We offer a range of advice to Halls of Residence students:
General information
Registering with a doctor and help with healthcare costs
TV Licensing
Contacting a Residential Assistant
In emergencies
Issues and complaints
Antisocial behaviour
Repairs
Moving rooms
Making a complaint
Refunds
When you first move in to Halls you should register with a local General Practitioner (GP) as soon as possible. Student Health and Wellbeing can help you to register with a local GP.
You may also want to consider registering yourself with an NHS dentist as well as an optometrist as this might also need those services while living in Halls.
You can find a list of local health services at the NHS Choices website.
Help with healthcare costs
We also recommend you complete a HC1 form to help with health costs such as NHS dentist fees and prescriptions.
Students in full-time education who are under the age of 19 are automatically entitled to full help with health costs.
Students aged 19 and over entering higher education generally have access to their own resources and are no longer classed as dependent children. They can apply to the Low Income Scheme, using form HC1, the same as all other adults to see if they qualify for help.
You can order a HC1 form from this link, pick one up from Student Life, or you can usually pick one up from a local pharmacy.
Back to top
If you choose to have a TV and want to receive live broadcast television on it, or if you watch live broadcast television on any device when living in Halls then it is your responsibility to apply and pay for your own TV licence.
Please note that a TV Licence is required for each bedroom/kitchen and inspectors do come to the Halls during the year. Please ask at a Post Office for a TV Licence application form or follow the link TV Licensing for further information.
If you have a TV but you only use it for gaming or watching DVD’s, you may not need a TV License. You should make sure at this link.
You may be entitled to a refund for the time that you don’t use your license after you move out. You can read more about this here.
Back to top
What is a Residential Assistant?
Resident Assistants (RA’s) are second or third year students who have lived in Halls previously and are employed by Residential Services to be a point of contact for the residents.
Residents are able to refer any issues they may be having to RA’s in terms of problems in their flats, maintenance issues, or items that need replacing in their rooms/kitchens.
Whilst residents can and do report these issues to Residential Services directly, RA’s provide a platform for students to report issues such as flat disputes to someone who has been there for a year or more and has more experience and advice to offer on dealing with these problems. RA’s provide a friendly face who can liaise with Residential Services on your behalf.
The RA also puts up/takes down posters in kitchens, communal hallways and at the block entrance.
There are five Residential Assistants that support the Residential Services team.
Contacting your RA
Details of all RAs will be posted in the communal hallways and in each of the kitchens so that residents are aware of who the RA’s are.
The posters include a friendly personal statement about the RA, along with their picture and their RA email address (each RA has their own individual one).
The RA’s also have a mobile phone, and are on call (one RA is on call each night) so that students are able to contact them when it may not always be appropriate/necessary to contact Security.
The RA telephone numbers are 07510204415 / 07510204451. These numbers are provided on the RA posters and displayed within the communal areas or on the plasma screens within the Halls of Residence.
Back to top
If you witness a crime in progress, you are a victim of crime, or see another emergency situation you should call 999.
If you want to report a matter to the Police but it is not an emergency you can call 101.
Contacting security
To contact security dial ext. 5599 from your room phone or by call 020 8223 5599 from a mobile.
Residential Services encourage students to contact Security out of office hours in they are experiencing any issues such as if there’s a noise complaint, or if they feel uncomfortable or threatened in any way.
If you have witnessed a crime or incident or if you have information about a crime which occurred on campus you can report it anonymously in the strictest of confidence using the Silent Witness Scheme by calling 020 8223 5799. You do not have to give your name and can leave a message.
In an emergency you should call 999.
I’m locked out
Out of office hours you will need to contact Security (see above) if you have been locked out of your room, as security have master keys which will let them you into your room.
During the day staff in the Residential Services office will be able to let you in if you’ve locked yourself out.
Back to top
Antisocial behaviour can have a big affect on your life and happiness at University, at home in Halls, and ultimately on your studies. Don’t suffer in silence.
