Ending Contract on Student Halls

doraspenlow

My son is in his first year at uni. He has accommodation in privately run halls. Like most students, he came home in early December and now it's looking like they won't be allowed to return until at least March. Is there any legal mechanism by which he can end the contract early and simply surrender the accommodation? I previously heard something about the contract being 'frustrated' but I don't really know if this is a thing.

Thanks

macman

To state the obvious, what does his contract say?

Has he paid the full rent up to Easter already? if not, he can of course just default, but that leaves him open to the possibility of legal action to recover the arrears. Are you a guarantor to the contract?

greatcrested

'Frustration' of a contract applies when, through no fault of either party, the contract cannot be fulfilled.

In this case, the landlord IS providing the accomodation as required by the contract.

Reading the contract might help, though is unlikely to offer an easy solution.

His best course of action is to get advice from the university housing office or students union.

doraspenlow

His contract says that he can leave if he organises another student to take his place, which obviously isn't going to happen. I appreciate that it's a long shot. It seems so unfair with uni-run accommodations freezing rents, but private companies (who make up a huge amount of first year accommodation now) doing virtually nothing. His company has offered half price rent for four weeks (so two weeks' discount).

He has paid up to Easter already. He didn't want the risk associated with a rent strike. We are his guarantors. 

moneysavinghero

For Frustration of contracts to come into play the frustrating event must not be reasonably foreseeable by the parties.

Presumably he signed up to the contract after the 1st lockdown, so the event of a further lockdown is not unforseeable.

saajan_12

doraspenlow said:

My son is in his first year at uni. He has accommodation in privately run halls. Like most students, he came home in early December and now it's looking like they won't be allowed to return until at least March. Is there any legal mechanism by which he can end the contract early and simply surrender the accommodation? 

He can end the contract early either if there is a break clause and he follows the terms, or by negotiating a mutual surrender with the LL. The LL may refuse, agree, or agree with conditions - for example that son find a replacement tenant, or cover the LL's costs in readvertising / setting up new tenancy / rent during the void. 

doraspenlow said:

I previously heard something about the contract being 'frustrated' but I don't really know if this is a thing.

Yes, if the property became severely uninhabitable and couldn't be resolved in any reasonable timeframe. This would be things like the roof caving in. In your case, son choosing to come home when he is physically able to live in the property. You can't unilatterally make the rental contract conditional on a third party (university). 

theartfullodger

Is his tenancy agreement headed Assured Shorthold tenancy?  Halls can be odd (different rules)

lookstraightahead

Will he not be going back there at all this year? What if lectures start again? 

The majority of students are in private accommodation, not just first years. My daughter pays £600 a month and is on a Masters, so she is in private rented,  but they're going back as soon as they can. 

Her accommodation is still there for her to use. 

What will he do after March?

macman

If he fails to pay the 3rd term then they might not bother chasing a debt from a student with no income. But since you are a guarantor, they will certainly come after you, because they'll know it's recoverable.

silvercar

He still gets the same student finance as he was always expecting. Granted any temp job in his uni town won’t be available, but he must be making significant savings by living at home with less opportunities to spend. So he should be in a position to afford the rent. There are many people with a loss of income and rent to pay.

[Deleted User]

silvercar said:

He still gets the same student finance as he was always expecting. Granted any temp job in his uni town won’t be available, but he must be making significant savings by living at home with less opportunities to spend. So he should be in a position to afford the rent. There are many people with a loss of income and rent to pay.

Yes he still gets his student loan with big interest. I think its unfair to expect for students to pay interest for their student loans this year and also ofcourse last year. Everything else is frozen and most students are paying accommodation while they don't use it. I agree its necessary for universities to keep going, but so unfair to pile up interest on student loans taken on those pandemic years. It should be frozen as well. I think there is nothing you can do about it currently except start a petition.