University accommodation

dave_rees

My daughter has to pay full accommodation fees despite govt saying students cannot return to university. Dwell Living are not considering any rent reduction . Can I claim from someone as it’s a huge cost. 

silvercar

Very frustrating to have to pay for something you cannot use, but I would hope students will go back to uni at some point this academic year, so will use the accommodation at some point.
At least students are in the position where they are receiving their full student loans/ grants and so have the same money in lockdown as they did pre-covid and therefore can afford to pay their fees.

GrumpyDil

Not in all cases. My daughter gets a somewhat limited grant which does not cover her full accommodation costs. In normal times she would have been working to top up her income but that's not possible at the moment so is having to top up her rent payment despite no income and not being able to return. 

mattyprice4004

You can't expect anything more than a token gesture really - the room is still occupied by belongings, the fixed costs (apart from some utilities) are still needing to be paid by the owners so it's not fair to expect a huge amount back.

GrumpyDil

For private rental fully agree about no more than a token amount as the accomodation is being provided and accessible. For university provided accomodation where students are not being told not to attend by the universities it seems to me that there is more of an discussion to be had. 

[Deleted User]

Might be worth a read:

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/news/2021/01/students-face-rent-rebate-lottery-as-post-xmas-university-return/?_ga=2.171354528.1444273430.1603915821-1597390734.1602701575

Barny1979

Claim from someone? Who?

silvercar

GrumpyDil said:

Not in all cases. My daughter gets a somewhat limited grant which does not cover her full accommodation costs. In normal times she would have been working to top up her income but that's not possible at the moment so is having to top up her rent payment despite no income and not being able to return. 

By living at home her expenses (food, utilities etc) must be far less.
Could she get a job local to home eg supermarkets deliveries?

GrumpyDil

Yes her living costs are down as we're feeding her occasionally and putting the heating on in her room once she's turned blue😁.
Job wise the local pub where she works when at home is currently closed and reality is that applying for a job now when she will at some point be going back to uni but doesn't know when is a little difficult. 
We'll make up the cost of her rent as it needs paying but it does feel somewhat like taking a handful of notes and setting fire to them. Although given the impact of Covid on lots of others not something we'll whinge too much about. 

sheramber

have you seen this
https://www.dwellstudent.co.uk/en/cancellation-policy/

jimi_man

I think students who are in catered accommodation and not getting any benefit from that might have more of a case to complain.