University residence rent rebate
The University has reacted to Government announcements affecting students throughout the 2020/21 academic year and have offered a number of different rent rebates.
All our student tenants will automatically receive our first two rebates, detailed below. The first was introduced when the UK Government asked students to return home before the Winter break, and the University moved to online teaching in order to facilitate that. We then reduced rent again with our second rebate, for 30% of the amount due from the end of this period for seven weeks until early February to support our students with the phased return to University that was initially planned for the January period. If you did not apply/qualify for the third rebate, your rebate credit is made up of:
- Rebate 1: 10 day (9 nights) 100% rebate from 10 Dec to 19 Dec
- Rebate 2: 50 day (49 nights) 30% rebate from 19 Dec to 6 Feb.
The sum of these rebates will appear as one total amount in your Financial Statement in the MyBristol portal and are labelled 'Accommodation Credit Note', dated 5 February.
Further rebate for students not in room
As a result of the national lockdown in January we offered third rebate of a 100% rent reduction for the period 1 February to 26 March for students not currently living in their University-allocated accommodation and who applied for the rebate by the deadline. If you did apply for the third rebate, your rebate credit is made up of:
- Rebate 1: 10 day (9 nights) 100% rebate from 10 Dec to 19 Dec
- Rebate 2: 50 day (49 nights) 30% rebate from 19 Dec to 1 Feb
- Rebate 3: 55 day (54 nights) 100% rebate from 1 Feb to 26 March
The sum of these rebates will appear as one total amount in your Financial Statement in the MyBristol portal and are labelled 'Accommodation Credit Note', dated 5 February.
The three rebates together represent approximately a 25% rebate for the entire 2020-21 year for students in University-allocated accommodation. We believe this is one of the most significant rebates across the university sector.
Rent Rebate FAQs
For more information about your accommodation account and to see full terms and conditions of the rent rebate please log in to your Accommodation Portal.
How and when will I get the rebates?
The first two rebates will be applied to all our student tenant accounts automatically, you do not need to do anything.
For students not in room, you needed to have applied for the third rebate by the deadline of 27th January. All students received daily email reminders to multiple email addresses advising them of the closing date and late requests to apply for the rebate will not be accepted.
Your rent account has now been credited with your total rebate amount. You can log in now to see the credit amount and the new balance owed in your MyBristol portal under your Financial Statement, the total rebated amount is labelled 'Accommodation Credit Note', dated 5 February.
All automated payments (Direct Debit or Recurring Card Payment) for accommodation fees between January 24th and 1st April were stopped to allow us to process the rebates, so you will now need to log in to make the payment that was originally due on 24th January manually.
To make your delayed January payment:
- Visit the Fees and funding channel of your MyBristol portal and go to your Financial Statement.
- Third Party payments: Please visit University of Bristol | Fees Pay Now.
- Please pay the amount shown as the balance due against the ‘Payment plan due on 24/Feb/2021’ line of your statement.
You need to complete these steps and pay the amount due by the new payment deadline of 24th February.
Why didn't you take my January payment?
We cancelled all automatic payments (Direct Debit or Recurring Card Payments) that were due to be taken on 24th Janaury to allow us time to apply the rebate credit to your account.
You will now need to log in to make the payment that was originally due on 24th January manually.
To make your delayed January payment:
- Visit the Fees and funding channel of your MyBristol portal and go to your Financial Statement.
- Third Party payments: Please visit University of Bristol | Fees Pay Now.
- Please pay the amount shown as the balance due against the ‘Payment plan due on 24/Feb/2021’ line of your statement.
You need to complete these steps and pay the amount due by the new payment deadline of 24th February.
When is my next rent payment due?
The new payment deadline is 24th February, but please note that you will need to make a manual payment.
Now your rent balance has been amended to include the rebate amounts, you can make your next payment. You will need to log in to make the payment that was originally due on 24th January manually.
To make your delayed January payment:
- Visit the Fees and funding channel of your MyBristol portal and go to your Financial Statement.
- Third Party payments: Please visit University of Bristol | Fees Pay Now.
- Please pay the amount shown as the balance due against the ‘Payment plan due on 24/Feb/2021’ line of your statement.
You need to complete these steps and pay the amount due by the new payment deadline of 24th February.
After this date we will begin to send payment reminders out to you.
Why do I have to pay anything now when I'm not in my room?
Payments for accommodation are made in three installments during the year:
- 24th of October (40% of total invoice which you should have already paid),
- 24th January (30% of invoice),
- 24th April (30%) of invoice.
Your original payment due for 24th January was for 30% of your total accommodation bill for 20/21. We postponed this payment date to 24th February to allow us to apply your rebate to this installment. This change has adjusted the January installment of your payment plan as follows:
- 24th February: 30% of invoice - rebate credit = new amount due.
For most students this leaves something payable for this installment. The amount you need pay is shown as the balance due against the ‘Payment plan due on 24/Feb/2021’ line of your Financial Statement. You need to make this payment on or before 24th February.
Example calculation:
Your total accommodation invoice for the year was originally for £7000 (example amount). You paid 40% of this on 24th October and before your rebate you were due to pay another 30% of the total on 24th January, which was £2100 (example amount), but we stopped this collection to apply your rebate. Your rebate total came to £1800 (example amount) which we have deducted from the £2100 (example amount) you were due to pay in this installment. This leaves a difference of £300 (example amount) that remains payable for the January installment by the revised deadline of 24th February.
I live in a nomination property will I still qualify for the rent rebate?
Chantry Court, Deans Court and Woodland Court are nomination properties, this means that you apply to live in them via the University's application process, but that a third-party provider is your landlord and you pay your rent directly to them. If you have an active tenancy in one of these residences, you will have received an email on 12th January confirming that nomination properties are included in the new rebate and the previous rebates.
We will be discussing with your landlord how we can best apply this rebate to your rent and will be in touch with you separately when a timeline for this has been agreed.
I missed the deadline to apply for the third rebate, can I still apply?
No, late applications are not possible. Any students who missed the deadline to apply are no longer eligible for the rebate.
The rebate was advertised clearly to all eligible students with a long application window in order to give all our students the time needed to submit their application. Any student who had not completed the application received daily email reminders to multiple email addresses advising them clearly of the closing date, and late requests to apply for the rebate will not be accepted.
I applied for the third rebate but need to move back to my room
If you have to return to your University residence any time between 1 February and 26 March email accom-office@bristol.ac.uk to confirm your return to residence and we will reinstate your rent charges from the date of your return.
Your should ensure that your return is permitted under the exceptional circumstances detailed in the Government guidelines and ensure you have read and understood the University's information on what you need to do to return.
If you are found to be in room at any point between 5th January and 26th March and have not informed us, we will not provide the third rent rebate. If the rebate has already been applied to your account your rent changes will be reinstated in full. If you are found to have applied for the rebate fraudulently this will be investigated as misconduct under the Student Disciplinary Regulations.
Financial help
If you’re experiencing financial hardship we have some emergency funding options that may be able to help.
If you want to talk to someone, contact our Info Point team for advice at info-point@bristol.ac.uk.
Wellbeing and support
We have a range of free support and wellbeing services available.