Rents for accommodation run by, or on behalf of, NTU to be waived for the duration of the current lockdown period
Published: 13/01/2021
Throughout the COVID-19 global pandemic, NTU has worked hard to do the right thing for students. We acknowledge and appreciate the challenges that our students – and the wider NTU community – face because of COVID-19 and its associated restrictions.
Currently, the Government guidance is that only students on future critical worker courses and those with special circumstances should return to their term time accommodation in Nottingham. I know that many of you live in Nottingham permanently and that others have returned under the exemptions outlined in my recent e-mail. Nonetheless, this leaves the majority of our students paying for accommodation they are being asked by the Government not to use.
Through Universities UK, we have been seeking to persuade the Government to address this matter on an equal basis for all students. You may have seen the Prime Minister commit to review the position at a press conference last week. We believe that the Government needs to show leadership that finds a solution that is fair to all students.
However, following dialogue with Nottingham Trent Students’ Union (NTSU), we decided yesterday not to wait any longer for the Government to respond to student concerns. We are going to do the right thing for students paying rent for accommodation that is run directly by the University or under partnership by UPP. A full list of the halls this includes can be found on the Your accommodation webpage.
Students who are not occupying or using their NTU-owned or operated rooms will not be required to pay accommodation rent from Monday 4 January up to and including Sunday 21 February 2021. This period reflects the known period of the current restrictions and is the same approach we took in Term Three of 2019/20. We will review this again in February, when the position on national restrictions and their impact on universities will hopefully be clear.
At NTU only around 5,000 of our 35,000 or so students are in accommodation operated by or on behalf of the University. I will be writing to other large accommodation providers to encourage them to waive their rents also. I will also ask local councillors and MPs to support our request to private landlords to do the same. Based on our experience of last summer term, some will respond positively but others may not. However, without Government support you remain reliant on the good will of private accommodation providers and landlords to do the right thing. So, along with NTSU, we will continue to press Government for national action.
If you are not using your hall of residence room, and are entitled to a rent waiver as outlined above, please complete the NTU and UPP Halls Rent Reduction form. We have also published further information on the Your accommodation webpage.
Professor Edward Peck
Vice-Chancellor, Nottingham Trent University