Living In College

When you move into college you’ll soon realise that it’s an experience like no other. You’ll be living closely among friends, have all your meals cooked for you (in catered accommodation!), and never be far from a bar or coffee shop. If you have any problems or queries about your college accommodation, it’s best to try and solve them within your college. We have some suggestions below on how to go about this.

Though your rights are different to someone living in privately rented accommodation, you still have the right to have any repairs to your room fixed. We would advise you to follow the following procedure:

• You should always report any issues you experience to your college. We would suggest you contact reception in the first instance and ask them how to go about reporting a problem. We would always suggest that you follow any verbal conversation with a confirmation email, so that you have a record of raising the issue.
• If the issue is not resolved then try contacting the support staff of your college and make sure that records are kept of any issues that are raised and outcomes agreed.
• If you continue to experience issues then you will need to raise these with your college and should be advised as to how to escalate any unresolved issues through the college system.
• If you still feel dissatisfied with the outcome, you could consider using Durham University's Complaints Procedure to make a formal complaint. We would suggest that you contact us for further support and guidance.
• Durham is a member of the UUK Accommodation Code and is required to submit an audit every three years confirming compliance. This can be a useful document to refer to if you decide to submit a formal complaint to the University about problems with your college accommodation. You can find the most up-to-date version of the code on this page of the University website.

When packing to move out of college, you may have some items you no longer want (or which just won’t fit in the car home…). The University has a Green Move Out scheme to make sure any unwanted items are responsibly disposed of. You can find out more information about the scheme here.

The Advice Service can assist you with any questions you may have, as well as with any other issues you may be experiencing. Please contact us to discuss any issues.