In the first instance, you should try to reach an Early Resolution by raising your concern through one of the platforms below:

• Submit a Maintenance Request if something has gone wrong in your room or flat. You can also raise it through PlanOn

• The Student Living team will assess the report and get back to you. To find out how they prioritise their response times, take a look at the drop-down titled Reporting a repair or other room issue on the Brunel website.

If you're unhappy with how your issue has been dealt with, or any concerns about your experience you can raise your concern via Brunel Help or email Student Living - studentliving@brunel.ac.uk

You can also escalate your issue to a Stage 1 Complaint, see the last drop-down.

Emergencies

• Contact the Student Living Office between 8am to 8pm, Mon - Fri on +44 (0)1895 267100

• If it is out of the hours above, please contact Security on +44 (0)1895 25578

If you have any disagreements or disputes with your flatmates that you have not been able to resolve yourself, or if you would like guidance on how to go about this, get in touch with the Community Liaison Officer. They will help investigate the issue thoroughly and resolve it quickly.

• Phone: 01895 267900

• Email: communityliaison@brunel.ac.uk

If you’re locked out of your accommodation, the Student Living team can help you regain access if you visit them between Mon - Fri, 8am to 8pm.

If you need to be let back in, outside of these times, you can contact Security on 01895 266943, to show some form of ID and they can let you back in.

Note, if you require replacement keys, cards or barrel changes the University charges £15 for this service

You can read more on the Student Living - FAQs on Lost Keys

If you're in University accommodation, find youself in financial hardship and unable to make your agreed rent payments, reach out to the Sales & Allocations team as soon as possible for guidance. Contact details:

• Email: bca@brunel.ac.uk

• Book Virtual Teams meeting with Allocations staff

• Phone: 01895267900 (option 1) Mon - Fri (9am-1pm | 2pm-4:45pm)

If you are struggling to make payments:

• It is important you seek help, please visit the Student Support and Welfare pages for guidance.

• You may be offered to move to a more affordable room to reduce costs and help you repay the remaining balances on an agreed payment plan. Please note, this is considered on a case by case basis.

• The University may terminate your contract, where the notice period will be stated in your Student Agreement Contract, usually this is 28 days.

Take a look at Student Living FAQs for more guidance if you are struggling to pay rent.

If you feel like your issue hasn't been resolved or dealt with properly when you have raised it at an Early Resolution stage, you can make a complaint through the Student Complaints Procedure .

You must submit the complaint within 3 months of the incident which you are complaining about.

Stage 1

• You can submit a complaint by filling out the Stage 1 - Student Living Complaint Form

• A representative from Student Living should get back to you in 3 working days of receiving your complaint, to set up a meeting to discuss your issue.

• After this point, you should hear back in 5 working days, and if your complaint has been forwarded to the Head of Student Living or one of their representatives, you will be notified by email.

Stage 2

• If you're not happy with the outcome of your Stage 1 Student Living Complaint, or how it was addressed you can escalate this by submitting the Stage 2 - Complaint Form.

• If you'd like to learn more about the progress take a look at the Complaints Page

If you are still unhappy with the outcome of your Stage 2 complaint, you may be able to take your case to the Office for Independent Adjudicator (OIA) if you have a Completion of Procedures (COP) letter and you submit your case to the OIA within 12 months of receiving the letter.

• Write out the details of the necessary repair in writing (email or letter) and date it. Keep a copy and try to add evidence e.g. photos

  • If you need help writing – use one of the Letter Templates at the bottom of the page Landlords & Repairs linked.

• Once the landlord receives this, they must organise the repairs within a reasonable time; Shelter has useful information on how long a private landlord should take to do repairs

• If they don’t organise this in good time, you can send a follow up explaining their obligations under the tenancy agreement and ask for immediate action.

If the landlord still fails to do the repairs, you can complain and will need specialist help.

It is advised to keep records - always get your landlord to confirm, in writing:

• what the repair problem is

• when you reported it to them

• what they said they would do about it

Keep track of correspondences with your landlord:

• copies of letters and emails

• dates of any visits to your home

• the date and time of phone calls, and what was said

Document the repair problem through:

• photos of the problem and any damage to your belongings

• doctor’s notes if your health is affected

If you wish to make a complaint about your landlord of the condition of your property, you can:

• Contact your letting agent to submit a complaint in writing

• Contact your local council to report your landlord to their private renting team

  • If you live around Uxbridge/Hillingdon, your local authority is London Borough of Hillingdon. If you’re unsure, use this the - Find your local council search

  • The council's private renting team can help get your landlord to do the repairs and refer you for a home visit from the environmental health team if the problem is serious

• Contact Citizen's Advice to see how to complain about your landlord and/or letting agent.

If you're unhappy with how your complain goes, you can always go to the Housing Ombudsman.

If you are not happy about the outcome of your complaint to the landlord/letting agent and council, you can complain to the Housing Ombudsman.

The Housing Ombudsman checks if your landlord did everything they should. They can:

• Check if your landlord followed the rules when dealing with your repairs

• Tell your landlord how to put things right

• Suggest your landlord pays you compensation

Although landlords are not required to do what the Ombudsman says, most landlords will.

To get an idea of what types of complaints they deal with and what their decisions can be, take a look at the Ombudsman’s website as they publish their decisions. Tenant details are kept anonymous but landlords are named in the reports - Decision's Archive

If you are unsure what to do or want some advice about your next steps, please contact us and we will discuss possible options with you.

If you’re privately renting, struggling to pay rent and it is affecting your wellbeing, please visit the Student Support and Welfare team in the Student Centre. You can try different ways of managing arrears:

• Try to negotiate a rent reduction - Shelter: Negotiating Reductions

• It might be hard but you can try let your landlord know if you have unexpected financial changes through losing your job, increase in bills or delays in student loan payments

• See if there are ways to increase your income through a part-time job or hardship-funding. Take a look at our Money pages for ideas on how to increase your funding.

• Try to work towards a repayment plan; send a repayment offer to your landlord e.g., paying an extra amount each month towards the arrears - Shelter: Rent Arrears Repayment

• Speak to Citizens Advice to see if you can get

  • Extra money from a charity to help

  • “Breathing Space” which is 60 days where your landlord can’t contact you about arrears, make you pay or add interest. You will need to speak with an adviser to access this.

Please note, Shelter advises to avoid payday loans and doorstep lenders as these loans are expensive and often make your debt worse.