CONTACT US: 01782 422 300 / 01782 422 321 | greenpad@staffs.ac.uk
Finding your next home for the academic year can be a daunting prospect, especially when you face competition from other students in the local area. Your initial reaction might be to rush head first into finding accommodation so that you can secure the ‘best’ available home because all of the best places to live get snapped up first. This isn’t always the case, and Stoke-on-Trent offers an abundance of affordable student lettings through various providers. Take your time to survey the local area and even see if you can find an ex-tenant to chat to about what the house or area is like during both the night and day.
There are some important things to consider before you decide completely on where you’re going to put your feet up for the next year, such as:
Make sure that you can afford the rent, whether that is for a place you’re renting alone, or whether the group that you’re going to be living with can all pay the rent so that you don’t face repercussions for something that isn’t your fault. Remember that there may be added costs for bills or deposits that you might not have considered.
Decide on an area that you would prefer to live in.
Take into consideration how long it will take to travel to university, and how much it will cost you. You might live right next to the campus or you could have a thirty-minute walk to get to your 9am lectures.
Decide on how many people you want to live with, and who those people are.
Take some time to think who you want to live with and how many people you’re going to be living with. People who you think might make good house mates could have you pulling your hair out by the end of the academic year. It is always plausible to live on your own if you wish.
Your Students’ Union Advice Centre can offer a helping hand if your mind has been melted by the confusing aspects of house hunting. The Union also has its own letting agency, GreenPad who are available to help you find a property that is suitable for you and your price range.
Staffordshire University Students’ Union and GreenPad have great links with the local police and work together to ensure the safety of all students. This also means that we do our very best to make sure that you are safe in your student home.
While you are viewing properties, you can always check a number of things to make sure your possible new home is safe:
The doors and windows are in good condition.
There are good locks on the front and back doors, including a deadlock night latch.
All windows have locks.
The property has a working burglar alarm that is regularly tested by the owner.
Perhaps the most important thing is that you feel safe in the area you are going to be living in, as you do not want to be worrying about the safety of yourself or your possessions during your time at University.
It is worthwhile checking that your landlord or letting agent is accredited by the Landlord Accreditation Scheme: North Staffordshire (LANS), which is a scheme that promotes good landlords who provide their tenants with safe, high quality accommodation.
To find out more information and advice on staying safe, please visit www.staffordshire.police.uk or www.saferstudents.co.uk, or alternatively speak to the Union Advice Centre, GreenPad or the Campus Police Officer Simon Stone.
Once you have found your place of residence for the next year (or two) and you’ve been given the keys, you should consider doing a number of things that could make your life easier in the long run.
Inform the relevant authorities of your change of address.
Let the university, the medical centre you are registered with, your bank (if you receive paper statements) and your friends and family of your new term time address. It may also be worth changing your address on websites such as Amazon to avoid sending packages to your old residence.
Discuss things with your housemates.
Unless you’ve decided to live on your own, discussing things with your housemates could make things much easier for you. Putting your heads together and deciding how you’re going to pay your rent and bills, how you’ll collectively clean the house and general things to follow such as sound levels will make sure everyone will be happy.
Make sure you have all the keys for your house.
Make sure that the landlord has left you with all of the relevant keys that you will need for the property. This means for the front door, the back door and windows, and even the garage if you’re lucky enough to have one.
Arrange contents insurance for your belongings.
It is advisable to arrange contents insurance for your own belongings. The landlord should have already insured items that are already in the house and which are owned by them.
Ask your landlord about Tenancy Deposit Protection (TDP)
Check with your landlord that your deposit has been protected and what Tenancy Deposit Protection they have used. They should provide the information you’ve requested within 30 days of receiving your deposit. If you think that your landlord should have used a scheme but they have not, you can apply to a county court, where if the landlord is found to not have protected it, they can be ordered to repay it to you or place it in a scheme within 14 days.
Read your meters and sort your bills.
As soon as you move in, make sure that you take a reading of your gas, electric and water meters to ensure that you only pay for the utilities that you have used from your time within the house. While doing this, you can find out which companies supply your gas, electricity and water and check your house contract to find out if it is your responsibility to contact them so that you can register yourselves as new tenants. This makes sure that everyone is responsible for paying bills.
Take Photos of your new property.
Make sure to take photos of your new property and its contents when you move in. If you get these signed and dated by the landlord or letting agent and keep them safe as they can be used to clear up and disputes in the future.
Get to know your neighbours.
A great idea is to get to know your neighbours, so try introducing yourself to them. Neighbours are an invaluable asset to you and your home. They may be more friendly to you and complain less if you are too loud because you were polite enough to introduce yourself and can also keep watch on the property when you might be away outside of term time.
Find out about bin collection.
Ask your landlord about how regularly bins are collected and what kind of bins you’re expected to use. If there are a large amount of you living in the same house, you can always request more bins from the council if they get full too quickly and you can find out about recycling schemes as well.
One of the major decisions you will have to make throughout this whole process is who you’re going to be living with. You can always choose to live on your own, which is great because you live by your own rules and you have to rely solely on yourself to make sure that the house is tidy and that the rubbish has been taken out. But at the same time, it also means that you are responsible for paying all the bills which could be a struggle. There’s also the chance you might get feel a little secluded due to not having someone nearby for a chat.