Antisocial behaviour is conduct that is capable of causing a nuisance or annoyance to any person. The following list is examples of that behaviour. This list is not exhaustive;
- Noise nuisance – loud parties, shouting, noise from a TV, stereo, radio
- Eating other peoples food or using their things without permission
- Littering
- Smoking
- Vandalism, graffiti
- Aggressive and threatening language and behaviour
- Hate behaviour/crime – behaviour that targets members of identified groups because of their perceived differences (for example, gender, age, religion, sexual orientation, mental health, disability, race and ethnicity).
- Using accommodation to sell drugs from or for other unlawful purposes
- Interfering with fire safety equipment
Many students who live in halls are here because they want to study and so they need time to concentrate. Anything that disrupts this could be seen as antisocial behaviour by those around you.
My flatmate isn't helping to keep our kitchen or flat clean, what can I do?
Try and talk to your flatmate(s) making them aware of the problem you are having. Having an informal chat with your flatmate may solve the problem straight away. Sometimes people don’t realise that what they are doing is a problem for others.
If the problem still persists, please inform Residential Services who may intervene on your behalf.
My flatmate keeps having lots of people round making it difficult for me to use the kitchen. What can I do?
Having friends over to socialise is something common to student life in Halls across the UK. This can, unfortunately, cross the line however when this stops you from being able to do the things you want in your home.
It would be best to talk to your flatmate first about the issue and have a discussion to try and resolve this amicably. They might not realise this is a problem.
Residents are responsible for their guests and must be with them at all times. It is not permitted for guests to visit daily and use the facilities in Halls, so we would encourage you to speak to the Residential Services team.
What can I do about students being noisy at night in halls?
You can call security and tell them about the disturbance and where it is coming from. They will ask the resident(s) to lower or turn the music down. Residential Services will then follow the complaint up the next working day.
My flatmate's are using / allowing their guest to use drugs, what should I do?
Contact security who will inform Residential Services and may also contact the Police. You should also contact the Residential Services team to discuss the matter in confidence. You may be required to make a confidential statement, stating who you saw taking the drugs and where. Residential Services will take the appropriate action. It is helpful to know as soon as this takes place so we can take the appropriate action.
Back to top
During office hours repairs should be reported to the Residential Services office. If you have an urgent repair, i.e. flooding, failure of electricity, gas etc. outside office hours please contact the Security Staff who will be able to assist you.
Repairs can be reported to Residential Services in person or over the phone (during Office hours).
You can also report them by completing this form.
Repairs are given a priority and the Maintenance Service Level Agreement provides the time frames for the completion of repairs, This is available here.
During office hours, please report your repairs to the Residential Services office either in person or over the phone
Back to top
You may apply to Residential Services to transfer to another room in the Residence or at another Halls of Residence but you must first:
(a) contact the Residential Services team to apply for a transfer;
(b) if a transfer is granted you will enter into a new agreement for the new accommodation; and
(c) pay to the University a £50 administration fee;
(d) have complied with their obligations in the accommodation agreement in all important respects (this means not being in breach of your contract, or having paid all your rent)
Back to top
If you are unsatisfied about something occurring during your stay at Halls then you may consider making a complaint.
Trying to resolve the issue informally first
The first stage of any complaint is to try and resolve the issue informally. If the issue is with Halls itself you should make the issue known to Residential Services and try and resolve this with them first. For example if the situation you were unhappy about is a repairs issue you should first ask for the repairs to be made and follow this up with Residential Services.
If you have tried to resolve the matter informally but are still dissatisfied you may consider asking for a ‘conciliatory’ meeting with Residential Services to discuss the situation. This would count as the first stage of any complaint to UEL.
Making a formal complaint
If all else has failed you can make a formal complaint through the complaints procedure. You can find information about how to do this on the Academic Advice section of this site.
Back to top
I want to leave halls or I am owed a refund
If you are in this situation it may be advisable to make an appointment with us to discuss this by calling 020 8223 7025 / 020 8223 4209, but we recommend you speak to Residential Services before coming to see us.
Back to top