Avon Way House, Colchester

Unfortunately, they can only accept full-time students. They use your University course as an indicator as to whether you are exempt from paying Council Tax. Therefore, they strongly recommend that you check your position with your University or College before making a booking for Avon Way House with us, as you may find yourself liable to Council Tax payments if your course does not qualify you.

The property student operates to conform with the ANUK National Code of Standards for Student Accommodation which is designed to regulate landlords to ensure the delivery of a distinct set of standards. Accreditation schemes are voluntary schemes that good landlords join to demonstrate that they provide good quality accommodation.

The National Code of Standards is fully supported by the NUS who are a key stakeholder and have representation on the management and complaints procedures of the Code. The Code will act as a student accommodation quality guide and it is recommended that if you have a choice, always rent Avon Way House from a trusted landlord who has joined the Code.

The property student secures your deposit with either the Deposit Protection Service (DPS) or Letting Protection Service (LPS) and they will hold your payment until the end of your stay at Avon Way House with us.

You will receive an e-mail from DPS/LPS to confirm that the money has been secured with them. You will also be provided with a Deposit ID and a Repayment ID. This is information you will need in order to claim your deposit back at the end of your stay.

At the end of your stay with us, you will be invited to organise a check out inspection of your flat/room with the Hospitality Team on site. This is your opportunity to discuss with the team any damages and agree the associated charges if applicable. Don’t worry if you are unable to attend a check out inspection, their fast-track check out option means the flat inspection will be conducted in your absence!

the property student will then instruct the DPS/LPS to pay the Security Deposit to your nominated bank account, less any agreed charges. This is when your Deposit ID and Repayment ID will be required.

In the event that charges cannot be agreed, DPS/LPS will offer an arbitration service.

the property student instruct the DPS/LPS to release your deposit (subject to any outstanding rent or check out charges).
the property student will email you within 28 days of your check out to confirm step 1 is complete and to advise of the next action you should take.
On receipt of their instruction, the DPS/LPS will contact you promptly by email/post to advise you to log on to their website to reclaim/release your deposit.
You will arrange with the DPS/LPS where and how you wish for the money to be paid. Please note it can take up to 10 calendar days for the DPS/LPS to repay this money to you (international bank transfers may take longer).

Both of these scenarios may be possible at some of Avon Way House's locations. Please contact the Hospitality Team directly to discuss your requirements.

Your contract is a legally binding document. Please make sure you have read and understood the terms and are willing to comply throughout your stay. If you are unsure about anything outlined in your contract, ask for help from someone more experienced or contact them directly with any queries.

Please note that you will not be able to pull out of your contract with them unless you are able to find a replacement tenant.

You must notify them immediately if your student status changes or you leave University. You will still be responsible for the rent until you or the property student are able to find a replacement tenant for your accommodation.

There is a charge of £50 to make changes or cancel a signed accommodation contract, for example changing your guarantor details.

A guarantor is a person, often a parent or guardian, who is willing to pay your rent if you are unable to do so. Your guarantor must be a financially stable, UK resident and over the age of 25.

A guarantor will be required to sign a copy of your offer and understand their liabilities. If you have chosen to use a guarantor, your booking with them will not be complete until they have signed the necessary documentation and they have confirmed that your booking with them is complete.

You may not know anybody in the UK who would be willing to act as your guarantor. There are services in the UK that can offer guarantors. They recommend Housing Hand. However, this service does charge. They do not add any additional charges for using them. Click here for more information.

If you do not wish to use Housing Hand and do not have a guarantor in the UK, you will be required to select an alternate payment instalment of either 1 Full advanced payment or 2 equal half yearly payments.

If your location has parking facilities, these can be booked on a first come, first served basis and will be subject to an additional agreement and charges. They recommend that you book early to avoid disappointment. Please speak directly with your Hospitality Team on site.

Yes – visitors can park on site if your accommodation has availability. This should be arranged in advance with your Hospitality Team.

Every the property student property has an assigned, dedicated team of staff who are experienced and trained in the day-to-day operation and management of student accommodation. Their priority is the well-being and safety of all students. Their team can advise students on a wide range of issues such as dealing with homesickness and flat conflicts.

