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University Visitor Policy

Hey everyone

Just wondering if anyone knew what the arrangements were r.e. having people to stay with you wen ur living in halls at durham> I was thinking about my younger sister primarily, if she wanted to come up for the odd weeked once in a while, or if a friend from another college wanted to crash for the night>

Thanks for the help!
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Reply 1

Agbonlaheto

I think that the official line is that you have to ask permission (or at least tell someone in accommodation office who is coming and for how long). However, it is impractical in reality. What they don't know won't hurt them and all that jazz.
The only problems that there could be would be:
1) You share a room and your roommate gets a bit miffed
2) Your cleaners come in first thing in the morning to find 10 people sleeping on your floor, they then tell someone is a position of responsibility and you get told off for doing it.

Reply 2

Itchynscratchy

Yeah as said above, you are supposed to tell them but most likely will get away with no doing so.

Reply 3

lucy0703

haha ok thanks that's great! i don't really mind telling them, and i imagine my room will be too small to fit more than one person in! does the accommodation have porters then, and are there "curfews" xxxxxx

Reply 4

Itchynscratchy

porters yes, curfews no

Reply 5

socialist cook

Agbonlaheto

What they don't know won't hurt them and all that jazz.

It can be quite interesting to note who is coming out with who at fire alarms though..... :wink:

Luckily there were never any fire alarms when my boyfriend stayed over with me at Hatfield in first year and I managed to dodge them at Aidan's last year too.

Reply 6

Mattmoy_2000

Technically speaking you're supposed to pay (some nominal amount) to have visitors sleeping on your floor/in your bed; but I can't imagine this ever being enforced, unless you were to have a very loud conversation about how you were dodging paying this right in front of the bursar after having particularly annoyed him/her previously.
Basically the room is yours, as long as any roommates are OK with it, you're not going to get done. They don't come around and check that your lights are out by midnight or anything! (Although way back in the 1960s they did...Master of Castle has some interesting tales about climbing back in via a coal chute :s-smilie:

)

Reply 7

Levity

In VM college the rule is that you have to fill in a little form saying who is staying and when, and people can't stay for more than 3 days in a row. However, no one checks up on this and so having people to stay isn't a problem.

I don't know if it is the same in other colleges.

Reply 8

goldenbarnes

Dudes, what's wrong with all your colleges? In Hild Bede you don't have to tell anyone or pay anything.....not even 'technically'.......they just elt you as long as it isn't for more than three nights. Further proof that Hild Bede is the best college in Durham.

Reply 9

dobbs

No Trevs is the same, you don't need to tell anyone or anything like that.

HOWEVER, and it will be the same at Hild Bede, the "technically" bit is that at Trevs, you're technically meant to sign the guest in, in case there is a fire alarm, so they have a register of who may have been in the building if there were a fire.

IF you are correct and Hild Bede don't need this, then to be honest it's proof that it's the worst college in Durham, because I like to think that my college cares about people not dying when staying over :wink:

Though when I do have guests, I don't get them to sign the book lol. BUT they are meant to :smile:

Oh yeah and it is that "3 nights" rule for Trevs too, but I had a friend stay for about 4 maybe 5 nights lol :biggrin:

PS. Matt, I am sure you are wrong about them technically having to pay. Even the official notices we've had from Trevs say nothing about paying. Maybe it's like that at Castle because of being a Castle, lol, I'm not sure.

Reply 10

lucy0703

having to pay! is it a lot of money> Isnt it a bit unfair if some people bother to pay and others dont> Do they check you in at the door or anything, what role do the porters play :s-smilie:

it all sounds pretty unclear! xxxxxx

Reply 11

Agbonlaheto

lucy0703

having to pay! is it a lot of money> Isnt it a bit unfair if some people bother to pay and others dont> Do they check you in at the door or anything, what role do the porters play :s-smilie:

it all sounds pretty unclear! xxxxxx

If you're going to Cuths then there should not be a problem. I have lived on the the Bailey and also in Brooks House and haven't had any problems about people staying over. The porter(s) tends to hang around in the small office downstairs and will not come into your room unless you have previously reported a problem i.e. your wall has fallen down or something.

Reply 12

socialist cook

I think you only pay at Hatfield if you want your guest to eat in with you, so in effect it's a meal ticket only.

Reply 13

dobbs

Agbonlaheto

The porter(s).....will not come into your room unless you have previously reported a problem i.e. your wall has fallen down or something.

Though on some occasions your wall falling down may be deemed less important than their cup of tea and hob-nob break to get all the gossip from the cleaners :wink:

Hehe...yeah basically it's that - don't think of the porters as people guarding the front door! They're more handymen than security guards, since they could never know everyone in your college (OK maybe in Chads/Johns they may have an idea).

As Judith (above) says, if the person who's staying over wants food then they will have to pay, which is only fair! But you just go to the porters lodge (or wherever else) and ask for meal tickets and pay there :smile:

Though in Trevs, guests can get away with having free breakfast, and no-one will care - it's like an unwritten rule (with the students) that liver-outs, guests, etc. can have breakfast for free :smile:

Reply 14

arkbar

In VM college the rule is that you have to fill in a little form saying who is staying and when, and people can't stay for more than 3 days in a row.

Not that anyone cares, my girlfriend has stayed for a week i college with me, and had some (apparently) very interesting chats with the cleaners.

Reply 15

lucy0703

Oooo Agbonlaheto are you from cuth's then! Any interesting stuff you could share with me> Accommodation wise did you share a room on the Bailey> I'm tempted by Parsons Field bit and opting in for 10 meal package, but dont seem to have found anyone else who finds that appealing, which is strange because most of the freshers live there :s-smilie:

. Do you think people miss out socially by living on Parsons Field, and is there division within the residents of each site> Any other info would be massively appreciated! xxxxx

Reply 16

dobbs

arkbar

Not that anyone cares, my girlfriend has stayed for a week i college with me, and had some (apparently) very interesting chats with the cleaners.

No-one cares :p:

Reply 17

goldenbarnes

My girlfriend stayed for 5 weeks last year. All her exams were in the first week of her period (errrr....you know what I mean) and she came up for the rest of the term, as UEA is poop and everyone goes as soon as exams are over.