Common Law Tenancy for Purpose Built Student Accommodation (PBSA)

Some tenancy agreements include clauses that allow you to end the tenancy early if certain conditions are met. For example, if you leave your course, or do not achieve the required grades

These clauses are often subject to strict conditions, so it’s important to review your agreement and any cancellation policy carefully.

Common examples include “no place, no pay” policies for new first year students.

If you have left your course or taken a break in study

Under section 4.6 of the National Codes for student accommodation, you may be able to end your tenancy early if your student status has changed. This can apply if you:

• Are refused admission.
• Withdraw or are excluded from your course.
• Have been absent from your course for more than 60 days due to illness and have agreed a break in study with the university.

To request early release from the tenancy agreement, you will need to contact your accommodation provider and request to end the tenancy. For this to be valid, you will need to meet the following conditions.

• You must give at least 4 weeks’ written notice to your accommodation provider.
• Your notice must clearly state your intended move-out date.
• You’ll need to provide evidence that your student status has changed.
  • A letter/email from the university confirming you will not be in attendance.
  • Medical evidence if applying due to a break in study.
• You must move out on or before the date stated in your notice.

If your landlord believes there is an issue with your notice or evidence, they should let you know as soon as possible and give you a reasonable opportunity to correct it.

If you are considering taking this step, it’s a good idea to gather your evidence first and make sure your notice includes all the required details.

You can advertise a room or whole property online to find replacement tenants. If you find a replacement before the commencement of the tenancy and they take over for the full tenancy length, then you would not have any liability for the rent.

If you find a replacement for part of the tenancy term, then you will be liable up until the date of the takeover.

All tenants and the landlord would need to mutually agree to this and sign a new tenancy agreement with the new tenant for this to take effect.

Landlords/Agents are also permitted to charge a fee of up to £50 to process the tenancy takeover.

A mutual surrender is an agreement between you (and any joint tenants) and the landlord to end the tenancy early.

The landlord/agent can charge reasonable costs as set out in the Tenant Fees Act 2019, these costs are usually capped at the amount of rent they would otherwise be entitled to.

You may wish to contact the landlord to explain your situation and ask whether they would consider this option. Depending on the situation, you may not want to offer the full rent value for the notice period if you do choose this option.

You should consider whether the landlord/agent has met their legal obligations. Failure to do so can result in substantial fines, so any issues here may strengthen your position. Please see the links below and let me know if you believe any of this may apply to you.

Please be aware that unless you are able to end the tenancy in one of these ways you remain liable for the rent.

If you have any questions about how this may apply to your specific circumstances, or you would like further advice on ending your tenancy, get in contact with the advice service through the Ask Us form, please send over a copy of your tenancy agreement, any other relevant documents, and any emails that you have exchanged with your landlord so far, along with a summary of your concern.

• End of the Fixed Term: If your agreement has a fixed end date, they can choose not to renew it. (Note: Under common law principles like tacit relocation, if neither party ends the tenancy, it can sometimes automatically roll over depending on the contract).
• Breach of Contract: If you break a core term of your agreement - such as falling severely behind on rent, ceasing to be a student or breaching building conduct rules - they can take steps to evict you.

You should get a notice in writing. It should say when your tenancy will end and give you a set amount of notice before you have to leave.

The landlord does not need to serve notice with grounds, such as a section 8 notice.

Your contract might say how much notice you should get. This must be at least 28 days.

Landlords cannot legally change the locks, remove your belongings, cut off utilities, threaten or harass you to leave. Doing so without following the proper legal channels is a criminal offense under the Protection from Eviction Act 1977. If you do not leave when a notice expires, the landlord must apply to the County Court for a formal possession order and, subsequently, a bailiff's warrant to enforce eviction. They cannot remove you themselves; this would be considered an Illegal eviction and can be prosecuted by the Local Council.

If you have been told that you need to leave your property and you have not been given enough time, or the landlord has taken action to force you to leave, please get in contact with the SU advice service immediately through the Ask Us form. We will work with you and the council to ensure that you are not illegally removed from the property and look at support options if this has happened to you.

• When did you first raise it?
• Who did you speak to?
• What steps were taken by the company (if any)?
• Was a resolution proposed?
• Why are you not satisfied with this?
• What would you like as a resolution?

• Have any terms of the tenancy been broken? State which ones and how.
• Have any laws or regulations been broken?

• Any emails discussing the issue (make sure that it includes the time and date as well as the sender and recipient)
• Photographs of damage or other issues
• Relevant policy and procedure that have not been followed
• Relevant laws, regulations or guidelines that have been breached