The team often consists of a Hospitality Manager, Hospitality Assistant, Facilities Assistant and a Housekeeper. Together, they will look after you for the duration of your stay and will be introduced to you on your arrival at your location.

Students living in their accommodation are encouraged to apply for Student Warden positions. Student Wardens are trained by the Hospitality Team to provide additional, out-of-hours support to residents.

All of their locations operate secure key/fob access systems to gain entry into the building, flats and bedrooms. All properties are equipped with CCTV monitoring equipment for your safety, some also have gated grounds and car parks.

Smoking anywhere in the property student accommodation is forbidden, including individual bedrooms. they do, however have designated smoking areas which your Hospitality Team can advise the location of.

A TV license is provided where there is a TV in the shared area of the accommodation. You will require a TV Licence if you watch/record live TV on any channel or download/watch BBC programmes on demand on BBC iPlayer. This applies to any other TV (including smart TVs), laptops, tablets, mobile phones, games consoles, digital boxes, DVD/VHS recorders etc. This also applies however you receive the programmes, whether via an aerial, satellite, cable or streaming through the internet.

The property student provide either a washer/dryer in your flat or coin operated laundry facilities within your building.

In a handy fashion, the property student have created a list to give you some idea of the useful (and often forgotten) items you may want to bring with you when moving into your new accommodation. They recommend you print this out and use it as a check list to help you pack!

The property student does not provide insurance for a student’s personal possessions. You should ensure that you have adequate cover for your stay as a student at their accommodation. Please don’t forget to insure high-price items such as laptops, iPads and bicycles!

No – you are welcome to stay during these periods and will have complete access to your room!

Pets of any description are not permitted within any of their properties. However, if you require a guide dog, these arrangements will need to be made with the Hospitality Team at your location in advance.

1 Installment Option
– Due 1st August 2023

3 Installment Option
– Due 1st September 2023
– Due 1st January 2024
– Due 1st April 2024

10 Installment Option
– Due monthly commencing on 1st September 2023 for 10 months, with 1st June 2024 being the last payment date

1 Installment Option
– Due 1st January 2024

3 Installment Option
– Due 1st January 2024
– Due 1st April 2024
– Due 1st September 2024

10 Installment Option
– Due monthly commencing on 1st January 2024 for 10 months, with 1st October 2024 being the last payment date

1 Installment Option
– Due 1st August 2024

3 Installment Option
– Due 1st September 2024
– Due 1st January 2025
– Due 1st April 2025

10 Installment Option
– Due monthly commencing on 1st September 2024 for 10 months, with 1st June 2025 being the last payment date

Utility Fee – £295.00; where this is applicable, it is a one-off advance payment towards utility charges for the year. If it is to be charged, it will show on your tenancy agreement.
Arrears Charge – 3% above the Barclays plc base rate. if they need to write to you because your student account falls into an unauthorised arrears position, arrears charges and interest may be applied to your account. Full details can be found in the terms and conditions and in their Arrears Policy.
Administration Fee – £50.00; if they have to arrange for work to be carried out as a result of you not complying with the terms and conditions, then they shall charge an administration fee.
Lost Key Charge – £10 per key
Lock out service – £50
Car parking – if car parking is available at your chosen location, this will be subject to an additional agreement and charges, specific to your location.
Cheque Cancellation – A bank charge will be applied to you if they have to cancel a cheque and re-issue a payment to cover the cancellation fee.

Please do not worry if your student loan is not anticipated to reach your account in time to meet your rent payment date. You can request to delay your rent payment (please see the “defer your payment” section for more).

You can log in to their student portal here, select your account details and make a payment using a debit/credit card.
You can visit the Hospitality Office at your location and make a payment using a debit/credit card.
You can set up a direct debit. This can be done as part of the online booking process, or by downloading a direct debit form to be completed. (Please note that the deadline for submitting these details for the 2020/21 academic year is 10 days before your first payment is due).

No – rent and any other payments must be completed before your check-in. The only exception is if you have requested and received confirmation that your request to defer your rent payment has been approved.

Unfortunately, their check-in is not 24-hours and therefore it is vital you check with your Hospitality Team to confirm that you can gain access to your accommodation.

