Student rent arrears

As the academic year has now drawn to a close, some universities may find themselves struggling to deal with the rent owed to them by students living in their accommodation. However, some courses of action in an attempt to reclaim that money from students are legally more sound than others.

Maria Lavelle joined Winchester University as a third year student and requested that when it came to the university housing her, that she not be placed in the same building as freshers, believing that this would be too noisy and distracting. When Ms Lavelle discovered that she had been, she moved out of the student accommodation just three weeks later.

Winchester University said that as Ms Lavelle had signed a contract for the whole year, she still owed them rent for the remainder of the year, insisting that this was paid before she could receive her degree.

The case was settled before it could be heard by the High Court, with the university agreeing to waive the accommodation fees and allowing Ms Lavelle to graduate, and so there is still no definitive answer from the courts as to whether a university is entitled to bar students from graduating whilst in debt, although it is thought to be fairly common practice. Birkett Long LLP regularly deals with student rent arrears for universities.