University of Leicester offer 50% rebate for empty rooms
Written by Toby Cray
The University of Leicester (UoL) have announced a 50% rebate on empty accommodation rooms from the 4 January 2021 to 3 May 2021.
The email sent on 30 March comes after students have been told to stay away from their accommodation since early December.
Louise Manley, who is part of the UoL rent strike group, responded to the rebate, by stating:
“This rebate is nothing but a mirage. There is a deeper issue the accommodation office is ignoring, from poor conditions to the inability to actually care for students and their hardship.”
An online petition opposing the rebate started soon after the announcement was made and has gained 223 signatures, states:
“This is completely unfair to students who haven’t been back to halls since December.”
Continuing: “Some of the University of Leicester accommodation is terrible, and students have been living in awful conditions with mould, leaks and malfunctioning heating. This is not what we paid for.”
Anais Daly-Gourdialsing, who signed the petition, commented: “Receiving only half the amount from January to May is shocking and still leaves students like me feeling robbed.”
However, students are only entitled to a rent rebate if they have not occupied their accommodation since January, as the email states:
“You are entitled to a 50% fee rebate for the period in which you have not occupied your accommodation between 4th January 2021 and 3rd May 2021, up until your first point of return.”
This part of the announcement has left some students facing uncertainty, as one post on the anonymous webpage LeicFess posts:
“This rebate is bs, I don’t even know what date I came back to pick some stuff up from my accom on and now I won’t get any money back after that date???”
Louise added to this by stating:
“The lack of communication is poor and the fact [that] we have been demanding an answer for so long and they have given us this is incredibly underwhelming.”
Toby Cray is a second-year journalism student at the University of Leicester. You can find him on Instagram here: @toby5.c
Image taken by LSM member Ollie Monk @britwithacamera
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