If you wish to check-in on the day, please contact the Hospitality Team to arrange an appointment prior to arrival.

If your location has a car park, this will be made available for unloading your possessions. Please note that the length of stay may be restricted in accordance with the number of parking bays available.

This may be possible at some locations but you should speak to your dedicated Hospitality Team in the first instance to discuss your requirements.

Please ensure that all documentation requested is fully signed and returned to us. All payments due must be made and please provide a copy of your student loan schedule where applicable.
Failure to complete and return the necessary documents or payments will inevitably cause you and others a delay when checking in.

Should you wish to move rooms when you arrive to move in, you must contact your on-site Hospitality Team. Wherever possible, they will try to accommodate you. If you have signed your tenancy agreement, a charge of £75.00 will apply and must be paid prior to moving rooms. Please note that they cannot guarantee that all requests will be granted.

When the time comes to vacate your student accommodation, the property student will issue you with instructions on the moving out procedures, arranging a check-out inspection and advise on how your security deposit will be returned to you if applicable.

Yes – however you must ensure that any personalisation of your room does not result in any payable damage. You are responsible for ensuring that you leave your room and flat in the same condition that it was when you moved in.

On move in day, you will be asked to fill out and return a ‘check-in inspection record’ to note the condition of your room within 48 hours of moving in. Subsequently, the Hospitality Team will carry out room and flat inspections at the end of your contract. They would advise you to make an appointment for inspection well in advance.

Fridges are not permitted in bedrooms. A large fridge is provided in your flat kitchen to store chilled foods. If you have a medical condition which requires you to have a fridge in your room, evidence of this must be provided for the Hospitality Manager.

No – laundry facilities are provided at every location.

It is a student’s responsibility to clean their room. As a flat, students are jointly responsible for cleaning their flat. The stairs and hallways outside the flats (communal areas) are cleaned on a regular basis by company cleaners. Some residences can offer an additional cleaning service for an agreed fee. At the end of the tenancy flats must be returned in good condition or additional charges may be levied.

Yes – but they do ask that you keep the noise to a minimum and be considerate of neighbours.

The guest rules and restrictions can be found in your accommodation contact and terms and conditions.

No – however, the Hospitality Team will be happy to help by providing the details for local hotels.

No, bedding is not supplied.

Your post will either be delivered directly to your flat or to a nominated post box. This differs depending on the building you are living in, so please take the time to make yourself aware of the process at your accommodation. The Hospitality Team will usually take delivery of parcels and larger items on your behalf, which will be stored in the parcel lockers adjacent to reception. Parcels can be collected during working hours (Monday-Friday 09:00- 17:30) from reception and you are urged to collect your parcels as soon as possible. The property student reserves the right to dispose of parcels which are not collected within a reasonable time. The property student cannot accept any responsibility for items that are lost or damaged.

All the properties are non-smoking residences. Smoking areas are residence-specific, so please contact your Hospitality Team to check where smoking is permitted. As a general rule, there is no smoking in any shared areas, e.g. kitchen/lounges, common rooms, corridors, stairwells, lifts or office areas. Please be aware that it is also forbidden to smoke in your bedroom.

Although internet arrangements vary by residence, all of their properties have high-speed internet connections available.

Please log onto their portal to raise any issues you may be having with your room, property or general things you feel need to be fixed or improved.

Once you have selected your fault from the menu, you will be directed to a maintenance form. Please take the time to fill in the form carefully and provide plenty of detail. The more information you provide them with, the easier it will be for their providers to identify the problem and the action needed.

For example, if your fridge isn’t working try to tell them exactly what is broken. “The fridge is not receiving any power” is a much more informative fault report than “The fridge is broken”.

After filling in the form, there are two drop-down menus for you to select before you submit the fault. The first of these is selecting the “priority” of your fault.
“Priority” gives their staff an indication as to how urgent you feel the fault is. There are three levels of priority to select, ranging from emergency level (which should be given attention within 24 hours) to insignificant faults that can be resolved at “anytime reasonable.”
Please note that the priority you set is simply to give an indication to the member of staff dealing with the fault and does not guarantee the fault will be solved within that time frame.

