These are guidelines correct at the time of publishing. In an ever changing context, it is only possible to publish guidelines. We are doing our best to offer relevant and up to date information and will update this page as information becomes available. If you have any queries or difficulties, please contact advice@oxfordsu.ox.ac.uk.
I live in College/University Accommodation
If you have a licence or tenancy agreement for University or College accommodation next term but are not in residence, you will not be charged rent. You may need to inform the University or your College that you wish to cancel your agreement; they will tell you how to do this.Contact your College or Accommodation office for more information. If you are staying in Oxford, or if government policy changes and you return to University or College accommodation, you will be charged rent in the usual way. For students in private rented accommodation, the University and Colleges have no control over the arrangements, and students are likely to still be liable for the rest of the year to their landlords.
I live in private rented accommodation
Oxford SU Advice are generalist advisors and we are currently advising all students who contact us with housing queries about privately rented accommodation that they could seek advice from Shelter. Shelter is a national charity offering free, confidential and specialist housing advice to tenants. Shelter do not advise landlords.
Shelter should be able to offer advice on students' tenancies and clarify what their individual rights and responsibilities are. We are then happy to talk through the options for action which Shelter outlines and potential next steps. It could be useful to take a screenshot of the advice given to you by Shelter over the webchat, if you are able to.
Shelter's contact details are below:
england.shelter.org.uk/get_help
Please feel free to contact us again once you have an opinion on your rights and responsibilities fromShelter so that we could offer support in any next steps you choose to take. If you have any difficulty contacting them, let us know.