Students pay 50% rent for flats they can’t live in
FAMILIES ARE UNABLE TO TERMINATE CONTRACTS IN LOCKDOWN
A STUDENT halls company says students will only have to pay 50% of their rent – for flats they can’t live in.
Under the rules of England’s third lockdown, all but a small number of students were urged not to return to university after Christmas, with lectures and classes taking place online.
On Monday, private student accommodation company Unite Students, which has a number of student properties in Newcastle and Durham, announced it would offer a 50% rent discount to tenants not using their rooms for four weeks during lockdown.
The company, which says all its properties are fully open and offering safe accommodation for students across the country, will also offer tenants a free four-week extension of their tenancy agreement in the summer.
But some furious tenants argue they should be able to end their contracts completely.
Lisa Soulsby’s daughter Mia, 19, a first-year education student, moved in to Unite Students’ Newgate Court, on Grainger Street, at the start of the academic year.
The mum, from Killingworth, says a 50% discount on Mia’s £127-a-week fees doesn’t go far enough. She doesn’t want her daughter to return to halls, and believes she should be able to choose to end her contract.
She said: “Mia works part-time as a carer to support herself through university, so she can’t go backwards and forwards to the accommodation when it opens.
“Even if it were legal for her to move back in now, the fact is that no parent in their right mind is going to allow their child to live in accommodation with hundreds of other people. I’m not asking for a refund of any fees they’ve already paid, I get that it’s a business at the end of the day and they have to make money. But in these unprecedented times I do think students this year should have the option to be released from their contracts. At little bit more compassion is needed.”
Lisa said many students, like Mia, signed up for their places months ago before it was clear how bad things would get.
In that time, she argued, ued, many ay families saw their financial circumstances change due to the worsening of the pandemic.
Now, she said, even with the discount students were trapped paying thousands of pounds – the most expensive flats in Mia’s building cost £188 a week – for flats they might no longer want to live in, even if rules were to change.
“I just think it’s ludicrous. They’re not getting the experience they’ve e paid for and it isn’t the students’ fault,” she added.
Universities including Newcastle University have pledged not to charge students for weeks when they’re unable to live in university accommodation, but private providers are still able to demand rent.
A spokesperson for Unite Students said that “all Unite Students’ customers, in common with customers of other private landlords, signed legally binding assured short-term lease agreements for the 20/21 academic year against a known backdrop of Covid-19” and said the discount recognised the “exceptional circumstances” of lockdown.
The spokesperson added that any student struggling to keep up to date with rent payments should to get in touch with Unite Students and contact their university sity’s student finance tea team for further support. R Richard Smith, chief exe executive of Unite Stude dents, said: “We recogni nise that this is again a pa particularly challenging tim time for all students, w which is why their he health, safety and securi rity has been our priority since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic.
“We are now providing a 50% rent discount for a four-week period and an additional complimentary fourweek contract extension at no extra charge, in recognition of the challenges and disruption that students face following the Government’s latest lockdown announcement. We feel this is the right thing to do. “Working through this decision
has had its challenges as there are a range of varying circumstances to consider in different parts of the country and across different universities. Universities remain open, unlike the first lockdown, and we continue to have thousands of students living with us as of today.
“Some students studying specific subjects have already returned to university and more will be returning for face-to-face tuition during January as per Government guidelines, while for other students our accommodation is their only home. All our properties across the country remain open and operational.
“Against the backdrop of the Government Covid-19 guidelines we are working closely with our university partners. We will continue to support students and maintain our focus to keep all students and staff safe across our properties.”