As a Registered Landlord I have to provide my Landlord Registration, invitation to offer contact, full tenancy contract, repairing standards and notice of prior grounds for eviction. Within this 36 pages are much detail about who, how, when, what standards and who can help if things go wrong. This has to be up front and before any money is exchanged or contracts signed.
As I'm about to [s]be done over for £6k for a rabbit hutch room for the next 10 months[/s] enter into a University contact for halls for my son, I had expected the same.
But no, there is no tenancy agreement, prior grounds for eviction, repairing standards or landlord details. I've got until Monday (7 days from offer) to send them cash and create an account online, then 7 days before he moves in they will give him the exact location of his room. I've also got information on glossy sales pages.
All we've got is annual cost, initial payment and, having emailed, a refusal to send me a copy of the contract we're entering into unless I pay first installment to agree the (unseen) contract...
Does anyone know if Scottish Landlord / Scottish Tenancy law still applies to a university?
where is this? and with what uni?
It’s going back a looong time but I seem to recall Uni Halls were not tenancy agreements but a license to occupy. Think of it like a hotel booking. Landlord rules have changed a lot since then but suspect that this highly profitable business has not become tougher!
Odd that you can’t view T&Cs before placing an order though. That would appear to be an unfair contract term.
what uni
Heriot Watt.
A room won't be a tenancy, but a licence.
I suspect you're on a losing battle fighting...
Can't speak for Scotland, but it's a license rather than a tenancy normally down here in England
Son had all the T&C's when he went to edi uni halls. Given the current climate I through they'ed be falling over themselves to get your business.
I work P/T at a private student accom and due to many classes now reverting to online classes there is not much demand for accommodation presently. Have you looked elsewhere?
The problem with HW is its out of town - a longish bus journey. For first year it's hard to tell where everyone will be, plus the halls do look good.
They have good secure bike storage in places - priorities...
A room won’t be a tenancy, but a licence.
Do you know what the difference between an HMO Room Tenancy is and a Licence? I'm intrigued.
Matt having been to Hairy ****t in the days when not everyone could fit on campus in first year, it’s shit - all his mates will be living in halls, he will want to be there too. I’m surprised they didn’t provide a template T&Cs. Mostly the rules are just common sense - I guess you’d want to know what the pandemic policy is if the all get sent home for four months - perhaps they are still working that out.
In 2nd and 3rd year people often move into town with mates, but being in town when all your course mates are at riccarton is a bit naff.
yeah, halls are a must in your first year. much fun and shenanigans
The Uni won't let the students down with facilities (Wifi most important) as they don't want to get bad rating so just pay accordingly. The problem is sharing with students your son may not get along with.
You definitely want to be in our halls in 1st year, probably even more so in this weird year...
I don't really know anything about the legalities etc... I do know that price aside, we mostly get good feedback on all the halls. The halls are all basically sound, Horner is cheaper and obviously more basic but good location, the expensive ones are lovely tbh but furthest away from most things, most student feedback says the middle ones are the ones to go for. (if you're lashing out and going for the expensive ones, then Christina Miller is the better one imo, the new ones like Muriel Spark etc are a bit weird, they're chopped up inside into small bits which is nice for community but not so good for wider socialising). Yes Lord Hume smells of turnips, nobody knows why, they literally refurbished the whole place, paint and new carpets and everything, but the second a student set foot back in it, turnips.
Behind the scenes, the university accomodation business is genuinely insane. Like, they have no idea which of the students we've made offers to will actually turn up, which overseas students will fail to get visas, which kids will pull out the day before term, which ones will tell you ON ARRIVAL that they need a disability augmented room... It's all basically chaos. And it all happens between highers results day and the start of term. So that's why you don't get to pick halls or rooms. The whole thing runs entirely on the stress of the halls team. And yet, it always just kind of falls together somehow.
This year... Well, Scottish applicants are going to be crazy, all bets are off with the grade inflation that Swinney's uturn has caused. There'll be way more students making their conditions than normal and I don't know what effect that'll have.
I think you can still express a preference for halls, rooms etc but it's not really worth getting stressed about. Things like wanting to be near an exit or on ground floor etc for accessibility, anxiety etc, they'll always try and sort out, Simple preferences like "I want to be in Bryson because studentrooms says it's the party hall", they'll meet if they can.
I don't want to speak with any authority about cancellations etc, all the contracts and disclaimers etc say no refunds ever but I know refunds definitely are given sometimes.
yeah, halls are a must in your first year. much fun and shenanigans
Definitely this, I made sure my daughter spent her first year in halls rather than staying on the opposite side of London with her grandfather. Glad I did, too.
It’s all basically chaos. And it all happens between highers results day and the start of term. So that’s why you don’t get to pick halls or rooms.
That sounds pretty much correct - my daughter was in a tower block presumably built as part of the Athletes' Village just opposite the London Olympics velodrome, and they were filling it up starting at the bottom and heading up. As we were flying in mid-week from abroad we were some of the first to arrive, and she ended up in a 3rd floor flat with a lot of other foreign students. Most of the British students turned up at the weekend and were in flats further up the building.
Must be said the quality of the accomodation was a lot higher than it was in my day - en suite bathroom, bigger kitchen, etc. Kitchen was a typical student pig sty the next time we came to visit at Christmas, of course 🙂
That's what I love about this place, somebody asks about a fairly obscure topic...and somebody who works there is able to give all the information needed. Well done NW!
It's a given he will be in halls, that's ok.
They don't have the shared facilities halls this year - en-suite only and extra cost we weren't planning on, but hey ho.
It's just interesting it's not a tenancy but a licence, and intriguing they are not open about contract - and you're right I'm concerned mainly with cancellation at the start and if they are sent home due to Covid.
I'm confident the quality of the halls is ok.