Advice and Information for Students

Most private rented landlords require students to pay a deposit as a condition of letting accommodation. The deposit acts as security against non-payment of rent or damage to the property. You can read more about deposits here.

By law, your landlord or letting agent must protect your deposit by paying it into one of three government authorised tenancy deposit schemes. These schemes protect your deposit, make it easier to resolve any disputes you may have with your landlord and help ensure that you get your deposit back when you’re entitled to it!

When you pay your deposit, your landlord or agent should provide you with details of your deposit protection within 30 days. This information should include:

• A certificate proving that your money has been paid into a tenancy deposit scheme. This should include scheme details and information about your landlord / agent.
• Information on how to apply for release of your deposit
• Information about what to do about a deposit dispute

If you don’t receive this information, contact your landlord /agent in writing to chase this up! If you still don’t receive your deposit protection scheme information, then get in touch with Wolverhampton University Student Union and RwC scheme.

If you’re a full time student, you’ll be exempt from paying council tax. Take a look at our Advice Direct for more information about the steps you need to take to be granted a council tax exemption.

Council tax exemption
Council tax is a local tax on residential property. A property is exempt from council tax if it is wholly occupied by full-time university or college students. If your property is not exempt, certain people, including full-time students, are disregarded. This may mean that whoever is liable to pay the council tax can get a discount.

Research students and Council Tax
All local authorities have set procedures on how to claim exemption which vary especially for research students in write up stage. Read more in our Advice Direct.

When you rent a private house, there are two types of let – managed and let only.

If your house is managed, then your letting agency is responsible for managing & maintaining your house on your landlord’s behalf. You’ll need to contact them to report any issues, problems or concerns. Make sure you all have their contact details and know what to do if you have a problem outside of office hours!

If your property is let-only, then your landlord is your main contact for any problems. You should be able to find their details on your tenancy agreement or contact. Again, make sure you know what to do if you can’t get hold of them, they’re away, or you need them during unsocial hours!

Repairs
If you rent your home from a private landlord, they're responsible for dealing with most repair problems. However, as tenant, you also have some responsibilities around keeping your home in a good state of repair.

Students aren’t always aware that they enter into a legal contract when they sign a tenancy or licence agreement. An agreement must be ended properly when you want to move out. The Citizen’s Advice Bureau have guidance on ending your contract here.

Eviction
How your landlord can get possession of the accommodation will depend on the type of tenancy you have. You can read more about eviction and your right to stay in accommodation on the Citizen’s Advice Bureau website.

If you live in a shared house of five or more unrelated individuals, living over three floors and sharing facilities, then this house is classed as a ‘property more at risk’. The landlord has extra legal responsibilities to fulfil, including applying for a licence from the City Council to ensure the safety of occupants.

If this applies to you, and you haven’t seen a copy of the licence already, please contact your landlord.

Here you can read more about HMOs.

Where you live, the way you behave reflects not just on you but on your University and on students as a whole. Here are some of our tips for being a good neighbour:

• Pop round and introduce yourself! It’ll only take a few minutes, but it’ll help you establish good terms with your neighbours. It’s also handy in case you ever need a bit of help – like borrowing something or asking them to keep an eye on your house whilst you’re away.
• Keep an eye out for suspicious behaviour around your house – and theirs. If in doubt, give the police a call!
• Put your rubbish out on the right day. No-one wants to live next to piles of smelly, pest-attracting rubbish, so do you best to keep your street tidy.
• Check back with your neighbours regularly, and let them know if you’re planning a party or event that’s likely to disturb them. Agree a time to turn the music down, particularly on week night. If you’ve spent the time building up a decent relationship with them, they’re much more likely to be accommodating.
• There are lots of students in Selly, but there are also families, professionals and older people too. Make sure you’re respectful of your neighbours, their cultures & their backgrounds. In turn, they’ll hopefully be respectful of you

It’s easy to forget how thin shared walls can be - or how far noise can travel down a street when walking home at night.

If you’re having a house party or are walking home late at night, make sure you try to keep noise to a reasonable level. You may have to shout to be heard whilst you are in a night club, but this can be turned down once you get outside or if you are at home; or you can always save it for the local karaoke!

Local police can respond to incidents such as noisy parties or noisy neighbours and in extreme cases this can lead to equipment being seized. Make sure you are not the perpetrator!

Anti-social behaviour (ASB) is social harm directed against individuals, communities or the environment. It is any activity that impacts on other people in a negative way. Selfish and unacceptable activities can blight the quality of community life and therefore it is important that you have an idea of how these issues can be addressed.

Examples of ASB include:

• Nuisance neighbours (such as playing music far too loudly)
• Intimidating groups taking over public spaces
• Vandalism, graffiti and fly-posting
• People dealing and buying drugs on the street
• People dumping rubbish and abandoning cars
• Begging and anti-social drinking
• The misuse of fireworks
• The misuse of mini-motors

Anti-social behaviour is treated very seriously by both West Midlands Police and Birmingham City Council – it can lead to eviction or criminal prosecutions.

Experiencing it?
Make sure to record what happens, where it happens and who’s involved. This will help local neighbourhood officers, in partnership with the Council, to take action and address any incidents that occur.

Reporting it
If you’re experiencing anti-social behaviour, you’ll need to contact your local police station – they’ll be able to take concrete action to help solve your problem. You can get in touch with West Midlands Police via:

• By Phone
  Call 0345 1135000 or 101 and ask to be put through to your local police station. To find the details of your local police station you can enter your postcode into the 'My Neighbourhood' section of the West Midlands Police website.
• In Person
  visit the front office of your local police station, or pop along to your local neighbourhood tasking meeting. These meetings enable members of the community to meet with local officers to discuss issues of concern and have a real influence on local policing priorities. Details of these meetings can be found on the website or by telephoning the above number.
• By Email / Post
  You can report incidents by completing an ASB self-reporting form

• Shelter
• Citizens Advice Bureau Advice Guide
• University of Wolverhampton Housing Services
• Wolverhampton City Council Private Sector Housing Team
• Midland Landlords Accreditation Scheme