Graduate Accommodation

Transcription

1 Graduate Accommodation Students have the option of either (1) living in college accommodation provided by Trinity Hall, or (2) living in private accommodation. College Accommodation: Applying NB Only those who have, by 30 June 2015, completed and returned the Accommodation Request Form can be considered for College accommodation. The College offers accommodation to all first-year graduate students. The College's own accommodation offers many advantages: College rents are comparable to private rentals in town for equivalent-sized rooms; Convenience and security; Facilities such as sports venues, laundry services and catering; Many rooms and their environment are beautiful and historic. All graduate offer-holders can apply. Accommodation is allocated according to availability and individual circumstances. Allocations are made in August and September, once we know which students have satisfied the conditions of their offer by the University s deadline of 31 July Each year differs but we are usually able to allocate accommodation according to students first or second preferences. If you would like College accommodation, please return the Accommodation Request Form as soon as possible. Our deadline is 30 June Late accommodation requests cannot be considered. If you are concerned that you will not have formal notification of having satisfied your offer conditions by 31 July, but you are confident you will be able to satisfy your offer conditions shortly thereafter, you should return the accommodation form with a clear explanation* to that effect, so that you can be considered for accommodation. *The University strongly recommends that you meet your offer conditions by 31 July. If this is not possible, you should try to meet the conditions as soon as possible after this date. The earlier you meet your conditions, the better, to allow for time to make accommodation and visa arrangements, if required. If your current course finishes after 31 July and one of your offer conditions is that you have completed your degree, you should ask the Registrar of your current University to send the Graduate Admissions Office and us a formal letter (signed and on headed paper) at the earliest possible date, stating that all three of the following conditions have been met: a) You have completed all work in relation to your current studies; b) You have submitted your thesis (or that no thesis is required for your course); c) You have no outstanding financial obligations to your current institution. Please note that a letter giving a future date when the thesis will be submitted will NOT be sufficient to satisfy the condition. 1

2 College Accommodation: Length and Terms of Contract College accommodation will be available for occupation from 1 October 2015 and not before. If you have been asked by your Department/Faculty to come up shortly before the start of term to attend a pre-course it may sometimes be possible for the College to arrange temporary accommodation. If you are in this position, please send documentary evidence of the course and the start date to Vicky Mills, Admissions Officer, [email protected], by 31 July 2015 and we will let you know if there is any temporary accommodation available. Accommodation is allocated annually. Accommodation is let on the basis of an academic year s tenancy, until 30 June 2016 in the first instance, with the option of extending to 31 August 2016 provided that your course officially runs until this date. You are obliged to occupy and pay for your accommodation for a minimum of 39 weeks (that is at least until 30 June 2016). During the Easter Term (April-June) 2016, after you have understood the requirements of your course, we will ask if you wish to extend your tenancy beyond 30 June 2016 and you may nominate the date you wish to move out. ing throughout the summer (Long Vacation), is charged on a weekly basis in advance commencing on 1 July You may not sublet your room to anyone else during the year without the express permission of the Tutorial Office, who will want full details of the sub-tenant, who must be a graduate student of the University. Conditions regarding subletting and early termination of your accommodation licence can be found in the Student Handbook and below. Graduate Accommodation Licences Term of licence Graduate students (licensees) will be offered a licence up to 30 June 2016 in the first instance. This may be extended for any period up to 31 August 2016, provided the student s course officially runs until that date. Requests for extensions can be made via a form which is sent to all students in June. A deposit of 150 is payable in advance. Students must complete an online Room Audit Form within one week of moving in to their room. Vacation at end of licence period Rooms will be checked against the Room Audit Form, and any damage charged against the licensee s College account. Any remaining deposit will be refunded no sooner than 6 weeks after the student graduates, or leaves the College, minus any charges still owing to the College. Subletting and early termination Changes of college accommodation, sublets and early terminations of licence may not be requested until the third week of Michaelmas Term, and will incur a 50 administration fee. The administration fee may be waived by the Graduate Tutor in exceptional circumstances. A tenant wishing to sublet or terminate their licence early may locate a new tenant by advertising at the University Accommodation Service using wording to be obtained from 2

