Today we launched our Student Accommodation Survey. The aim of this survey is to better understand the experience of students in relation to accommodation and housing.

The results of this survey will be used to develop the support offered to University of Plymouth students through the Students' Union via the SU Advice team and your student representatives.

Many students at the University of Plymouth live in University halls or within the local area in private halls or rented accommodation, and it is clear that student housing has a significant influence on your overall university experience. Any changes that can be made to positively impact the housing experience for students through student insight, lobbying, and housing advice will hopefully benefit the student body and contribute to the Students’ Union’s mission to make student life better at the University of Plymouth.

We are looking into several aspects of the housing experience at Plymouth, including:

• What do students look for in on-campus accommodation?
• Are students satisfied with their housing experience?
• What influences student choices when it comes to housing?
• What influences student choice to commute to university?
• What is the current provision of the private housing market?
• How can we improve the current on-campus accommodation experience?
• How can we improve our Students’ Union housing advice provision?
• The impact of COVID-19 on housing choices.

Complete the survey here

An update from your SU Advice team:

Wherever you live, your accommodation is one of the most important parts of your life as a student and you should feel happy and safe living there.

We know that the challenges of the past year may have made it difficult for some to find people to live with in the next academic year and more students may be facing a change in cirumstances resulting in them needing to find new tenants to fill their rooms. This group is your safe space to find future flatmates and share spare rooms.

The Plymouth Uni Students Housing/Accommodation Community is only open to University of Plymouth students and will be strictly monitored for spam or advertising content.

The group is moderated by the advisors at your SU Advice team. Please note that they are unable to offer 1-1 individual advice through the Facebook Group but please get in touch with us if you need support.

Join the group here

An update from your Sabbatical Officer team:

Your elected officers have written a joint letter with Plymouth Marjon Students’ Union urging private accommodation providers, to provide some form of financial relief for students renting their properties.

Read the letter here

An update from your Sabbatical Officer team:

Following the Government announcement yesterday which stated that students who were currently not on campus would not be returning before the 17th May, we recognise that there are still number of students who are still unable make use of their term-time accommodation. This is causing additional financial and mental health pressures on students in what has been a continued difficult time for them.

Read the Government announcement here.

The University offered a 50% discount on its University-managed accommodation for a determined period of time from 8th January to 8th March. As your elected officer team, we recognise that more support needs to be provided for students who are still unable to access their term-time accommodation due to Government guidelines. We have raised your concerns in a number of high-level University meetings with senior staff and as a team we will continue to ensure that your voices are heard.

Read the full update here

On Thursday, 1st of April, your VP Education attended the University’s COVID-19 recovery group on behalf of the Students’ Union. In this meeting, a formal request that the University give a rent rebate to all students who were prevented from returning to their University-managed halls should be kept under review. They responded by saying that they would take the paper to the University Executive Group (UEG); however, they are waiting for the government to release more guidance for Universities before making any decisions. Your VP Education questioned why they were waiting for the Government guidance when we were asking for an extension to the rent rebates between March 8th and the end of the Easter Holidays. The University responded, saying that they understood this but were waiting to get a complete picture of what will happen before they make any decisions.

Read the full update here

An update from your VP Wellbeing & Diversity, Fawziyyah Ahmed and Student Voice team:

We were pleased that our students and Sabbatical team had the opportunity to be involved in discussions with our local MP, Luke Pollard around lobbying the University of Plymouth and local accommodation providers in regard to the treatment of university students throughout the pandemic. The conversation covered; tuition fees, safety nets, rent/accommodation issues and work opportunities for students whilst studying to support themselves.

Luke shared many of our concerns and urged students who are in real financial difficulty to get in touch if this is due to the lack of jobs, problems accessing the furlough scheme or still being required to pay for accommodation where, in many cases, tenants have no access. On Wednesday 3rd March, his office pulled together a special Zoom meeting for students and student representatives from across Plymouth to join and share their local experiences which will be fed back to the Government.

Read the full update here

An update from your VP Education, Emi Dowse:

This year your Sabbatical Officer team have been working to address students concerns and complaints about Clever Student Lets (CSL).

In the summer, your Sabbatical Team and our Advice Centre received complaints and concerns from students about their experience with CSL. As a team, we were unhappy with our students' experiences, and we felt that we needed to take proactive action to improve things for them.

In August we raised students concerns with the SU's Leadership Team to understand why we were advertising CSL and learnt that back in 2018 the SU and CSL entered into a three-year advertising agreement which would last until July 2021. Due to the nature of the long-term contract, we decided it was within the students best interest to use our partnership to improve things for our students who are tenants of CSL.

