Cancelling a housing contract in advance?

Hi everyone,

So a few weeks ago, I was tricked by my housing company into creating a new contract for the next year. They came to me and ask for a £250 fee to 'reserve' my current room for the next year. In exchange, I get to keep the current room rate since they will be increasing it next year. I asked them if it is refundable and they told me "£50 will be kept as admin fee while the rest is given back".

Being a fool, I told myself 'why not?' I don't see any reason to find another place and I was happy with my current contract.

Since it was just a reservation thing, I thought that maybe I could get the refund just in case I found a better place and just cancel the reservation. So I went ahead and 'reserved' my room for next year online, clicked 'agreed' to the T&C (big mistake!) and proceed. Got an email a minute later that said I accepted a new contract for next year!

I was so confused at what just happened. I called them the next morning and asked if I could cancel the new contract since I was told it was just a reservation. They told me that the contract cannot be canceled since I already accepted the new contract and that the only way to cancel it is if they find a replacement. I told them there must have been a misunderstanding, I only wanted to reserve the room for next year, not make a new contract!

The thing is, I read the contract T&C and nothing on it says anything about canceling a contract early or needing to find a replacement.

So they kept telling me a contract is a contract, even though it's still early before the new contract starts (September 2017). Is there any other way to get out of the contract?

A few days ago, my friend offered me his studio place which is far cheaper and closer to the university than my current place. I told him to hold on to that offer since I am currently stuck with a contract that I do not want. Now I am really regretting my decision.

Since this is obviously a shady trick by the marketing staff of the housing company, I was wondering if the CEO/landlord can cancel the contract if I explained to them about my situation?

TL;DR Got tricked into making a new housing contract next year, need advice on how to cancel the said contract

p.s sorry for the long post

Reply 1

alleycat393

Is there an accommodation office at your uni you can speak to? They would be best placed to advise and help with this situation. It sounds like you misunderstood what you were paying for but if you inadvertently signed a new contract you are stuck with it but the Ts and Cs should tell you what you can do if you want to get out of it.