3 the Tutorial Office. The new tenant must be a graduate student member of Cambridge University and registered with a Cambridge College, must supply a reference from his/her College, and must be approved by the Conference Office. Sublets may not be for a period of less than four weeks. The licensee remains responsible for the rent and any damage to the property during the period of the sublet. In cases of early termination, the licensee will be responsible for the rent from the date the room is vacated up to the point that a new tenant moves in, to a maximum of four weeks rent. In the case of early termination, the new tenant must pay a deposit of 150 in advance and rent for the remainder of the licence period or such other period as agreed. The normal conditions concerning damage and refund of deposits apply. The College may require you to move from one room to another at the end of June 2016, so that the remaining students (after the departure of those MPhil students whose courses end in June) are concentrated together. We cannot confirm until partway through the year whether or not you will be asked to move. A detailed description of College accommodation for graduates is included in this pack. We reconfirm these details when we inform you of your allocation of accommodation. College Accommodation: Facilities College accommodation is mostly provided in single study bedrooms with shared kitchen, bathroom and laundry facilities. Exceptions and individual differences are listed separately under each property. (Where accommodation is intended for more than one person, additional furniture and bedding is provided.) There are accommodation reps for each College hostel and their details (along with other information and photographs on College accommodation) can be found on the website at: Furniture and Equipment Provided Furniture Bedding All rooms contain: Single bed Clothes cupboard Desk Desk lamp Desk chair Shelves In rooms where space permits, they also contain: Easy chair Bedside cabinet Chest of drawers You will be provided with: 1 x mattress 1 x mattress cover 3

4 1 x duvet 2 x pillows You will need: 2 x sheets 2 x duvet covers 4 pillowcases These may be: i. hired from College at a termly charge ( in 2014/15; 2015/16 rate to be confirmed), to include a weekly exchange of clean linen; or ii. provided and laundered independently by you. All bed linen must be changed and washed regularly. If a mattress is unduly soiled at the end of your residence, you will be charged for its replacement. In those hostels where the linen service is available (see Description of College Properties below), hired linen will be delivered to your door each Friday and dirty linen collected from outside your door the following Monday. Please ensure that you do not allow linen to stock pile in your room as this creates shortages for other users. Kindly be aware that the College is charged for linen shortages and also for the replacement of excessively soiled linen. All students pay a termly charge to cover general cleaning costs of bedding and soft furnishings between occupancies. This also covers the purchase of bedding provided at the start of the academic year. The current charges (2014/15) are at Wychfield, at Bateman Street, or for students living in self-contained flats with no cleaning services. There will be a small increase to these charges in 2015/16. You will be responsible for providing all personal linen, such as bath towels. Tea towels and bath mats are provided in those houses with shared kitchen and bathroom facilities at the Wychfield Site, but students in couples accommodation or in Bateman Street will need to provide their own tea towels and bath mats. Kitchen The College provides a refrigerator, oven, hotplate and microwave oven for cooking simple meals. A kettle will be supplied in each kitchen. No cooking utensils, cutlery or crockery are supplied. You are kindly requested to bring the smallest amount of kitchen equipment required for your personal use as cupboard space is very limited. Great care must be taken neither to cause fire, nor to generate steam, smoke or strong cooking smells causing annoyance to others living nearby. Anyone cooking is expected to clean up the kitchen after their use of it. Students are not permitted to bring any items of furniture into College without first having obtained permission from the Junior Bursar. Any furniture left behind on College premises will incur a charge for disposal. Fridges and cooking accessories are not allowed in rooms. At the College s discretion, guided by specific religious or medical reasons, a fridge or cooking accessory in your room may be allowed but this must be discussed with the Junior Bursar in advance. Any fridges found in rooms without approval will be removed and any costs incurred in return or disposal will be charged back to the student s account. It is forbidden for students to cook in their College rooms. 4

5 Fire Safety Considerations Video Introduction to Fire Safety: Fire Safety Equipment: It is a criminal offence to tamper with any fire alarm or fire safety equipment. They are provided for your safety. Fire Alarm Testing: The fire alarms are tested at the same times each week in all properties. Timings for that test are listed on staircase and residence noticeboards. If the alarm is activated at any other time, evacuate the building immediately and go to the designated fire assembly point. Assembly points are listed on the fire safety notices. For reasons of health and safety, the following items are banned in residential houses of multiple occupancy in College, either in bedrooms or in shared kitchens and gyp rooms: Candles Incense burners / oil burners Fairy lights Daisy-chained extension leads (i.e. extension leads plugged into each other) Bicycles Shisha pipes Certain cooking equipment: deep-fat fryers, chip pans, rice cookers, slow cookers, portable hobs, hot plates and grills (including George Foreman grills and sandwich makers) Additional furniture Portable heaters Electric blankets Pyrotechnics and fireworks Untested electrical appliances Correctly tested kettles are allowed in bedrooms, and correctly tested toasters are allowed in kitchens and gyp rooms. Smoking Trinity Hall has a strict NO SMOKING policy within all accommodation and inside communal areas. This nosmoking policy also applies to e-cigarettes, except that students can smoke e-cigarettes in their own rooms. The College has allowed for several designated outside smoking areas each containing a receptacle for the disposal of used smoking material. These are located in the following places: Central Site: Cherry Tree Court, an area of the patio outside the Terrace Room and also North Court in the evenings as long as the bar is open. Wychfield Site: Two areas, one at the Fitzwilliam College/Storey s way boundary in the area near Stair K/L and one at the Huntingdon Road boundary in the area near Dean House. Bishop Bateman Court: An area in the BBC car park near the garden. Bateman Street: An area in the rear of the properties on the patio. Disciplinary procedures will apply to any College members who do not comply with this policy; Disciplinary procedures may involve a fixed penalty fine and possible criminal proceedings. Pets The keeping of pets is NOT permitted, and no animals may be brought into the College hostels or grounds, other than a guide dog. Students in College accommodation who need to keep a guide dog must obtain prior written approval from the Junior Bursar. 5

