Know your rights! Everything you need to know when it comes to renting and paying bis
Know your rights! Research Starting university is a ife changing and exciting miestone in every student s ife, and for many it aso means eaving home for the first time. Whie fying the nest has its obvious attractions (and not east during Freshers' Week) it can aso be a daunting time. Our report into student ife reveas that 1.7 miion (74%) students have experienced probems with their accommodation, energy or teecoms suppier. 60% of students experience probems with accommodation 31% of students experience probems with a teecoms suppier 60% of students experience probems with accommodation 25% of students experience probems with an energy suppier Being a student doesn t mean you have to put up with poor quaity accommodation, sow broadband connection speeds or shoddy customer service. The foowing guide contains advice to hep your transition from home to university go as smoothy as possibe. Swot up and know your rights. Find out more: Ca 0330 606 0248 or visit www.ombudsman-services.org/student-guide.htm
Sharing the (down)oad WWW. So you ve decided to get broadband in your student digs. There are ots of packages you coud choose - some are inked with TV packages; some offer unimited data downoads; some offer free andine cas. Before you sign up to anything, check the ength of the contract and whether the service is transferabe if you decide to move property next year. Be aware of any imit to the amount of data you can downoad - even some unimited packages have restrictions. Being mobie Your mobie phone might work briianty where you ive but is the signa just as strong near your university? This is something to think about if you decide to take out a new mobie contract. You shoud aso consider how much data you use and opt for an appropriate contract to avoid unexpectedy high bis. Try and make use of free Wi-Fi whist you're on campus to reduce mobie data usage. Shopping around for energy As with many contracts and services, it s now easier for peope to shop around for the best energy dea. Even if you are renting you coud sti switch suppier to save money on your bis. You shoud check your tenancy agreement and et your andord and/or etting agent know before you switch. They shoud et you know if there are any tie-ins with specific suppiers and give you detais of appicabe tariffs and charging detais that come with those suppiers. Find out more: www.goenergyshopping.co.uk
Fying the nest If you re renting a property this year, as a group or individuay, here are some things you shoud consider: The tenancy agreement - check if you are tied in for 12 months or just term time and how much notice you must give to eave the property. The tenancy deposit - often equates to one month's rent. Your andord/etting agent shoud arrange for this to be kept in a tenancy deposit scheme unti you are ready to eave the property. The itinerary - this records any defects at the property prior to you moving in. Make sure a damages to the property and/or furnishings are isted; if not, you coud be charged for them at the end of your tenancy. Rent - you wi often have to pay one month s rent in advance, in addition to your tenancy deposit. Find out whether your rent incudes utiity bis and service charges. Fu time students do not have to pay counci tax. Utiity bis - record your meter readings when you move in and out of your accommodation and provide these to your andord/etting agent and utiity suppiers. If your bis are higher than expected, check that the companies are using actua meter readings and that you aren t paying for the previous tenants use. Contents insurance - make sure your aptops, phones, books, cothes etc are covered by contents insurance. Read the sma print and be mindfu of other peopes' beongings. Your housemates - you wi need to decide how you spit the cost of iving and consider what wi happen if one or more of your housemates move out part way through the year. You may decide to deegate responsibiities so that if something goes wrong with your rent or utiity bis, the primary contact can take charge.
