The following information only applies to full time postgraduate students who will begin their studies in September/October 2020, and wish to secure college accommodation. (It does not apply to postgraduate students returning to College accommodation).
St Chad’s College has a number of single study bedrooms available for postgraduate students. To confirm your college accommodation by paying your advance rent you must have:
- accepted your official postgraduate offer to study at Durham University
- submitted a college application applying for membership with accommodation
- returned a signed Occupancy Agreement to St Chad’s College
Applicants who apply for membership with accommodation will be contacted from mid-late July with an accommodation offer, or will be informed that they have been placed on a waiting list. This will be after you receive confirmation of your college allocation for membership. Offers will continue to be made to applicants from late July and throughout the summer. A deadline date will be provided in order to accept and confirm your accommodation offer.
We will always try to provide applicants with accommodation in their allocated college and meet facilities preferences, where possible. You may however be offered accommodation in another college where there is availability.
If you are offered accommodation in another college and choose to accept it, then your college membership will be transferred. This is because you must have membership at the college that you will live in.
Advance Rent
Subject to availability, St Chad’s College provides an offer of accommodation to applicants who are eligible to apply, and wish to live in our college.
All lets are for 50 weeks. PGCE students, and MSW students, take a 50 week let (with an earlier start date) and then often “sublet” their room for the last weeks of the occupancy period (this must be arranged officially with the College).This, however, does represent a significant RISK- while there are usually people looking for accommodation over the summer it would be your responsibility (not the College’s) to find an appropriate tenant and if none were available you would remain liable for the costs.
In order to accept and secure your offer of accommodation a payment of £400 Advance Rent is required. A deadline date will be given to you within your accommodation offer in order to secure your place. This payment should be made through the University’s online payments page.
Making this payment will mean that you agree to all terms and conditions for college accommodation, and will secure a single study bedroom as specified in your accommodation offer. The Advance Rent payment is offset from the first termly instalment of the overall accommodation charges and is non-refundable*.
The period of occupancy which the £400 Advance Rent will cover varies depending upon the different catering options and room types we provide. The table below shows the total number of days for each accommodation type.
Part-catered means that catering is provided during undergraduate terms, but residents are self-catered during vacations
If you choose not to accept the accommodation offer that is sent to you, you will still remain a member of St Chad’s College but you will need then to secure private rented accommodation instead. Only one offer of accommodation will be sent to each applicant.
*Advance Rent is deemed non-refundable. There are exceptional circumstances when the College would agree to a refund:
If you are forced to withdraw from postgraduate studies at Durham because:
- you have failed to meet the academic conditions of your offer
- you have failed to obtain a student visa OR
- you are prevented from attending by the introduction of new official travel restrictions related to Covid-19
the College will actively seek to establish whether the room can be let by another applicant.
If successful, a refund of the Advance Rent payment may be payable. If a refund is confirmed, the room will no longer be deemed as secured by you and will be let by another student, once they then make the Advance Rent payment. A refund of the £400 payment would be processed through the University, and only to the account from which the payment was originally made. Refunds cannot be made in cash.
If you wish to withdraw, during the advance rental period, in any other circumstances please contact the College to discuss your options.