord is bound contractually to provide the accommodation. You are bound contractually to pay the rent.

This is true whether you've paid in advance or not, and whether the cheques are stopped or not.

If you change your minds eg because the university does not open (unlikely), you should negotiate with the landlord.

Unistudent17

greatcrested said:

You've signed a contract. The landlord is bound contractually to provide the accommodation. You are bound contractually to pay the rent.

This is true whether you've paid in advance or not, and whether the cheques are stopped or not.

If you change your minds eg because the university does not open (unlikely), you should negotiate with the landlord.

I am hopeful Uni opens for business for next term. If it doe not will contact the agent (intermediary)through who we signed our contract. 

dimbo61

If the universities don't reopen in September thousands of students won't be able to start University courses.
A number of Universities will go out of business along with some of the biggest University  accommodation providers.
Many small private landlords and thousands of small businesses will not survive Covid 19.
We can only Hope and pray that things return to normal soon.
In the mean time request say Half rent for June, July and August from the Lettings agents and Landlord.

MovingForwards

@dimbo61 universities switched to online lectures / tutorials a while back, worst case is they remain online for the new semester. They won't be going out of business.

[Deleted User]

Its April, I'd worry about this more in September.  I don't think the entire country will be in lockdown by then, there are practical limits in how long this can go on.

Jojomissy

There are 3 options being discussed by the universities and there is no way they will open next term.
1) Open Sept but just online tuition until Xmas then normal tuition from January.
2) Open November so 2 months late but business as usual.
3) Delay opening until January with reduced summer term 2021

As you can see it is a long time before they start business as usual.