Living with a group is widely regarded as the popular option due to the fact that it works out cheaper to live, and it’s often more rewarding.
It’s often wise to make sure that you know as much about what a person is like before selecting a housemate to avoid unwarranted stress because they steal your food or play guitar in the early hours of the morning.
GreenPad's office hours are generally Monday-Friday 10am-4pm. We do work on occasional weekends so please check with GreenPad if we will be working the weekend you require to move in.
If you have no choice but to move in on a weekend and we are not open, there are local hotels you can book into. A list can be found here.
Many tenants have a written tenancy agreement, but a legal contract exists between a landlord and a tenant whether or not anything is written down. A verbal agreement may simply be based on the conversation the landlord and tenant had when they originally agreed on the terms of the letting. A verbal contract may, however, be difficult to enforce, especially if there were no witnesses to the agreement.
If you are having problems either enforcing the terms of the agreement, for example, repairs, or being required by the landlord to agree to something different from the original tenancy agreement, you should consult an experienced adviser, for example, at a Citizens Advice Bureau. To search for details of your nearest CAB, including those that can give advice by email, click on nearest CAB.
If you do not know the identity of the landlord, you can write to the person who last collected your rent, asking for your landlord’s full name and address. You should send this letter by recorded delivery and keep a copy. If the person to whom you have written does not reply within 21 days, this is a criminal offence. You can inform the Tenancy Relations Officer of the local authority, who can prosecute the person who has failed to provide the information.
Before contacting the Tenancy Relations Officer, you should consider whether this might provoke your landlord into retaliating with threats or attempted eviction. You should consult an experienced adviser, for example, at a Citizens Advice Bureau or the Students’ Union Advice Service.
If you need to find out your landlord’s identity because of an emergency, such as a burst pipe, it may be quicker to inform the local authority of the emergency. The local authority has special powers to enter and carry out any necessary work, and can take steps to find out who your landlord is in order to recover its costs.
A letting agency can help you find accommodation owned by a private landlord. Some will help you simply to find accommodation, but many letting agencies manage properties on behalf of a landlord, which means that you may have no direct contact with your landlord.
Only a tenant with a weekly tenancy, or who pays the rent weekly, has a right to a rent book.
It is important to remember that it is your duty to pay the rent and not your landlord’s duty to collect it.
Your landlord has a right to reasonable access to carry out repairs. What ‘reasonable access’ means depends on why your landlord needs to get access. For example, in an emergency, your landlord is entitled to immediate access to carry out any necessary work.
Your landlord also has a right to enter the property to inspect the state of repair, but they should always ask for your permission and should give you at least 24 hours’ notice. Your landlord does not have a right to enter in any other circumstances unless they have a court order.
If you are having problems with your landlord who is entering the accommodation without the tenant’s permission, you should consult an experienced adviser, for example, at a Citizens Advice Bureau or the Students’ Union Advice Service. Repairs
It is an offence for your landlord to do anything which they know is likely to make you leave the home or prevent you from exercising your legal rights. This would include, for example, repeatedly disturbing you late at night or obstructing access to the home, creating noise, disconnecting supplies of water, gas or electricity where your landlord knows that this is likely to drive you out or discourage you from insisting on your legal rights. If you are subjected to harassment, the matter should be reported to the Tenancy Relations Officer of the local authority or to the police.
When renting accommodation, it's against the law for a landlord to harass you because of your disability, gender reassignment, race or sex. Harassment can include both actions and language that you find offensive.
If you are being harassed by your landlord you should consult an experienced adviser, for example, at a Citizens Advice Bureau or the Students’ Union Advice Service.
It's possible for your landlord to sell their property with you still living there. In these circumstances, you may be referred to as a 'sitting tenant'.
When the property is sold, the new landlord would 'step into the shoes' of your old landlord and the terms of your tenancy agreement continue. The tenancy agreement is still valid even though the landlord's name is out of date.
Your new landlord may ask you to sign a new tenancy agreement but they can't make you do so. However, if you don't sign it and you have a fixed term assured shorthold tenancy, they could give you notice to leave at the end of that fixed term.
If you don't sign a new agreement and you have a periodic assured shorthold tenancy, your landlord could give you two months' notice to leave.
Your landlord must provide the services which are reasonably required by you. These services include the supply of gas, electricity and water.
As the tenant you must pay for the fuel and water you use. You may pay the bill yourself, or the cost of fuel and water may be included in the rent and your landlord pays the fuel or water company’s bills.
For those tenants who don’t live in properties that don’t provide an all-inclusive option, you may want to consider using a company such as Glide or Split the Bills. These companies take the hassle out of paying the bills. They can help you set up one monthly payment for all your utilities and ensure that you only pay your fair share.
There are legal restrictions on the amount your landlord can charge you for fuel which is supplied through a pre-payment meter provided by your landlord. If a pre-payment meter is set to charge above the legal limits, you are entitled to a rebate when it is emptied.
If you pay your landlord each time a bill is received and you think the amount is too high, you should ask to see the bill before paying it.
If fuel is paid for along with the rent, you should check whether there is a written tenancy agreement which specifies how this is assessed.
