Students Advised To Know Their Renting Rights

Students heading to university next month are reminded of the laws in place to protect them as they look for accommodation for the new academic year.

Whether staying in Northern Ireland or studying elsewhere, university marks the first time many students have moved out of their family home into rented accommodation. It's important, therefore, to be aware of your rights and responsibilities with regards to private landlords, deposits, house sharing and letting agent fees.

Private Landlords

Most students will rent accommodation from private landlords and most private landlords comply with the law.

Students are advised to check if their landlord is registered on the Landlord Registration Scheme as all are required to do so.

Any landlord who does not register may face a fixed penalty of £500 or a court fine of up to £2,500.

Deposits

Landlords normally ask for a deposit. That deposit is now protected under a scheme which ensures that if you're entitled to get it back, you can be assured that this will happen.

Landlords must, within 28 days of receiving the deposit, notify the tenant of how the deposit has been protected.

If, after 28 days of handing over the deposit, the tenant hasn't received information about how it has been protected, they should report this immediately to the local council's environmental health department.

A landlord who does not protect a tenant's deposit may face a fixed penalty of three times the amount of the deposit or a court fine of up to £20,000.

Find out more about the Tenancy Deposit Scheme here.

Letting Agent Fees

If you use a letting agent to find and rent a property, you may be charged certain fees.

Where the fees cover work done by the letting agent as part of their service to your landlord, you may be able to have these fees refunded to you by the letting agent.

If you have paid fees to a letting agent in the last six years and have evidence of the amount you paid and what you paid for, you can ask the letting agent to refund these payments.

Find more information at this link: Renting a home privately.

Sharing A House

You may be thinking of sharing a house with a few friends, or perhaps you’re moving into accommodation with people you don’t know. There are hints and tips on these pages:

• Renting a room.

• Living in shared accommodation.

Leaving a Property

Before leaving a property which you have been renting there are a number of things you should do to make it go smoothly:

• contact service suppliers (like electricity, gas) to advise that you are leaving

• record any meter readings, if possible along with the landlord

• arrange for mail to be redirected

• clean the property

• contact the landlord to arrange for an inspection and return of your deposit

• secure the property when leaving

• return all sets of keys



(JG/MH)