6 Students Responsibilities Students are solely responsible for: keeping the communal areas tidy; disposal of waste and recycling items (arrangements vary on different College sites, but guidelines are set down in the leaflet entitled Your Guide to Recycling your Waste ); removing out-of-date items from refrigerators; all cleaning and maintenance of their own appliances, such as kettles, toasters and any other electrical goods; washing up of cooking utensils, crockery and cutlery; keeping kitchen sinks clear of dirty crockery and utensils to enable them to be thoroughly cleaned; removal of all personal kitchen equipment and perishables at the end of your tenancy. Before vacating any self-contained accommodation it is your responsibility to ensure that it is left in the same state of cleanliness as found on arrival. In the unlikely event that College staff have to carry out any cleaning other than basic surface cleaning, a charge may be made to cover any extra cleaning costs. The College charges all graduate students a deposit of 150 for those living in College accommodation, and 75 for those living out. This deposit is refundable from 6 weeks after the student graduates or leaves the College (allowing time for late charges). Cheque runs are completed in August, November, February and May. Council Tax All self-contained flats are billed separately by Cambridge City Council for council tax. It is the student's responsibility to contact the council on moving in to advise them of the date you moved in and who resides at the flat with you. You can call the council on If your partner lives with you, you may be liable to pay council tax. Full time students studying at a UK institution may be exempt from paying council tax but you must ask the council for a student exemption application form. The exemption would only apply if both you and your partner are full time students. You will need a letter from your College(s) confirming your student status - please complete and return the Council Tax exemption form which will be included in the pack in your pigeon-hole on your arrival. The properties this applies to are: Flat, 8 Bateman Street All 12 Flats at Herrick House Top and Bottom Flats at 5 Norwich Street Wychfield New Build Self-contained Flats (in blocks C & D only) NB: You will not be liable to pay council tax if you are residing in other College accommodation, as we have obtained a full exemption for these student properties. Insurance While the College takes all reasonable precautions, it does not carry an insurance policy in respect of your personal belongings. You should make your own arrangements for insuring personal effects. It is your responsibility to arrange that you are insured before you come up. 6

7 Description of College Properties No s 14, 15, 16, 17 Bateman Street, off Hills Road (8 or 9 single rooms per house) Room X 14, 15, 16 or 17 Bateman Street Cambridge CB2 1NB per week The College laundry hire service is not available in these houses. You will be responsible for providing your own bed linen, bath mats and tea towels. The house is cleaned regularly by our domestic team. From the Porters' Lodge at Trinity Hall. Flat at 8 Bateman Street, off Hills Road (self-contained basement flat for a couple) Basement Flat 8 Bateman Street Cambridge CB2 1NB per week Layout Please note: Self-contained couples apartment comprising a kitchen, sitting room, bedroom and private bathroom. The College laundry hire service is not available in this house. You will be responsible for providing your own bed linen, bath mats and tea towels. No cleaning services will be available. The apartment will be clean for your arrival and should be left clean when you depart. From the Porters' Lodge at Trinity Hall. Self-contained flats are checked on a regular basis by various College Departments (Housekeeping, Maintenance, Fire Officer) 7

8 Herrick House, Wychfield Site, Huntingdon Road (12 self-contained flats for couples) Flat X Herrick House Trinity Hall Wychfield Site Storey s Way Cambridge CB3 0DZ per week Payable termly (13 weeks) in advance. Layout Please note: Self-contained apartments for couples comprising a kitchen/lounge, bedroom and private bathroom. The College laundry hire service is not available in this house. You will be responsible for providing your own bed linen, bath mats and tea towels. No cleaning services will be available. The apartment will be clean for your arrival and should be left clean when you depart. From the Wychfield Porters Lodge. Self-contained flats are checked on a regular basis by various College Departments (Housekeeping, Maintenance, Fire Officer) Launcelot Fleming and Walter Christie Houses, Wychfield Site, Huntingdon Road (29 and 25 single rooms) Note: There are 4 split-level rooms. They are ideal for those with a partner who may wish to stay for the occasional weekend but are not permitted for permanent use by a couple. Room X Launcelot Fleming House or Walter Christie House Trinity Hall Wychfield Site Storey s Way Cambridge CB3 0DZ ( for split-level) per week The College laundry hire service is available. Bath mats and tea towels will be provided in the shared bathrooms and kitchens. 8

