Half rent for the Summer- Rip off!

For my 2nd year of uni I've found an accomodation off campus. However the landlord wants half rent for the months of june, july and august so the rent from june until 1st october is £750.

Also, even though we're paying rent we can't stay there in the summer and have to pay full rent to stay.

I don't get any loans or anything plus I've maxed out my over draft. If I can't find a job then I'm doomed and I can't pay the rent !!

Is anyone in the same situation? Paying half rent for summer etc?

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Reply 1

jennyflake

In Bath, where i go to uni its standard procedure. How come you dont get any loans??? Who is funding you through uni???

Reply 2

hermaphrodite

sublet it - for the summer - there will be people looking for accomm over the summer holiday - but dont want to sign a full year contract . . . advertise on here or google "accommodationforstudents" and advertise it on there

Reply 3

Agony Aunt

If I want to sublet it I still have to pay full rent :s-smilie:

so i can't really do that.

Reply 4

jennyflake

Also most contracts have a clause so you cant sublet it.

Reply 5

hermaphrodite

the landlord is gonna be on holiday - what he doesnt know wont hurt . . they arent gonna check . . .if u have close friends who want to stay at the uni city over the summer - let them stay - the trust element.

My friend and I only knew a group of people for about 5 weeks - and they let us stay at theirs over the summer - and then my friend and moved out in sept. and returned them there keys .

yes, but to get 50% is better than getting nothing . . .there are plenty of international students who want to stay over the summer . . . they will pay full rent to live in Uni accomm over the summer - so why not give it to them for a cheaper quote that what they are payingfor uni owned halls???

Reply 6

L0RA

We had no choice - we had to pay ful rent from june for twelve months if we wanted the house. Thats £4k a year :eek:

Luckily i have a good job for over the summer and am planning on living there anyway so it makes no difference to me :smile:

Reply 7

spark911

Have you signed? maybe consider looking at other houses.

Reply 8

Agony Aunt

I can't rent the house out to anyone else cos the landlord said if I want to live there I have to pay FULL RENT. I'll be paying half rent therefore no one will live in the house!

Reply 9

thesuperficial

so if you're living there you have to pay rent...um...duh??
half rent is just a retainer, if you're living there of course you should expect to pay rent...

at least he's willing to offer half rent, hardly any landlords round where i am do that, im paying £1,100 over the summer for a house i wont be living in because im going traveling. think yourself lucky its only £750 and get a job. our house wasn't even habitable last summer and we were paying full rent (we didn't know it wasn't or we'd have sorted something out obv...halls contract finished 2 days before we could move in and noone could be arsed to pay to stay somewhere else for 2 nights...)

Reply 10

AllergicToFairydust

Its standard as far as I know.

Your landlord probably has people living in his house right now when they leave in June, that house won't be gerenarating money until you move in and he will still have to pay out money on a house that is doing zitch.

Asking you to pay half rent is fair because you want the house but don't want to live there for a couple of months. After all, some students like to stay at uni for the summer so if he wanted he couldn't have found students who did and earn more than with your group.

If you can't afford it and you have signed, your uni may offer a non-repayable grant called a Hardship fund. You'll need to prove your in finance need through use of a very recent bank statement and you will to show the amount per month he wants to pay. They will probably only cover you for the first month so you need to get a job. Decision take a week or more so don't wait until Easter holidays are over, get in contact with them asap.

Reply 11

Luize

I had to pay for 11 months on my current house.
It is pretty standard. if you don't have money, get hold of some. work.

Reply 12

la fille danse

How is that a rip-off? :confused:

You thought you could get 50% off your rent AND stay there??? You can't have your cake and eat it too.

I've never heard of a landlord in London offering that. You're very lucky he's only making you pay half. Were you expecting free rent or something?

Reply 13

newDana

I wish that i had the option of only paying half rent over the summer. I will have to pay the full rent amount over the summer period, and to afford that i will have to get a job. But, because my uni finishes really late it's a huge struggle to find work if i stay at home (i haven't managed at all in the 2 summer's previously), so to find work i will need to stay in my house at uni. So i will then have the additional cost of bills and food to pay as well.

I don't think it's a rip off at all, i think you should count yourself lucky.

Reply 14

shinyhappy

Same here, paying full rent over the summer, for 12 months. Although the contract does only start a month before my term does, so I guess it could be worse... just means I'll prob stay and live there next summer.

Reply 15

la fille danse

Surely it's best to get a contract that begins in September and has a break-clause, if you don't want to stay in the summer?

Reply 16

newDana

more adventurous

Surely it's best to get a contract that begins in September and has a break-clause, if you don't want to stay in the summer?

Well yes that is probably best, but where i'm at uni nobody offers that. I don't know of any landlords or agents that let for less than 12 months, except for circumstances when the house is under refurbishment - then you might be let off a couple of months.

Believe me, if i could have found a nice, suitable house, in the right area, at the right price for 9 months not 12 then we would have taken it. But in some University cities that just doesn't exist - the market for quality student houses often exceeds the supply, so why should they accept a 3 month rent reduction when they know that they'll manage to let their house for a whole year easily.

Reply 17

.:fluff:.

I have to pay £1200 at the end of June for the rent of my flat. Since we get loans in April then not again til September I'm working as many hours as possible to be able to pay it, and stay here over the summer so I can carry on working so I can afford to live.

I don't think it's particularly a rip off, most students are in the same position paying full/half rent over the summer months with vast amounts of money having to be paid before any loan comes through. We all manage it some how so I'm sure you'll be ok. If things look really bad with your money situation go and speak to your advisor at uni, they may be able to give you some more advice. :smile:

Reply 18

lambzy

My firend is having to pay from july even though shes not going till september...

i thought you good rent it out, but after reading a few of your posts i take it you can't?

its meant to be cheap student accomodation and yet they make us pay for some of the summer? how is that right?