Accommodation Service Equality & Diversity Statement
‘The University of Cambridge is committed in its pursuit of academic excellence to equality of opportunity and to a pro-active and inclusive approach to equality, which supports and encourages all under-represented groups, promotes an inclusive culture, and values diversity.’ Statutes and Ordinances
The Accommodation Service is committed to ensuring that all stakeholders, whether landlords, prospective tenants and other service users, are treated fairly, equitably and with respect.
The Accommodation Service will not discriminate unlawfully because of Age, Disability, Gender Reassignment, Marriage & Civil Partnership, Pregnancy and Maternity, Race, Religion or Belief, Sex or Sexual Orientation.
More information on the University’s work in relation to equality and diversity can be found on the E&D Section webpages.
Disclaimer
The Accommodation Service will not take responsibility for any error, omission or inaccuracy in advertising material.
Please note that any description or items listed on the web site are for guidance purposes only and do not form part of any contractual agreement.
All users of the site will confirm the details advertised directly with the property owner or agent or with the prospective tenant.
Advertisers of properties and/or rooms are responsible for ensuring that material submitted for inclusion on the web site complies with all relevant laws and regulations.
Unless otherwise stated, the copyright, database rights and similar rights in all material published on the web site are owned by the University of Cambridge. You are permitted to print or download extracts from this material for your personal use only.
No part of the web site or any material appearing on the site may be reproduced, stored in, emailed or transmitted on any other web site without written permission of the University of Cambridge Accommodation Service.
Conditions of Use
This service is intended to provide an introduction to available accommodation. Descriptions given are for guidance only and full information should be given by the owner.
Although we try to view a number of properties listed with us and can often clarify the details of individual houses/flats and their location, properties on our database are generally not viewed/approved by us and we advise against signing a binding contract to take a tenancy in a property that has not been viewed. If possible we would advise that you either visit Cambridge ahead of your stay to secure housing, or arrange for someone in Cambridge to contact us on your behalf and then view properties for you.
If this proves impractical, we would recommend that you consider booking into a hotel or guesthouse for the first few nights of your stay and visit our office as soon as possible after arrival. It is possible to obtain accommodation at short notice.
The Accommodation Service reserves the right to suspend an individual's account where deemed necessary. Accounts that are subject to complaint are automatically suspended while the complaint is investigated.
Accommodation Service members of staff have the right to work in a safe environment. All service users are expected to treat members of staff and other service users with respect, refraining from abusive or intimidating behaviour, unlawful discrimination or harassment.
COMPLAINTS PROCEDURE FOR ALL TENANTS IN UNIVERSITY-OWNED RESIDENTIAL PROPERTIES
Any complaint brought under this procedure must be made within three months of the issue or problem arising, to enable the complaint to be dealt with in a timely manner. Only those persons registered and approved to use the Accommodation Service may raise a complaint under this procedure.
Any complaint brought under this procedure will be treated confidentially. A third party will be contacted about a complaint only if the tenant making the complaint agrees, but it should be noted that in some cases it may not be possible to investigate the complaint fully without contacting third parties who are involved or affected.
Stage 1
The first stage of the process is informal and any matters should first be raised with a Housing Adviser to resolve by emailing: universityresidences@admin.cam.ac.uk
If the Housing Adviser is unable to resolve the situation to the tenant’s satisfaction or the case is considered too serious, the tenant should raise a formal complaint addressed for the attention of a Manager at the Accommodation Service. The Manager will arrange to meet or speak to the tenant to understand the circumstances more fully, and will aim to resolve the complaint within 15 working days.
Stage 2
If the complaint cannot be resolved to the tenant’s satisfaction by the Accommodation Service Manager, the tenant should send a letter to the Head of the Accommodation Service, explaining the nature of the complaint and attaching any supporting documentation, including photographs, where appropriate. The Head of the Accommodation Service should be contacted not later than 10 working days after the end of stage one.
The Head of the Accommodation Service will review the case, and request further details from other providers (eg maintenance contractor) and the tenant, as appropriate. The Head of the Accommodation Service will normally respond with a decision in writing within 15 working days from the date when the tenant’s letter was received. If more time is needed to complete the investigation, the tenant will be informed. The Head of the Accommodation Service’s response will explain (where appropriate) what action has been taken or is proposed to be taken.
Stage 3
If the tenant is not satisfied with the decision of the Head of the Accommodation Service, the tenant may request that the matter be escalated to a designated Housing committee for review. The Housing committee may appoint a sub-committee of not less than three of its members to review the complaint.
Evidence from all parties will be requested and should be sent to the sub-committee to review in a timely manner. The sub-committee will determine its own Chair. All documentation shall be made available to both the tenant and to the Head of the Accommodation Service, unless it is considered of a highly sensitive or confidential nature (to be determined by the sub-committee Chair).
The members of the sub-committee conducting the review will seek to make a decision as soon as possible. The decision will be confirmed in writing to the tenant and to the Head of the Accommodation Service. Any such decision is the Final stage of the internal complaints procedure.
Students
If the tenant is a student and recourse to the University’s internal complaints procedure has not resulted in the resolution of the complaint to the student’s satisfaction, the student may wish to consider pursuing the complaint with the Office of the Independent Adjudicator for Higher Education (OIA), providing the complaint is eligible under its rules.
