This petition was submitted during the 2019-2024 parliament
Rejected petition Urge student accommodation landlords to waive rent payments from March 2020.
It would be reasonable to urge the student accommodation landlords to waive the final rent payments during these troubling times. Many students no longer have their part time jobs to fund their living costs, and have to rely on their limited maintenance loan.
More details
Student accommodation, especially PBSA, is expensive to rent for students. Most have moved home during the coronavirus crisis. This means that most will be bound by Assured Shorthold tenancy agreements. Since students are no longer able to stay in their accommodation for reasons outside of their control, final rent payments from March 2020 onwards should be scrapped unless students decide to stay in the accommodation. The remainder of the student loan can then be spent on essential living costs.
This petition was rejected
Why was this petition rejected?
It’s about something that the UK Government or Parliament is not directly responsible for.
Suspending payments or providing refunds for tuition fees and rent are a matter for individual universities and landlords, and not the UK Government or Parliament.
If you want the Government to refund university rent and tuition fees due to coronavirus, you may wish to sign this petition: https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/302855
If you want the Government to encourage lenders, landlords and utilities to freeze payments during lockdown, you may wish to sign this petition: https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/302256
If you have concerns about your university's arrangements for teaching and assessment you should raise these with your university or the Office for Students, which regulates the higher education sector.
We understand that the current situation is stressful for many people. Student Minds, a mental health charity for students, is collating guidance and developing resources to support students experiencing stress as a result of the current situation, which you may find useful: https://www.studentminds.org.uk/coronavirus.html
You can find out more about coronavirus and how you can protect yourself and others here:
NHS website: https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/coronavirus-covid-19/
UK Government website: https://www.gov.uk/coronavirus
You can read NHS tips to help if you are worried about coronavirus here: https://www.nhs.uk/oneyou/every-mind-matters/coronavirus-covid-19-anxiety-tips
You may also be interested to know that because of the large number of petitions that have been started in relation to coronavirus, the Petitions Committee has been questioning the Government about its response to the coronavirus outbreak.
Find out more and watch the Committee put questions suggested by petitioners to Government Ministers and the Deputy Chief Medical Officer: https://committees.parliament.uk/committee/326/petitions-committee/news/145767/committee-question-deputy-chief-medical-officer-and-ministers-on-coronavirus-response/
Read letters asking further questions of Government Ministers: https://committees.parliament.uk/committee/326/petitions-committee/publications/3/correspondence/
We only reject petitions that don’t meet the petition standards.