Housing

Covid-19 has highlighted the inflexibility of student contracts, most housing tenancies last for a year (July-June) with no option to give notice, as is common in 'regular' tenancies. In Scotland, a 28 day notice period was introduced as a response to Covid-19 and I think this should be implemented in England. Students should be able to give notice and leave their tenancy like any other renter. This is something I have been working on with Franks, Sophia and other SU Officers this year and I have proposed it to NUS Conference 2021 in April.

The University can afford to provide this contract flexibility to students. At the moment, only students who drop out of their university are released. I will lobby the university to adopt an empathetic flexible contract release process for students who are struggling or defer, and need to leave their residence at any point in the year.

Currently, guarantor requirements are extremely exclusionary and discriminatory, forcing many students into expensive halls-type accommodations. Guarantors must be living in the UK, creating an instant barrier for many international students, and have their own home or earn over a certain threshold of income, discriminating against students from lower socioeconomic backgrounds. The University can and should become a guarantor for these students.

The year long tenancy agreement is inflexible and restrictive for students, meaning we end up paying summer rent for houses we often might not use. Tenancies should be flexible lengths.

This year, Unipol implemented a cooling off period, so students could cancel the house tenancy they had signed up to until the 1st of March. I think this should be a standard across student renting, to help students who are rushed into signing for a house.