For details of the maximum your landlord can charge for gas and electricity, consult the fuel supplier or an experienced adviser, for example, at a Citizens Advice Bureau or the Students’ Union Advice Service.
If your landlord is responsible for paying the fuel bills and has not done so, the supply may be cut off. If you have had your supply cut off, or think that this might happen, you could:
Contact the Environmental Health Department or the Tenancy Relations Officer of the local authority, who can arrange for the services to be reconnected and the bills to be paid
Ask the company to put the supply into your name so that the bills are sent to you. You would then receive the bills and would no longer have to pay money to the landlord for fuel. This will only be possible if you have a separate meter. If several tenants are supplied through the same meter, the supplier may only agree to this if one of them accepts full responsibility for the bills.
If you cannot get a supply put in your own name, the help of an experienced adviser should be sought before you take any further action, for example, from a Citizens Advice Bureau or the Students’ Union Advice Service.
You have a right to any services which you need to use the accommodation as your home, without any interference from your landlord.
Your landlord should not cut off a fuel or water supply because you have not paid your rent.If you have had your fuel or water supply cut off by your landlord, you should consult an experienced adviser immediately, for example, at a Citizens Advice Bureau or the Students’ Union Advice Service.
Your landlord is responsible for ensuring that any electrical appliances supplied with the accommodation are safe. This includes heaters, cookers, kettles, and any other electrical goods.
Your landlord must ensure that any gas fittings and appliances in the accommodation they rent out are safe.
Your landlord must arrange and pay for safety checks and any necessary work to be carried out on appliances at least once every twelve months. The checks must be carried out by a person who is registered with the Gas Safe Register.
Your landlord must keep a record of inspection dates, any defects identified and any remedial action taken. You must be given a copy of this record.
If your landlord does not carry out regular inspections of gas appliances or if they refuse to give you a copy of the inspection record, you could contact the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), which has a duty to enforce the safety requirements.
The contact details of the HSE are:
HSE Infoline
Caerphilly Business Park
Caerphilly
CF83 3GG
Tel: 0800 300363 (Mon-Fri 8.00am-8.00pm; Sat-10.00am-4.00pm)
E-mail: hse.infoline@connaught.plc.uk
Website: www.hse.gov.uk
If a property is let as furnished, as a tenant you could expect a level of furnishing that would be reasonable to allow you to live in the accommodation. This would include:
Table and chairs in the kitchen/living room
Sofa and/or armchairs in the living room
A bed and storage for clothes in each bedroom
Heating appliances
Curtains and floor coverings
A cooker, fridge, kitchen utensils and crockery.
Any upholstered furniture must comply with fire safety regulations (see under Furniture fire safety, below).
If you think that the provision is not adequate, you can provide your own furniture, unless the tenancy agreement does not allow this.
If you are not happy with the condition of the furniture when you move in, you could consider discussing this with your landlord. Your landlord might agree to replace it. You could check what was listed in the inventory (if one exists), or tenancy agreement about the condition of the furniture.
An inventory is a list of furniture and other contents which have been provided in the accommodation by your landlord.
Your landlord usually writes the inventory. It should list everything provided in the accommodation for use by you, with a description of the items, including their age and condition. You should check that you agree with the inventory, sign and date it.
If you are visually impaired, you can ask your landlord to provide an inventory in a different format, for example, on an audio tape. Your landlord may be discriminating against you if they refuse to do this.
If your landlord does not draw up and agree an inventory, you can draw one up as soon as you move into the accommodation and get it signed and dated by an independent witness, that is someone who is not a close relative or friend.
Any furniture provided by your landlord must be fire resistant, unless the landlord is letting a room in their own home, or letting the whole home on a temporary basis.
All new and second-hand upholstered furniture sold after 1 September 1990 should meet the fire safety regulations, and carry a label to say so. The labels should be permanently attached to a hidden part of the item. If a piece of furniture does not carry a label saying that it meets the regulations, it is likely that the item does not meet the regulations and must be replaced.
If you have damaged furniture or fittings you should tell the landlord what has happened and seek to agree on how the replacement or repair is to be arranged, and how payment will be made.
If you replace or repair an item without the agreement of your landlord, your landlord may identify this at the end of the tenancy, when they check the inventory. Your landlord might then deduct an amount from the deposit or take legal action against you for compensation.
Over a period of time, most household furniture and contents deteriorate as a result of normal use, for example, floor coverings will become worn. This is known as ‘wear and tear’, and you would not be responsible for replacing these items.
If the extent of the wear and tear means that it causes a hazard, for example, springs in an armchair begin to stick through the upholstery, your landlord should repair or replace such items.
If your landlord has supplied an appliance such as a cooker or a washing machine that was working as the beginning of the tenancy, they have a responsibility to repair or replace it if it breaks down, unless this is the result of your negligence.
If there is damage or loss of furniture or contents, the cost may be covered by your landlord’s or your own insurance.
The tenancy agreement may state who is liable for any damage or loss to contents. The liable person, whether your landlord or you, should consider arranging an insurance policy to cover this liability.
Students are advised to insure their belongings as personal property is not insured by the landlord.
Endsleigh Insurance is a good place to start looking. They specialise in the student, education, graduate and sport markets. It is the preferred insurer for several unions and professional associations and is currently the only official and approved insurer of The National Union of Students. It’s owned in full by Zurich Insurance. For more information - www.endsleigh.co.uk
If there is a television set, DVD or video recorder in the accommodation, you are responsible for obtaining a television licence, unless your landlord installed the set. However, even if your landlord supplies the set, you should check that a licence exists by contacting the National TV Licence Records Office. If there is no licence, you could be liable for prosecution because you are the user of the set.
If the tenancy agreement specifies that your landlord should provide certain services, for example, gardening or lighting common parts, the landlord must do so.
If your landlord is not providing the agreed services, or is providing an inadequate level of service, you may wish to negotiate with the landlord to enforce the agreement. However, you should be aware that if you have a disagreement with your landlord, you could end up being evicted. This might depend on what type of tenancy agreement you have.
If you are experiencing problems with a landlord’s provision of services, you should consult an experienced adviser, for example, at a Citizens Advice Bureau or the Students’ Union Advice Service.
Your landlord does not have the right to discriminate against you when providing services related to your accommodation. For example, your landlord tends to respond more slowly to maintenance issues raised by one tenant than similar requests from other tenants, because the tenant has a learning disability. This could be disability discrimination and would be against the law.
If you are experiencing discrimination by your landlord, you should consult an experienced adviser, for example, at a Citizens Advice Bureau or the Students’ Union Advice Service.
Your landlord is usually responsible for external and major structural repairs. You are usually responsible for internal decoration and for making sure that furniture and other contents, and fixtures and fittings are not damaged because of your negligence.
You will not usually be responsible for making good any deterioration caused by ‘fair wear and tear’. Your exact responsibilities will normally be described in the tenancy agreement.
You must take care of the property by doing the little jobs which can reasonably be expected of you, for example, unblocking drains and mending fuses. You should also inform the landlord about any situation which could cause damage to the property, for example, a leak in the roof.
If your landlord claims that you have damaged the property, they will normally try to keep all or part of any deposit you may have paid to cover the cost of damage.
If you paid a deposit to your landlord at the start of a tenancy as security for any rent arrears or damage to property, this should be returned at the end of the tenancy if the accommodation has been left in good condition and there are no arrears.
If your landlord refuses to return the deposit or makes deductions, you should check the terms of the tenancy agreement or the agreed inventory (if there was one) to see what the deposit was supposed to cover. In cases of damage to property, it will often be cheaper for you to make good the damage before your landlord comes to inspect the property than for your landlord to charge for the cost of getting repairs done.
If you have an assured shorthold tenancy and paid your deposit from 6 April 2007, or renewed your tenancy since that date, your landlord must use a tenancy deposit protection scheme. This means your deposit is safeguarded and there are procedures not involving the court that can be used to sort out problems about the deposit at the end of the tenancy.
If you use the whole of the property which you rent as your home for business purposes and no longer live there, you will lose any security of tenure you had and could be evicted by the landlord.
You may be able to use part of your home for business purposes as long as it is not specifically forbidden in your tenancy agreement, it does not cause a nuisance to neighbours and you have your landlord’s permission.
You may also require permission from the local authority to carry on a business. For example, there may be a need to obtain planning permission, or a special licence, depending on the activity. The business use can also lead to part of the home being assessed for the uniform business rate.
If you are threatened with eviction because you have used the home for business purposes, you may be able to defend the eviction, depending on what kind of tenancy you have, but the help of an experienced adviser will be needed, for example, at a Citizens Advice Bureau or the Students’ Union Advice Service.
You can keep pets as long as it is not specifically forbidden in the tenancy agreement and it does not cause a nuisance to neighbours. However, you should normally seek your landlord’s permission because, even if you have a legal right to keep pets, if your landlord does not approve, you may end up getting evicted.
Whether you can be evicted depends on the type of tenancy agreement you have. If you are threatened with eviction because you are keeping pets, you may be able to defend this even if it is in breach of the tenancy agreement but you will have to get rid of the pet. This does, however, depend on what kind of tenancy you have.
If you are keeping pets when this is forbidden by the tenancy agreement, you should consult an experienced adviser, for example, at a Citizens Advice Bureau or the Students’ Union Advice Service.
If there's a term in your tenancy agreement which bans pets, you can ask your landlord to change it to allow you to have an assistance dog, if you're disabled and need an assistance dog to be able to live in the property.
Your landlord should agree to this unless he has a good reason for not doing so. This is known as making a 'reasonable adjustment'. If your landlord refuses to make a reasonable adjustment, they may be discriminating against you and could be acting unlawfully.
If you're disabled and your landlord refuses to allow you to keep an assistance dog, you should consult an experienced adviser, for example, at a Citizens Advice Bureau or the Students’ Union Advice Service.
If you have a fixed term assured shorthold tenancy, at the end of the fixed term your landlord may offer you a new agreement. This could be for another fixed term or it could be on a periodic basis. This means that the agreement would run from one rent period to the next, for example, from month to month.
If you do renew your tenancy, your landlord may want to increase the rent. If you don't agree with the increase, you could try to negotiate a different amount with your landlord. If that doesn't work, you'll need to decide whether to renew the tenancy and pay the higher rent or find somewhere else to live.
If your landlord hasn't given you notice or takes no action at the end of the fixed term, you don't have to move out. Your tenancy automatically becomes a statutory periodic assured shorthold tenancy. A periodic tenancy is one that runs from one rent period to the next.
If your landlord decides that they don't want to renew your tenancy and they want you to leave, they must give you a certain amount of notice. If you want to move out on the day that the fixed term runs out, you generally don’t have to give notice to your landlord. However, some agreements require notice to terminate the tenancy at the end of the fixed term. Guidance suggests that such a term may be considered unfair and unenforceable. If you are in this position you should get advice.
In practice, even if your agreement doesn't include such a term, it’s best to let your landlord know what your plans are. This is to avoid problems; such as delays in getting your deposit back.
If you stay beyond the fixed term, even for one day, a periodic agreement begins. You will then have to give your landlord notice if you want to move out. For more information about ending a periodic agreement, see Tenant wants to end the tenancy.
There are many rules about the notice needed to end a tenancy agreement and apply for a possession order from the court. The rules cover the length of notice needed, the form in which it must be given and the dates on which it must take effect.
In most cases, your landlord has to serve a special notice on you before they can apply for a possession order. The rules vary depending on what kind of tenancy you have.
If a private landlord wants to end a tenancy on the date the agreement expires, they must usually serve a Notice conforming to special rules.
If you've been given notice by your landlord but you want to leave before the notice runs out, you should contact your landlord. It's a good idea to see if you can come to a mutual agreement about when the notice will end. It's never a good idea to just leave, as your agreement will continue even though you've left, and your landlord can continue to charge you rent.
If you receive a Notice of seeking possession, you should consult an experienced adviser without delay, for example, at a Citizens Advice Bureau or the Students’ Union Advice Service.
If you want to end your tenancy, it's important to do it properly otherwise you may be held responsible for paying the rent even after you've moved out.
What you have to do depends on whether your tenancy is fixed term or periodic. A fixed term tenancy is for a fixed period of time, for example, twelve months. A periodic tenancy is one that runs from one rent period to another, for example, from month to month. A periodic tenancy can start with a fixed term and then become periodic.
If you want to end a fixed term agreement early, you can only do so in one of two ways:
with the permission of your landlord. This is called a 'surrender'. It means you and your landlord agree to the tenancy ending. To avoid any problems, it's best to get the landlord's agreement in writing.
if there is a term in your tenancy agreement that allows for the tenancy to end early. This is called a break clause. The break clause will tell you how much notice you have to give.
If you are a joint tenant, the other tenants must agree to end the tenancy too.
If you don't end a fixed term tenancy properly, you may end up liable for the rent for the remainder of the time covered by the fixed term.
If you want to end a fixed term agreement early, you should consult an experienced adviser, for example, at a Citizens Advice Bureau or the Students’ Union Advice Service.
If you want to end a periodic agreement you must give your landlord a valid notice to quit. The notice to quit must:
be in writing
be for at least 28 days. However, it could be for longer, so check what your tenancy agreement says first
expire on the first or last day of a period of the tenancy (unless your tenancy agreement says otherwise). The first day of a period of the tenancy is usually the day your rent is due, but not always. It's not always easy to work out what is the first or last day of a period of the tenancy, so you may need to get advice first.
In the case of a joint tenancy, just one tenant giving notice to quit can end the tenancy for all of the tenants. If you are unsure whether or not you are a joint tenant, an adviser will be able to help you. If you want get advice on how to end a periodic agreement, you should consult an experienced adviser, for example, at a Citizens Advice Bureau or the Students’ Union Advice Service.
If you leave without giving proper notice, your landlord may be entitled to charge rent up to the date when notice should have expired, or up to the end of the tenancy agreement if it is a fixed term agreement and you did not give any notice at all.
The help of an experienced adviser is almost certain to be needed if there is a dispute about rent arrears in this situation, for example, at a Citizens Advice Bureau or the Students’ Union Advice Service.
How your landlord can get possession of the accommodation will depend on the type of tenancy you have.
Once your landlord or you have given notice, this does not necessarily mean you can be evicted. In nearly all cases a court order is needed, and further notice of court proceedings is often required. Whether the court will allow the eviction will depend on the kind of tenancy and the reasons for seeking eviction. However, in some cases, a court order may not be necessary. For example, a court order for eviction is not needed to evict you from your home if you have a resident landlord and the tenancy started after 15 January 1989.
If you have been asked to leave the accommodation by your landlord or have been told by them that they are taking court proceedings for possession, you should consult an experienced adviser, for example, at a Citizens Advice Bureau or the Students’ Union Advice Service.
A large number of courts will have a duty desk scheme where you can receive advice and/or representation at the court hearing. The usher will tell you if one is available.
If your landlord has an order from the court giving them possession of the property, you do not have to leave until the date on the order.
Property you left behind still belongs to you and normally should be returned to you when you ask for it. If you leave things behind when you give up a tenancy, your landlord may charge for the cost of clearing them out of the home.
If your landlord will not return your belongings left in the accommodation, you should consult an experienced adviser, for example, at a Citizens Advice Bureau or the Students’ Union Advice Service.
Passing on a tenancy to someone else is called assignment. The rules about who can and who cannot assign tenancies are very complex.
If you want to assign your tenancy to someone else, you should always consult an experienced adviser, for example, at a Citizens advice Bureau or the Students’ Union Advice Service.
When renting accommodation, your landlord must not discriminate against you because of your disability, gender reassignment, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex or sexual orientation. This means that they are probably breaking the law if they:
refuse to let a property to you because of discrimination
rent a property to you on worse terms than other tenants
treat you differently from other tenants in the way you are allowed to use facilities such as a laundry or a garden
evict or harass you because of discrimination
charge you higher rent than other tenants
refuse to carry out repairs to your home because of discrimination
refuse to make reasonable changes to a property or a term in the tenancy agreement which would allow a disabled person to live there.
There are some circumstances where the general rules about discrimination may not apply, for example, if your landlord lives in the same property as you.
If you think your landlord is discriminating against you, you should get advice from an experienced adviser, for example, at a Citizens Advice Bureau or the Students’ Union Advice Service.
If you are a full time current student living with other full time students, then you will not be liable to pay Council Tax. Full time students living with non-students are also not liable for Council Tax but the house will still attract the tax which the non-student will have to pay. If there is only one adult non-student in the house, the Council Tax bill should be reduced by 25%. This has been the position since 6th April 2004.
The University can provide a Council Tax exemption certificate which are available from the Information Points based at both Cadman building or Brindley Building. Alternatively, you can request this via email on: information-point@staffs.ac.uk
It is then up to you to complete the council details on the form and send to the council.
If you are studying on a part-time course, you are not eligible for a council tax certificate (unless you are repeating part-time in a full-time award).
Alternatively
You can complete the Council Tax exemption certificate online by following the link to the Council website below –
The form to complete can be found here: https://myaccount.stoke.gov.uk/myforms/fms-33906.aspg
If you require any further assistance, please call 01782 234234 or use the online enquiry form: https://myaccount.stoke.gov.uk/myforms/fms-33932.aspg
Getting into rent arrears can be distressing. But don't ignore the situation. If you don't take action to pay back what you owe, you could end up losing your home and/or receive a money judgement (CCJ) from a small claims court.
You will need to contact your landlord or GreenPad as soon as possible and try and make arrangements to pay back what you owe.
However, before you do this, you should check that you owe all the money your landlord says you do.
You might not be responsible for all the arrears if:
You're not the tenant or someone else you live with owes the money
Your landlord has not recorded all your rent payments correctly
You took over the tenancy from someone else and your landlord is trying to charge you for rent from before you took over the tenancy
You should always check that you're the only person responsible for paying back the arrears.
If you live with other people, you should check to see what kind of tenancy you all have.
If you are up-to-date with your rent payments but someone else is not, you may still have to cover their payments. This will depend on whether you are all on one tenancy agreement or whether there are separate agreements between each of you and the landlord.
If you are all on the same tenancy or licence agreement, you are called joint tenants. Each of you will be responsible for the whole of the arrears. This is known as joint and several liability. It means that if one of the other people on the tenancy agreement isn't paying their share of the rent or leaves owing money, you will be expected to cover it.
You may be able to take legal action against the other person to get back the money they owe. If you're in this situation, you should get advice about this.
If you all have separate tenancy agreements, the landlord can't force you to pay arrears owed by any of the other people. If your landlord is trying to get you to pay rent owed by someone else who is on a separate agreement, you should get advice.
You may not be able to check whose name is on the tenancy agreement because there has never been a written agreement. However, if you agreed to pay a landlord rent, this usually counts as a tenancy agreement and you will have to pay back any rent you owe. But it may be harder to prove what you’ve agreed to pay the landlord and how much you owe them. It may also be harder to prove if someone else who lives in the same property as you owes the money and not you.
If you are renting from a private landlord and have a weekly tenancy, your landlord must provide a rent book or similar document. Your landlord is committing a criminal offence if they fail to do this. However, if you rent from a private landlord and have any other type of tenancy such as fixed-term or monthly, you don’t have the right to a rent book.
In England and Wales if, you have an assured shorthold tenancy which was created on or after 28 February 1997, you can ask your landlord to give you the basic terms of the agreement in writing. If you ask for this in writing, your landlord must do what you ask within 28 days.
If there’s never been a written tenancy agreement between you and your landlord and you’re not sure how much rent you owe them, you should get help from an experienced housing adviser, GreenPad or the Students’ Union advise service.
Check that the amount the landlord says you owe agrees with your own records. Look at your bank statements and receipts. Check that all the rent payments you’ve made have been recorded and the amounts have been added up correctly.
Ask your landlord for a statement of your rent account if you haven’t kept a record of your rent payments.
Check what’s included in the rent you’re paying. Your landlord is allowed to include things like water or service charges heating and lighting in the rent. If the rent you owe includes charges like these, you will have to pay them.
If you can’t pay off your arrears in full, you should ask for time to pay them back. You can suggest that you will pay back extra on top of your rent each month or each week over a certain period of time, until the arrears are paid off. A landlord may agree to this rather than end your tenancy because they want to get back the money you owe.
Private landlords may be tougher and expect payment more quickly. However, they still must not harass you or take other action like cutting off your gas or electric to try and force you to pay quickly. If your landlord threatens or bullies you in any way, get help from an expert housing adviser, GreenPad or the Students’ Union Advice Service.