9 The houses are cleaned regularly by our domestic team. From the Wychfield Porters Lodge. Houses B, I and J Wychfield Site, Huntingdon Road (En-suite rooms, with shared kitchens and common rooms) (8 11 single rooms per house) Room X House B, I or J Trinity Hall Wychfield Site Storey s Way Cambridge CB3 0DZ per week The College laundry hire service is available, including a bath mat. Students not using the laundry hire service will need to provide their own bath mat. Tea towels will be provided in communal kitchens. The houses are cleaned regularly by our domestic team. From the Wychfield Porters Lodge. House D Wychfield Site, Huntingdon Road (self-contained flat for a couple) Full Address Flat X House D Trinity Hall Wychfield Site Storey s Way Cambridge CB3 0DZ per week Layout Self-contained apartment for a couple comprising a kitchen/lounge, bedroom and private bathroom. The College laundry hire service is not available in this house. You will be 9

10 responsible for providing your own bed linen, bath mats and tea towels. Please note: No cleaning services will be available. The apartment will be clean for your arrival and should be left clean when you depart. From the Wychfield Porters Lodge. Self-contained flats are checked on a regular basis by various College Departments (Housekeeping, Maintenance, Fire Officer) 5 Norwich Street, off Hills Road (2 self-contained flats for couples) Ground Floor Flat or First Floor Flat 5 Norwich Street, Cambridge CB2 1ND per week Layout Please note: Self-contained couples apartment comprising a kitchen, sitting room, bedroom and private bathroom. The College laundry hire service is not available in this house. You will be responsible for providing your own bed linen, bath mats and tea towels. No cleaning services will be available. The apartment will be clean for your arrival and should be left clean when you depart. From the Porters' Lodge at Trinity Hall. Self-contained flats are checked on a regular basis by various College Departments (Housekeeping, Maintenance, Fire Officer) Private Accommodation or Living Out If you prefer to find your own accommodation in Cambridge, please let the Tutorial Office know your address. Keep them informed of all changes of address, either in Cambridge or your home address. Please also update your address and phone numbers on CamSIS via your self-service page. External rented accommodation in Cambridge is expensive. Accommodation is relatively easy to find during the summer and extremely difficult to find in early October, when the demand from undergraduates and others soars above the supply available. Don't leave it until the last minute. Most students want to live close to the city centre. Unfortunately, housing in central Cambridge is limited. 10

11 Most of the shared houses are in the Mill Road, Milton Road, Histon Road, and Chesterton Road areas. All of these are reasonably convenient for the centre. If you look further out but still within cycling distance of the centre, you may find more comfortable, reasonably-priced properties. Please note that in order to satisfy the University's residence requirement, you must reside within the University's precincts; that is, within the 10 mile radius of Great St Mary's church, Cambridge throughout your terms of study, unless you have specific permission to live elsewhere. Further details are given here: Cambridge traffic is awful and parking is acutely limited. Graduates need a special permit from College and the University to keep a car in Cambridge. There are three types of accommodation in Cambridge: Shared house This is the most popular type with graduate students and usually the cheapest option. A group of people (normally between 3 and 5) rent a whole, furnished house. Each has their own bedroom; everyone shares the kitchen, bathroom and sitting room. You can live with friends; landlords are not normally on the premises; costs are reduced. Disadvantages include lack of privacy (no lock on your bedroom door) and space. With good people sharing is fun. Lodgings A lodger rents a furnished room in somebody else's house. They have the use of a bathroom and usually (but not always) the kitchen. Often families or older people rent out spare bedrooms to lodgers. Disadvantages include lack of companions of your own age and the constraint of living in someone else's household. Bedsits A furnished bedroom and living room unit, usually in a house converted into them. Typically, your door has a lock and you share kitchen and bathroom facilities with the others in the house. The standard of accommodation is generally low and bedsits can be lonely. Not normally recommended. ed accommodation can be found through: The Accommodation Service, Kellet Lodge, Tennis Court Road, Tel: The Graduate Union, 17 Mill Lane, Tel: The University Centre, Granta Place, Mill Lane, Tel: