Residential services

Accommodation office

Our commitment to our students is to:

Administer the application and allocation to 6,500 University bedspaces
Provide services and facilities outlined in our contract for this University owned, managed and approved accommodation
Provide information on options for other accommodation in the city

The primary focus of the Accommodation Office team is to offer students accommodation in the University rooms both on and off campus. We support students through the journey of information gathering, to application, allocation, confirming the contract and finally arrival.

Once in residence, students may only need to contact us if they are looking to move accommodation or have a question about the accommodation contract.

Due to our guarantee of accommodation, most students we deal with are Year 1 undergraduates and International postgraduate students.

Whilst we can provide support and assistance to other groups of students, this may be limited to giving guidance about where and how to look for accommodation outside of the University. Our first point of contact is via Student Information Desk in the Forum.

Residence Operations

Once in residence, students will deal mainly with the Residence Operation teams directly through one of our residence receptions.

We have several different teams who provide services to our residences, including Residence Life Team; Facilities Management team and Catering team as well as working with external partners in some of our residences. The residence receptions act as a first point of contact for all these services and all initial enquiries should be directed to these teams.

Contract and Residence Experience (CARE)

Students from all around the world live in the accommodation on campus and they each bring their own uniqueness to the student community.

Some students find the transition to independent living easier than others and this process can invoke some very strong emotions, such as loneliness and also identify some equipment or processes used to live independently that are new to students - everything to the type of cooker and washing machines to adapting to a different culture.

To ensure that a positive student experience is maintained, the Contracts and Residence Experience Team are the main contact for the students who live in accommodation that is owned by UPP and the other 3^rd party providers that we work with, whilst still being under the University Accommodation Contract. We offer an inclusive service to students, offering advice to resolve any issues or signposting to the correct team to assist the student and offer more specialist advice.

What do we do:

Assist students with day to day enquires regarding living in UPP accommodation/community living
Issue notification of any maintenance or planned works in the accommodation
Provide information about the UPP Home at Halls App, allowing students to report maintenance on their mobile device and get notification when they have a parcel ready for collection
Ensure that the accommodation is safe and compliant with required legislation
Provide a main point of contact for students, for any issues that arise
Maintain records about additional charges for students, such as cleaning, damage or lost key fobs
Follow up on any issues that have been raised by the facilities staff, such as kitchens that have fallen below the expected standard, Health and Safety issues, such as items left in corridors and also students that have experienced a fire alarm activation, so knowledge and advice can be given to prevent these in the future
Manage Student Complaints and Conduct Issues

Researchers, Academics and Staff

Due to the nature of our accommodation and specific contractual clauses we are only able to provide accommodation for registered full-time students at the University and therefore we are unable to provide accommodation to staff of the university.

If we are made aware of any property that is specifically for staff, it will be advertised on studentpad marked as Staff/Academic under Student Type section.

We will also add information to our visitor accommodation webpage if we receive details of any other accommodation available in the city.

Private sector

Whilst we are able to provide students, parents and landlords with help and information about private accommodation in the city, our involvement is limited to:

Maintaining an overview of the Purpose-Built Student Accommodation (PBSA) in the city for awareness of the options available to students
Providing information sessions to PBSA about the university services available to students so that they are able to direct students to these as appropriate
Administering studentpad to provide a platform for landlords to advertise rooms/properties and students to review these and interact with other students looking for accommodation via its Messageboard

Therefore, students and landlords may be referred to others for further advice and support especially for compliance and legal matters