Did you know the charity Shelter provide advice on contracts? You can find more information by following this link to their website: Home - Shelter England.
This link takes you to the Shelter guide to private renting just for students: Private rented housing for students - Shelter England
Contract issues
First year students
When you arrive at university as a first-year undergraduate student it is most likely that you’ll be housed in university managed accommodation. Any contract issues you might have with University Halls of residence should be able to be resolved by contacting the reslife team, and the reslife guide has lots of useful information and tips.
Second year students onwards
From your second year at university, you will need to find privately rented accommodation and the SU can support you to understand what you need to do when you come along to one of the ‘guide to housing’ information events that we run with the university in Semester 1.
You can take a look at the slides from this event here.
When you rent privately a landlord or agent will give you with a tenancy agreement/housing contract.
These are legally binding and the SU advice & support service can check the contract before you sign.
Please note that we are not a housing or legal expert and can only offer general guidance. We cannot ‘approve’ contracts by checking them, we will try to help you to understand the terms and conditions you are agreeing to.
We can advise on any concerns or areas that you don’t understand. It is important that you and the whole group of house mates have read through the contract and have prepared any questions before emailing our service for support.
We can also discuss any issues that you might have during your tenancy and advise you how you might go about sorting them out, but we are not able to resolve them.
This link to Shelter gives more information about types of contract and agreements.
Types of contract
Types of agreement
Most agreements will be either – Assured Shorthold Tenancy (landlord doesn't live in the property) or a Licence (Landlord lives in the property or services are provided)
Applies to Students who live with resident landlords (lodgers)
Can also apply to students who have landlords or members of the landlords family in the same building
Key points to consider;
- You have no right of ownership, only permission to remain, this means you have less protection
- Reasonable notice must be given to end the agreement (normally 1 month/ 4 weeks depending on rental period) by the landlord and tenant
- Can be a useful short-term solution for students as it offers greater flexibility
This is the most common form of tenancy and most students will now sign up to a fixed term contract of 12 months which does mean that you are still liable to pay the rent for the full 12 months, even if you aren't living there.
REMEMBER Legally your obligation to pay rent does not automatically stop at the end of the contract until you or your landlord have given notice and the notice period has ended. Many experienced student landlords do not require this notice, however, it is important to be sure this is the case.
Key points to consider;
- This offers more security as it is hard for the landlord to get the tenant out before the end of the fixed term contract (a minimum of 6 months, often a calendar year for students)
- However the tenant is contractually obliged for the whole fixed term so will need the landlords permission to be released from the contract early
- Students can leave at the end of the fixed term by giving 1 months notice a month before the fixed term ends, but not before. Some landlords may not insist on this but you still need to check. Some landlords might insist on longer notice so you must check your contract
- The landlord can ask them to leave at the end of the fixed term if 2 months notice is given, again before the end of the fixed term
- After the fixed term the tenancy can continue on a periodic basis (month by month – the tenant can give just one month’s notice at any time depending on what is in the contract). Failure to give notice may result in having to give a months notice and pay a further months rent although most student landlords do not stick to this, it is important to check.
- ‘Joint & Several Liability’ – students living in a shared house will be jointly and individually liable for the rent and the deposit. There is only one tenancy for the house if they have all signed the same contract and started the agreement at the same time. This means that if one person leaves/doesn’t pay rent/damaged something all can be held responsible for payment. This means that if one tenant leaves, whoever is left will be responsible for the entire rent
- The tenant leaving is responsible for speaking to the landlord and finding a replacement tenant as it is their tenancy and contractual responsibility. Replacing yourself with a new tenant is called an assignment of the tenancy and it is unlawful for a tenant to assign the tenancy without the permission of the landlord. It is important to get any agreement in writing
- Occasionally landlords will give a student an individual tenancy agreement for a shared house
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It is important to establish whether the tenants actually have exclusive possession or whether they have exclusive possession of their room only, and then joint access with common areas of the house (i.e. living room, kitchen, bathroom)
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Also look at the contract carefully to see whether it still mentions joint liability with other tenants.
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This is the usual tenancy type when the sharers do not know each other and haven’t applied as a group. This is more common amongst professional sharers rather than student lets
TERMS & CONDITIONS/RIGHTS & RESPONSIBILITIES