3. SETTLE IN
3A. MOVING
3B. LIVE SMART
3C. SUPPORT

SUPPORT

The UCL Advice Service can provide free legal help and advice to students on a wide range of housing issues, including checking tenancy agreements to ensure there are no unfair terms. It is worth getting in touch before you sign your contract, because once it’s signed it’s legally binding.

The UCL Advice Service is run by the students’ union and is independent from UCL, so everything students tell them is completely confidential. So if you have any difficulties throughout your student year, you can contact the UCL Advice Service for free, independent, and confidential support for any of your problems.

The most common things that the Advice Service help students in private accommodation with are repair and maintenance issues and disputes with landlords over deposits after leaving a property. With issues such as these the Advice Service can contact your Landlord on your behalf and often, after seeing that a third party has become involved, the landlord is quick to resolve it.
Get in touch now.

GET IN TOUCH

Know where you can find support

  1. Know where your nearest hospital is.
  2. Use Students’ Union UCL rights and advice centre.
  3. If you’re the victim of a crime report it to the police.

Help with money worries

  1. Make a budget (and stick to it).
  2. Get advice and support if you need it.
  3. If you fall on hard times, the UCL hardship fund is there if you need it.

UCL ADVICE SERVICE

The UCL Advice service is on hand to help you with any difficulties you might experience while you’re a student at UCL. Our service covers the full range of issues from housing to housemate disagreements, from immigration to employment.

Our advisors can check your contract before you sign or, once you’ve moved in, help you sort out a persistent problem with a landlord. For example, if a landlord ignores your requests for a necessary repair, you may find they spring into action when Students’ Union UCL gets involved. More generally though, we find students can have trouble with Council Tax. While students are usually exempt, the situation can become more complex if you’re graduating or share a property with non-students.

Perhaps the most important message is how students can support each other. For many students, this may be their first time living independently, sometimes far from home. It’s tough being a student. So, in your new home, try to look out for each other. If one of your housemates seems down, stuck in a rut or is spending a lot of time alone in their room, why not reach out? Maybe one day, someone will do the same for you.

GET IN TOUCH

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