Wherever you decide to live, you may well be expected to pay a term’s rent in advance. As a general rule, student accommodation and travel costs are highest in London and southeast England and least expensive in the northwest, the Midlands, Wales and Northern Ireland.
A recent survey has published the average weekly expenditure, including accommodation, by students in 26 university towns and cities. This might not seem much of a differential at first glance but it amounts to a huge £2,460 saving over a full academic year if you opt to study at Leicester rather than London. However, this is not quite the whole story, particularly if you are intending to take a term-time job because your average London hourly rate (£8.00) would be much higher than that for Leicester (£5.20).
In addition to an advanced rental payment, you could also be asked to part with a deposit or bond (typically the equivalent of one month’s rent) to cover breakages and damage.This could be about £180 (much higher in London) in university-owned accommodation and as much as £250 in the private sector. This is returned, less any deductions, at the end of the contract and, at that stage, there is potential for dispute as to what constitutes fair wear and tear! In fact, disputes over the return of deposits is a real and recurring issue, particularly in the private sector, and the 2004 Housing Act introduced a National Tenancy Deposit Scheme to protect students from unscrupulous landlords who withhold deposits for no good reason. Under this scheme, which became law in April 2007, your deposit will be covered by an insurance scheme or lodged with an independent body, not the landlord. The expectation is that this will ensure deposits are fairly returned with any disputes resolved quickly and cheaply. So within 14 days of receiving your deposit, the landlord or agent is required by law to tell you how your deposit is protected. If you don’t receive that information in writing, make sure you ask for it.