Alongside the SU CEO and Director of Commercial Services, your VP Education met with Clever Student Lets to put forward your concerns and ask how CSL would improve their services, for our students. As a result of that meeting, the CEO of CSL set out a list of changes the company would make by the end of 2020 to improve the service students were receiving.

Since the previous Officer update, we have received feedback from students about their continued experience with CSL. During that time, there was also a change in CEOs at CSL.

In January, your VP Education, the SU CEO and our Director of Commercial Services met with the new CEO of CSL and raised your complaints. We discussed his plan to improve services for students and put processes in place to ensure students' concerns are dealt with promptly and effectively.

As a result of this meeting, the Students' Union and CSL have decided to mutually end the advertising agreement. However, we will continue to work with CSL to ensure that students are getting the service that they deserve.

Read the full update here

An update from your VP Wellbeing & Diversity, Fawziyyah Ahmed and Advice team:

We are now in another national lockdown and, as your elected officers, we recognise that this has had an immense impact on our student community.

The increased restrictions and changing messages from the Government and the University have understandably caused much uncertainty and frustration for all of our student community. University of Plymouth students have repeatedly shown huge resilience as we continue to navigate our way through the ever-evolving guidance.

We are aware of the many concerns our students are facing through their social media posts about their accommodation. As your elected officers, we will continue to raise your concerns with the University and ensure that your voices are heard.

As your VP Wellbeing and Diversity, I have put together this message in collaboration with the SU Advice team to provide you with information about your rights as a tenant, some tips for negotiating the early release of your tenancy agreement and how to request rent reductions.

Read the full update and access the resources here

An update from your VP Wellbeing & Diversity, Fawziyyah Ahmed:

As a Sabbatical Officer team, we have also written an email to the MPs of the Plymouth constituencies on behalf of the student body asking them for their support in lobbying the University as well as Private landlords to be considerate to students during this unprecedented time. In the email, we also acknowledged that this is a difficult time for all, so we stated in the email that Universities and accommodation providers should be supported by the Government so they can be able to do the same for the students.

To read the letter we have sent to Plymouth MPs please read the full update below. In the full update you will also be able to access a downloadable template should you wish to write to MPs yourself.

Read the full update here

An update from your VP Wellbeing & Diversity, Fawziyyah Ahmed:

We are continuing our conversations with the University regarding the university managed halls, urging them to make a decision on student rent concerns. I expressed students escalating concerns regarding student rents and how the University needs to do more in supporting student tenants during this ongoing situation. We are raising your concerns at every opportunity and want this to be addressed promptly. As soon as we receive any updates will be share them with you.

Read the full update here

An update from your VP Wellbeing & Diversity, Fawziyyah Ahmed:

Following my update to you all last week, I wanted to let you know the current conversations that are being had surrounding accommodation support.

On Wednesday 13th January myself and the rest of your Sabbatical Officer team met with the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Plymouth, Judith Petts. The points outlined in the update below are an overview of those discussions.

University Managed Halls

In the meeting on Wednesday 13th January, I raised students' growing concerns about rent reductions and rebates. The Vice-Chancellor mentioned that the University does not actually own any of the halls of residence like some other Universities, the halls are managed through a third-party organisation called University Partnerships Programme (UPP). She added that the University is currently involved in active talks with UPP to discuss whether any financial relief can be offered to students, as your elected officers, we will be following this discussion closely and continuing to ensure that your voices are heard.

Private Accommodation

For students staying in private accommodation, I raised your concerns in our meeting with the Vice-Chancellor. Moving this forward, on behalf of the Sabbatical team, I will be writing a joint letter with the Vice-Chancellor to private letting companies in Plymouth asking them to consider offering financial relief to students renting their properties.

Read the full update here

An update from your VP Wellbeing and Diversity, Fawziyyah Ahmed:

I have begun conversation with the University with regards to rent and support for students. I proposed the following to them for consideration:

• Rent refunds for students who could not use their accommodation during the academic year due to the pandemic
• Rent reductions for students during this new lockdown for the months of January/February
• Allow students to be released from their contracts with University halls if they wish, without any penalties
• Financial support for students staying in Private accommodation

We know that other Universities and private providers are taking steps with regards to rent and ways in which they are supporting disadvantaged students. We recognise this pandemic has had a significant impact on everyone and on students wellbeing; it needs to be taken into consideration over the coming weeks to ensure that our students are supported where possible through these financially uncertain time.

We will be raising this topic, along with your concerns surrounding the Safety Net as covered in this update from your VP Education, in our meeting with the Vice-Chancellor on Wednesday 13th January.

Read the full update here