If something goes wrong Contact the company (the etting agent, broadband provider, energy suppier etc) as soon as you can. Expain the probem and what you woud ike to be done to fix it. Make a note of any contact you have with the company. Keep a record of any emais or etters. If you are getting nowhere, try to escaate your compaint. Most companies pubish their compaint procedure on their website. If not, you can ask what the process is. If your compaint remains unresoved after eight weeks you shoud be abe to take it to an ombudsman free of charge. Find out more: Ca 0330 606 0248 or visit www.ombudsman-services.org/student-guide.htm Resover can hep Resover.co.uk is a free onine service and app that offers consumer advice and simpifies the process of compaining. Resover.co.uk guides you through the compaints process, heping you to draft emais or etters and even record teephone conversations for reference. It records each step of your correspondence and if your compaint remains unresoved, even after taking it to the top of an organisation, it sends an e-case fie to the reevant ombudsman service or reguator. Resover.co.uk currenty has more than 1,500 companies in its system covering energy, water, teecoms, motoring, insurance, restaurants, eisure services and retai. Look out for the resover.co.uk TV campaign, coming to a university near you! Find out more: www.resover.co.uk Get the APP
About Ombudsman Services If you re getting nowhere with your compaint we might be abe to hep. We offer a free and impartia service to peope who have difficuty resoving compaints about: Energy companies Mobie phone operators* Broadband providers* Letting agents* Property management agents* Know your rights! Before you contact us you must give the company a chance to sort out your compaint. If eight weeks pass, or you get a etter from the company saying it can t hep (often caed a deadock etter), get in touch. Don t eave it too ong - you shoud bring your compaint to us within nine months of first notifying the company about the issue. We isten to your side of the story and contact the company to hear its side. We ask for evidence from both sides - so make sure you keep a note of cas and any emais/etters that reate to your compaint. We need to know what you want as resoution to your compaint. We then decide if the company was at faut and what it must do to put things right. If the company is at faut, we aways try and return you to the position you woud have been in had the probem not occurred. Sometimes we require the company to give you a goodwi award for the inconvenience caused. *Not a of these companies are signed up to our service. You need to check our website to see if your suppier is registered. If it s not, we wi point you in the right direction. To find out more about what we do, visit www.ombudsman-services.org and foow us on Twitter @OmbudServices. Advice
Case studies Ombudsman Services: In this case the etting agent is acting unreasonaby. Hoding deposits cannot be retained if the andord withdraws Getting the wrong signa Jonathan wanted a new mobie phone to take to university. A saes advisor tod him he woud receive good mobie signa whichever university he went to. This was not the case. He tried to cance his contract but the company said he woud incur canceation fees. Ombudsman Services: It is often difficut for customers to prove what they were tod on the phone. If the company s og notes reveaed that Jonathan had asked about the mobie phone signa then we woud require the company to cance the account without penaty. It s aways a good idea to check signa strength in the area where you intend to use your mobie phone yoursef, before taking out a new contract. A ot of mobie phone operators have network checkers onine. Amost throwing away 3k Mike and some of his feow students decided to rent a house in their second year at university. They signed the tenancy agreement and paid a hoding deposit of 3,000 but forgot to provide references. After a coupe of days, the etting agent contacted Mike at 4pm to say that the tenancy woud be withdrawn if they did not provide references within the hour. More importanty, they woud ose their hoding deposit. from an agreement after pacing unreasonabe demands and timescaes. We woud require the agent to return the deposit and offer a goodwi award for the inconvenience caused. Broadband not up to speed Sarah took the ead on getting broadband instaed in her student house. A six housemates needed high speed broadband for their studies and agreed to spit the cost. Sarah chose a broadband provider that advertised high speeds, unimited usage and exceent Wi-Fi. The housemates soon reaised that when a of them used broadband at once it often disconnected or ran extremey sowy. They rang the provider and tried a of the fixes it suggested without success. Unhappy with the service, Sarah canceed the contract, which resuted in an eary termination fee. This was taken from her bank account so she was eft without the money for the rest of term. Ombudsman Services: Many broadband providers have signed up to the Ofcom vountary code of practice, which ensures they give correct information about the speed a customer can expect to get. It aows customers to exit their contracts without penaty if they receive speeds significanty beow the origina estimate. In this case it seems that the advertised speeds were unikey to be achieved. The company does not demonstrate that it has effective processes to dea with speed reated probems. We woud require the company to pay back the eary termination fee and offer a goodwi award for the inconvenience caused.
For genera consumer advice: Citizens Advice www.citizensadvice.org.uk For compaints about communications providers: Ombudsman Services: Communications www.ombudsman-services.org/communications For compaints about property firms: Ombudsman Services: Property www.ombudsman-services.org/property For compaints about energy suppiers: Ombudsman Services: Energy www.ombudsman-services.org/energy For advice about switching your energy suppier: Ofgem www.goenergyshopping.co.uk For compaints about finance: The Financia Ombudsman www.financia-ombudsman.org.uk Other usefu contacts: Ombudsman Association www.ombudsmanassociation.org Resover www.resover.co.uk Designed by sunnythinking.com