Your local Citizens Advice Bureau may be able to help or put you in touch with someone who can. To get details of your nearest CAB, including those who can give email advice, click on nearest CAB.
If you're an assured or an assured shorthold tenant and you owe over eight weeks' rent arrears, it's important to start paying off your arrears as soon as possible. This is because your landlord could take certain legal action so that the court will have no choice but to evict you.
You can try and come to an arrangement to pay off your rent arrears with your landlord at any time, even if you’ve already received papers saying that your landlord is taking you to court.
It’s important that you agree a repayment plan that you can afford to stick to. If you don’t stick to the plan, your landlord will probably take you to court and try to evict you.
To work out how much you can afford to pay back your landlord, you will need to take a good look at your household budget. You will need to make a list of all the money you’ve got coming in and all the money going out of your household. The list should include any other debts you owe. Make sure that the amounts you put down are realistic. Once you’ve done this, you can show it to your landlord so they can see how much you can afford to pay back each month.
If you work out that you don’t have enough money to pay back your rent arrears, you should get help from an experienced debt adviser. You can get advice from your local Citizens Advice Bureau, GreenPad or the Students’ Union Advice Service.
If your landlord won't agree the repayment plan you have offered, pay what you have offered anyway. This may make a difference if the landlord takes you to court.
Any agreement with your landlord should be written down and signed by both of you.
If you’ve agreed a repayment plan with your landlord but haven’t kept to it, they will probably take legal action to evict you.
With some types of tenancy, such as periodic assured shorthold tenancies, you may not even get the chance to go to court and argue your case. A judge can grant your landlord permission to evict you under an accelerated possession procedure which means there doesn’t need to be a court hearing.
You could try going back to your landlord and asking them to give you a second chance. Explain the reasons why you didn’t keep to the agreement and, if you can, show them that this won’t happen again. For example, you may have just found out you can get additional funding, you’ve got another job after being unemployed or someone has paid you back money they owe you.
If you're the tenant of a private landlord and you have rent arrears, your landlord will probably try to evict you.
To do this, they will need to follow a procedure which involves getting a court order. They can't make you leave your home without getting a court order first, although in some cases you may want to leave before they do this.
If your landlord tries to force you to leave your home without getting a court order first, this is against the law.
Many tenants of private landlords are assured shorthold tenants.
You are likely be an assured shorthold tenant if:
your tenancy started on or after 28 February 1997
you pay rent to a private landlord
you don't share any accommodation with your landlord.
With most assured shorthold tenancies, you will sign up for a fixed number of months to begin with. This is often for a period of six months but it can be longer. After this period comes to an end, if you and your landlord want to extend the tenancy you may:
be asked to sign up for another fixed number of months, or
extend the tenancy on a rolling basis, from one week or one month to the next, without signing a new tenancy agreement.
If you have signed up for a fixed number of months which has not yet come to an end, this is known as a fixed term assured shorthold tenancy.
If the fixed term tenancy has come to an end but the tenancy has continued on a rolling basis, this is known as a periodic assured shorthold tenancy.
Your landlord must issue you with a written notice to leave your home. For assured shorthold tenants, the notice could be either a section 21 notice or a notice seeking possession.
If your landlord gives you a section 21 notice this gives them an automatic right to possession of your home. They don't have to give a reason for wanting to evict you. A section 21 notice is often followed by an accelerated possession procedure.
Your landlord cannot serve a section 21 notice where:
they have not protected your tenancy deposit in an approved scheme and given you information about this. This applies if you paid a deposit on or after 6 April 2007. If you paid a deposit before that date, it applies if your tenancy has been renewed since 6 April 2007,
you live in a house in multiple occupation (HMO) for which a licence is needed but your landlord hasn't got one.
If your landlord gives you a notice seeking possession it means that they have to give a reason, called a ground for possession, for wanting to evict you, for example, rent arrears. A notice seeking possession is followed by the standard possession procedure.
If you receive a section 21 notice, it must give you at least two months' notice and say that possession is required. If the amount of time between your rent payments is longer than two months, the notice your landlord gives you must be as long as the time between rent payments. For example, if you pay your rent every three months, the notice must be three months' long.
If you receive a notice seeking possession and the reason given on the notice is rent arrears, the notice period must be for at least two weeks.
Once the notice period has run out, your landlord can apply to court for an order to evict you. This order is called a possession order.
The court will send you papers, informing you that your landlord has applied for a possession order. Sometimes, this will be the first warning you get that your landlord wants to evict you. This can be the case where the section 21 notice was given to you at the beginning of your fixed term tenancy. Your landlord might have done this because it would make it easier for them to evict you if they want to at the end of the tenancy.
There are two types of possession procedure - the accelerated possession procedure and the standard possession procedure.
The accelerated procedure allows your landlord to recover possession of your home more quickly than with the standard procedure. It is quicker because if your landlord meets certain requirements and the claim is not disputed, there will be no court hearing.
Many landlords use the accelerated possession procedure because it is more straightforward. However, under this procedure your landlord can only claim possession of your home - they cannot claim for anything else, such as rent arrears.
If your landlord wants to claim rent arrears they either have to use the standard possession procedure, or use the accelerated procedure to get the property back and make a separate court claim for the rent arrears.
