An image of the Parkinson Building at the University of Leeds

A statement from your Exec responding to the University’s rent rebate announcement

In response to the current lockdown measures and lobbying from LUU and students, the University has committed to refunding a proportion of rent for those who do not have face to face teaching and have not returned to their accommodation.

As an officer team, we welcome the decision to refund some rent for the lockdown period and will work with the university to ensure the rebates are delivered via a timely and accessible process.

However, we are disappointed that the University has only committed to refunding rent from 11 January until 19 February when the vast majority of students have been unable to live in their accommodation since 9 December, if not longer. We do not feel that the rebate announced earlier this week fully compensates students for last term’s disruption, despite us asking them to consider this.

It’s completely understandable that students will feel shortchanged by this announcement and have legitimate concerns for the term ahead. With further disruptions to learning ahead, and the majority of students simply not allowed to return to halls until mid-February at the earliest, it is unreasonable to expect students to pay thousands of pounds towards halls that they might well never return to.

We are also well aware that this rebate only applies to students living in University-owned accommodation, and we continue to lobby local private housing providers to take similar measures.

We will continue to campaign with our students to challenge the university to:

  • Provide more reasonable and fair financial compensation for students in university-allocated accommodation.
  • Allow students to be released from their contracts with no penalty, should they wish not to return to Leeds this year.
  • Use their position to influence local private housing providers to take out similar measures in place for students renting private accommodation.

Senior university leaders have agreed to meet with Lotti (Community Officer), Sophia (Welfare Officer) and students from the CutTheRent campaign to hear about the impact this situation is having on students living in halls of residence and we will continue to keep you informed.

As this situation continues, if you need any assistance in paying your rent, please get in touch with LUU’s advice team as we have emergency hardship funding available for this. We can also advise you on any questions about your tenancy.

Your Student Exec