The Tab Does: Housing!

So I was having a nice little stroll through the hive when I saw a table set up with a sign for something called ‘street law’ over it. If you think anything like me, you will be thinking ‘since when did the Union allow vigilante groups to advertise on the premises?’

Unfortunately, on enquiry I found out this had nothing to do with a masked band of do-gooders whose aim is to clean up the streets of Norwich (Prince of Wales, I’m looking at you). Instead, it’s a student-run group linked to the Law Society and the Union Housing Project.

They’re here to help!

They said their purpose in the Hive was to answer any questions in relation to housing in your second or third year and how to use Home Run, which coincidentally has been published today, for free!

(UPDATE: The Home Run list is now live!)

Most advice given by the team is about the landlord-tenant relationship and things relating to your tenancy agreement.

-If your landlord has asked for a deposit, make sure you get a certificate of deposit from either the Deposit Protection Service (DPS) or the Tenancy Deposit Scheme (TDS), this protects your right to reclaim your deposit at the end of your tenancy.

-Make sure the landlord has taken an Inventory before you move into the property, this way you cannot be blamed for damage to the property that was present before you arrived. This again protects you from losing your deposit (assuming you don’t trash the place too much).

-If you are concerned about your Tenancy Agreement, go to the Union Advice Centre just around the corner from The Hive near the travel agents and box office, and they can sit down and read through your agreement with you.

Other more general advice runs along the lines of making sure you have all the house’s electric and gas certificates and you know roughly what the bills will come to, declaring yourself council tax exempt, making certain you are happy with security of the house, finding out exactly what your rent covers. Is it just simply covering your renting of a room, or are bills included?

The group also noted that many people are drawn into only looking in the ‘Golden Triangle’ area of Norwich for house and that by doing so people are limiting their options and suggest approaching housing locations with a more open mind.

But the most important piece of advice Street Law said they could give was not to panic and rush into anything. Even if you are very late to get into the housing game there will always be houses available.

That being said, it is best to try and not be too slow about getting housing sorted!

Apart from Tuesday 15 January, Street Law will be in the Hive every day until Friday 18 January to offer any help they can to people with questions about housing.

If you have any questions go along to the Hive and look for Street Law. They are not allowed to give legal advice, but the Union is. Make sure you use these free resources to help yourself out!