New reductions in rent following national lockdown

08 Jan 2021

The following message has been sent to our students today (Friday, 8 January)

We are writing to let you know that students living in University accommodation who have not returned to that accommodation since the national lockdown announcement on 5 January, will not pay any rent until the end of the current restrictions, or the date that you return to your accommodation in Manchester.

If you are living in our halls, the existing 30% reduction will continue to apply until the end of this semester (31 January). This amounts to a six-week rent reduction over the semester. From 1 February you will pay the full rate unless you choose to leave or not to return.

Recognising that this is a time of uncertainty and financial challenge, the date of the next instalment of your rent (due on 21 January), will be pushed back to give you time to reflect on your decisions for study in Semester 2, and let us know if you are here or not. We will write to you as soon as possible and with plenty of notice to confirm the new payment date.

You will still be able to cancel your license agreement at any point up until 31 March 2021 and will only be charged up to the date you return your key.

All students in halls were emailed a link to a survey on 7 January. It is very important that you fill this in so that we know your plans. Please complete this survey by 15 January. If we do not hear from you we will assume that you will continue to live in our residences.

We and the Students’ Union will be writing to private providers to tell them what we are doing for students in our halls and encourage them to consider rent reductions for those of you who aren’t able to use their accommodation. However, this is their decision and not one that we can enforce.

We know that the availability of part-time work or other circumstances might be causing some of you severe financial difficulty, so we have put additional money into our living cost support fund.

Wherever you are based, there is support available for you. Through our website, you can access a huge range of resources and speak to someone 24 hours a day.

The pandemic has caused enormous disruption this year, so we want to thank you again for continuing to make the most of your experience and for following the rules that help protect everyone in our community.

We are very grateful for the support of the Students’ Union for these measures.

Please stay safe and well,

Best wishes,

Professor April McMahon
Vice-President for Teaching, Learning and Students

Dr Simon Merrywest
Director for the Student Experience