Your landlord can only use the accelerated possession procedure if:
You're an assured shorthold tenant
Your fixed term tenancy has come to an end, or you have a periodic tenancy (although not within the first six months of the periodic tenancy)
You have a written tenancy agreement. If you originally had a written fixed term agreement which has rolled over into a periodic tenancy, this still counts as having a written agreement
They have given you the correct notice to leave.
If you think your landlord is trying to use the accelerated possession procedure when they're not supposed to, you may be able to stop the eviction from going ahead. However, your landlord will probably be able to take other action to evict you.
The court papers you receive will include a form for you to fill in and return to the court. This is called a defence form. You can use this form to defend your landlord's claim for possession if you want to.
If you want to return the defence form, you must do this within 14 days of it being sent to you.
If your landlord is using the accelerated possession procedure, you can only defend the claim if your landlord hasn't given you the proper notice or if they've used the procedure when they're not supposed to.
If you don't have a good reason for defending the claim, you should think seriously about moving out by the date the notice runs out. However, if you're going to be homeless, it may be difficult to do this.
You might need to get advice about whether you have a defence against your landlord's claim for possession. You can get advice from your local Citizens Advice Bureau. To search for details of your local CAB, including those who can give advice by email, click on nearest CAB.
If the accelerated possession procedure is being used then it's unlikely that there will be a court hearing. There will only be a chance of having a hearing if you return the defence form.
If you return the defence form, a judge will look at what you've put on it and consider whether or not there needs to be a hearing. They will only decide to have a hearing if your landlord has not followed the correct procedure, or if you say that your landlord has put wrong information on the claim form. If there is a hearing, it's a good idea to get advice from an expert housing adviser.
If you don't return the defence form, the judge will make a decision about whether to evict you based only on what your landlord has told the court.
If the judge decides your landlord has followed the correct procedure, they will grant a possession order. This will usually say you have to leave the property within 14 days. However, if you have nowhere else to go and the council does not have to rehouse you, you can ask for the eviction to be delayed.
The court papers you receive will include a claim form which will give a date and time for the possession hearing. If you don't intend to defend the claim, then it's likely that the case will be decided at this hearing as long as there is enough evidence before the court to make a final decision.
It's best to attend the court hearing. This is so that you can find out what the judge orders. Also, if you want to defend the claim then you need to go to court so that you can argue your case and possibly get a chance to affect the outcome. It's a good idea to get advice from an expert housing adviser before you attend the hearing.
When your landlord applies for an order to evict you, in some cases the court must decide if it's reasonable to make a possession order. However, in other cases, if your landlord can show that a certain amount of rent was owed when the notice was served and at the date of the court hearing, the court usually has no option but to make a possession order.
For more information about the court hearing under the standard possession procedure, see You are taken to court for rent arrears.
If your landlord uses the accelerated possession procedure to evict you, this only means you have to leave the property, it doesn't mean you have to pay back the rent arrears you owe. However, your landlord might apply for a separate court order which forces you to pay back what you owe. This court order is called a money judgment.
If your landlord uses the standard possession procedure they are likely to ask the court to give them a possession order on your home as well as a money judgment. It means you will have to pay the landlord back the money you owe them, even if you've left the property.
The possession order may require you to leave your home by the date on the order. If you don't leave the property by the date on the order, your landlord can apply to the court for a warrant of possession and you will be evicted by bailiffs.
If you have nowhere else to go, you might want to think about asking the court to give you more time before you have to leave. You should do this on the defence form you are sent by the court before the possession order is granted.
A court does have the power to delay the eviction, but only for a maximum of six weeks (42 days). You would have to prove that leaving by the date on the possession order would cause you exceptional hardship. It's up to the court to decide whether to allow you extra time before you have to leave. This can be decided with or without a court hearing, depending on how your landlord filled out their original application to the court (claim form) to have you evicted.
If you're going to be homeless, it's possible the council will have to rehouse you. If you think the council may have to rehouse you, you should not move out until the council has confirmed in writing that they are going to rehouse you. This will stop them from finding you intentionally homeless.
The council does not have to rehouse everyone who is homeless. If you're going to be homeless but you don't think the council will have to rehouse you, you might want to ask the court to delay your eviction on the grounds of exceptional hardship. You can do this by filling in the defence form.
With many assured shorthold tenancies, you sign up for a fixed number of months to begin with. This is often for a period of six months but it can be longer.
In many cases, if you get into rent arrears during this period, your landlord may just wait until the fixed term has come to an end and then follow a legal procedure to evict you beginning with giving you notice.
If your landlord wants to evict you before a fixed term has come to an end, they cannot use the accelerated possession procedure. Your landlord is more likely to want to evict you before the end of the fixed term if it lasts longer than six months. In these circumstances, your landlord will need to use the standard possession procedure to evict you and give the court a reason why they want to evict you.
Talk to your landlord
If your landlord wants to evict you because of rent arrears, you could try contacting them to see if you can get them to change their mind. This might be worth a try, particularly if you're in a position to pay back your arrears and keep up with your rent payments.
Address: Staffordshire University, Students' Union, College Road,The EcoHub (Next to Squeezebox)
County: Stoke-On-Trent, ST4 2DE
E-mail: greenpad@staffs.ac.uk
Phone: 01782 422 300 / 422 321
