Leicester University forcing student to pay for a term's accommodation they don't need

MattMattMattUK

So the headline should be "My son signed a contract for accommodation for the duration of the academic year and he is being expected to stick to that contract".

KitKat666

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81921097#Comment_81921097

I'm reading with interest as my son will embark on this process later in the year. It's worrying that the full timetable wasn't released until long after the course started… so OP has 4 months of no teaching and is stuck in the contract. This is new to me, but it doesn't seem like a transparent way for the Uni to operate🤔

noitsnotme

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81921708#Comment_81921708

The obligation you mention is created through the university not following tenancy laws.

Out of interest, which tenancy laws have the university not followed by not matching the length of the tenancy to the length of the course?

silvercar

It seems completely logical that a university lets out its own student accommodation for the whole of the academic year. If you don't want accommodation for the whole academic year, you would need to find a shorter private tenancy elsewhere, I doubt accommodation that is intended for students would be available for anything less than an academic year. If you expect universities to let lout accommodation for part of the year, the costs of this would inevitably increase because they wouldn't expect to find short term tenants for the remainder of the year.

I'm sure this is something you will find out when your son tries to find accommodation for year 2. Student housing, even in the private landlord sector will run for the academic year.

Smudgeismydog

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81921944#Comment_81921944

My daughter recently secured a private student tenancy (shared house) for her second year, and virtually all of these are for 52 weeks (not linked to academic term dates in any way).

This came as a surprise to me, but unfortunately, it is how the system works 🤷🏻‍♀️

Jono111

I think you should be querying why the foundation year is only 8 months long

Emmia

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81922106#Comment_81922106

My first year at uni ran from October, to May. My halls contract was September to July. I moved in at the end of September and left first week in June