Student leaders in Wales call for change in law to limit money lost over

STUDENT leaders in Wales have called on the Welsh Government to change the law to limit the amount of money lost by students who were unable to take up accommodation because of the lockdown.

Many paid hundreds of pounds in deposits for rooms in student blocks, but the courses they enrolled for moved online when the pandemic arrived.

Tidiane Diallo from Conakry, capital of the West African state of Guinea, said: “I arrived in Cardiff on

March 12 for an internship at the School of Bioscience in Cardiff University.

“But because of Covid-19, the school was closed and my internship moved online.

“As all the things I am doing are online, I decided to go back to France and I was living in a hostel until March 23. On that date, I moved to Liberty Bridge in Cardiff until March 25.

“This was my last day in Liberty Bridge and I was told my money would be refunded the following month – but so far I have received nothing.”

A spokesperson for NUS Wales said: “Students being unable to exit their contracts early has been one of the main issues that we’ve been hearing through students’ unions.

“Right now it’s up to the goodwill of the landlord/accommodation provider to let students out of a contract they’ve already signed.

“We believe the Welsh Government should implement similar measures to the government in Scotland through their Coronavirus (Scotland) (No.2) Act. The act has enacted a 28-day notice to leave period for students who have either already entered into a student residential tenancy but have not yet occupied the property, and those looking to enter into an agreement.

“The Act also implements a seven-day notice-to-leave period for students who have already entered into a student residential tenancy agreement and have occupied the property. This speaks to the fact that as well as students who have already signed for properties next year, there are also many students who vacated properties in March when lockdown was announced and are still having to pay rent and bills on accommodation they won’t be able to return to.

“We surveyed students at the end of March / beginning of April – including 339 in Wales. Some 25% reported then that they’d like to be released from their contracts, but only 9% had been able to.”