Those wishing to share University Accommodation :
1) It is only possible for an individual tenant to request a sharer to share the cost of rent and utilities. Couples and families may not ask to have a sharer, which is to say that a sharer is defined as not being either a member of family or a life-partner of the tenant.2) It is only possible to have a sharer if the tenant has accepted a tenancy for a two-bedroom property. It is not possible to request to have a sharer if the tenant has accepted a tenancy for a one-bedroom property, nor for a three-bedroom property, which are reserved to accommodate the demand from members of the University who have families.
3) Only people who are registered with the Accommodation Service prior to commencing their sharing arrangement are eligible to be sharers in University-owned properties, as is equally the case with the tenant.
4) Students are not eligible to be sharers in the Eddington properties. The same is true for visiting scholars.
5) The sharer, as with the tenant, must be able to comply with all requirements under Right-to-Rent legislation, and this must be confirmed prior to their moving into the property.
6) The tenant of the property is not, and should not describe themselves as, the “Landlord” of the property. The Landlord of the property remain the University, and both tenant and sharer should be clearly aware of that.
7) The Tenant must undertake to be clear and transparent about the rent and utility cost of the property and should not seek either to profit financially from, not ask more than a maximum of 50% of the cost of rent and utilities, the sharer.
8) The tenant cannot request or receive from the sharer any holding or other deposit.
9) The tenant and the sharer must both sign and abide by a Licence Agreement describing terms and conditions for their sharing arrangement, which will include a mutually-binding notice period if either party wishes to terminate the sharing arrangement.
10) The tenant may not advertise the property on any platform, including AirB’n;B, WeChat or similar, and may not use any such platform to circumvent the University’s sharing policy and procedure.
11) The sharer is subject to the same terms and conditions described in the Tenancy Agreement signed by the tenant, and the tenant is responsible for ensuring this compliance by their sharer.
12) There may not be a change of sharer without prior consultation with The Accommodation Service/Lodge Property Services, and any new sharing arrangement will be subject to the same terms and conditions described previously.
13) Accommodation Service/Lodge Property Service staff will ask for confirmation that the sharer is the person described in the original sharer application. A request for this confirmation may take place at the tenancy, for example at the Check-In induction or at any point during the shared tenancy arrangement.
14) Although the sharer is by definition not the tenant’s partner or family member, but simply a person who has made a financial sharing agreement with the actual tenant of the property, by embarking on a sharing arrangement they have begun their period of 5-year entitlement to live in University-owned property. This will be taken into account if they subsequently become a tenant in their own right in a University-owned property.
Tenants wishing to leave their tenancy earlier than the ending date described in their Tenancy Agreement: Early Leavers.
A) Three months’ notice, or more.
Should you wish to move out before the end of the natural tenancy date and you provide at least THREE months’ notice and have a fixed date on which you are leaving, we will release you from the tenancy on that date. The date will be fixed and cannot be changed. You must therefore be sure that you are able to move out by this date. The date must be a weekday and outside the Christmas period (see below)
We will then arrange a Preliminary Inspection, which you are expected to attend.
If you are not able to confirm, and stick to, a specific move-out date then we are unable to offer the option of this procedure and your tenancy will then run to its normal end.
If you give a minimum three months (or more) notice of your intention to move out, we will not charge an administration fee and you will be released from your tenancy and from liability for rent and utility and Council Tax bills on the agreed date, once you vacate.
B) Less than three months’ notice:
If you give us less than three months’ notice, we have correspondingly less time to find a replacement tenant. You must still give us a fixed date on which you are moving out and this cannot be changed. We will visit to inspect and will then advertise the property from a date to be confirmed with you. Until that point, we are not able to tell you when your tenancy will end. You will continue to be liable for rent, Council tax and any utility costs until the date that the new tenancy starts or the natural end of the tenancy, whichever is sooner.
You will continue to be responsible for the rent, bills and Council Tax for at least 8 business days after you move out whilst we prepare the property for a new tenant. It may take longer, depending on how soon we can obtain a new tenant. As you have given us a fixed date to move out, you must move out on that date, even if your tenancy has not yet ended. There will be an administration fee of £100.
If you have less than two months remaining of your tenancy then we are unable to provide an Early Leaver arrangement.
Tenants planning to buy a property:
When buying a property, exchange of contracts and completion can take a very long, and indeterminate time. In many instances there may be only a few days’ notice (or even less) of the key handover date. We are NOT able to accept any notice without a fixed date when you will move out. If you provide such notice and provide a specific date to which we agree, and are then not able to move out on that date, you must agree to vacate and arrange alternative / temporary accommodation elsewhere.
5th Year of Tenancy
If you are in the fifth and final year of your tenancy, provided that at least two clear months’ notice is given and an agreed move-out date is confirmed and adhered to, you will be released from your liability for rent, utility bills and Council tax when you vacate the property on the agreed date. If you have less than two months remaining of your tenancy we will not agree to end the tenancy early.
Please note that it will not be possible to grant a request to end a tenancy early at any time between the dates 20th December and 5th January in any tenancy period. You may of course move out between these dates but we will not offer any tenancy adjustment or ending, nor advertise a property as available, during this period.