The final drop-down menu allows you to select from a list of possible common areas. Use this menu if your fault is not located within your own bedroom and is instead located within one of the shared areas of your accommodation. For example, if an electricity socket is broken in your lounge or the tiles are damaged in the kitchen, you would select this option.

Important: In cases where a fault is located in a common area, please check with the other tenants who share the area before reporting a fault. You should submit one fault report per fault – if there is a common area fault, please agree amongst yourselves which tenant reports the issue. Submitting duplicate faults from different tenants may slow down the repair process.

Once you have finished entering the details of your fault, click the “create” button to log your fault with their staff. Once completed, you will be taken to the summary page showing that your fault has now been submitted successfully.

Their site staff will now be able to see your submitted fault and can begin taking the necessary steps to solve your problem.

Your personal welcome page shows all faults you have submitted to their staff. After reporting a new fault, you will see it added to your list of “outstanding activities.” Clicking on a fault from the list will let you view the summary of the fault’s details.

The following outlines the important status updates to be aware of:

Reported. This means your fault has been sent to staff and will be reviewed and dealt with as soon as possible.
In Progress. This means your fault has been reviewed and sent to a provider. A provider is either a member of the in-house maintenance team or a contractor who will be responsible for repairing your fault.
Waiting for Approval. This means your fault has reviewed by the provider and a cost for the repair given. The provider is waiting for confirmation from the staff that the cost of the repair is correct.
Approved. This means the cost of your fault has been reviewed and the staff member in charge has approved your fault for repair. The provider assigned to your fault should now be ready to resolve the issue.
Job Finished. The provider has completed the repair of your fault and all that remains is for the appropriate staff member to check that the job is satisfactory.
Completed. Your fault has been fully resolved.
Please contact a member of the site staff directly if you have any updates you would like to make to your reported fault, or if the fault has not been resolved properly even though the status has been marked as “job finished”.

Completed faults will display on your welcome page under the heading “completed activities.” A completed fault will show for 30 days.

As a resident in their property student properties, your opinions are important to them. When one of your faults has been resolved, they would love to hear your feedback on the process to ensure they can make it even smoother in future! To give feedback, you can email the Hospitality Team directly. As always, they look forward to hearing from you.

If you are still having problems with the system or reporting your faults, click the “help” button in the top right hand of the screen. The help page provides a contact e-mail address for help and support with using Room Service.

Any feedback on the usability of the system is also warmly received.

On the help page, you will find a list of relevant fees and service charges for a variety of faults and damages. This is taken directly from your tenancy agreement.

It is important to be aware that students will not be charged for faults reported to their staff unless the fault is determined to be caused directly by the actions of the tenant, either through misuse or negligence.

Wi-Fi is provided at all of their student locations. The minimum base service network is 10Mbs, a low latency service which is more than adequate for most tenants’ general internet, video streaming and multiplayer gaming.

If you are a more intensive user, most locations offer the option to increase the internet bandwidth. Please be aware that this will attract an additional charge, levied by the internet provider. Full details of the increased speeds available at your location will be presented to you online before you commit to increasing the speed and making payment.

Wi-Fi is provided pervasively and is available throughout. There is however, a restriction of 5 devices that can be connected at any one time onto the Wi-Fi network for each tenant.

The property student makes no charge for the base level, unlimited, standard Wi-Fi for the entire length of your tenancy. If you take advantage of the Wi-Fi upgrade, charges for this will be made clear to you via the internet portal.

Any tenant found to be misusing or abusing the use of the property student may be blocked from further usage. At the property student, they retain the right to withdraw internet usage at any time should it be deemed necessary.

Council Tax is set by local authorities in England, Scotland and Wales to pay for local services that they provide, such as rubbish collection, the police and the fire brigade.

Most students studying a full-time course do not have to pay Council Tax, but some do. It is worth taking time to check that you qualify for exemption. Guidance on whether you are exempt or not can be found by visiting this link. they strongly recommend that you check with your University and/or local council as to the exact requirements.

the property student will not charge Council Tax to any student who is exempt. If you do not qualify for exemption status, the property student will pass on the appropriate charge as raised by the council. It is very important that you check your status before you sign a contract with them.

Usually, the admissions office at your University/College/Institution will provide you with a Council Tax Exemption Certificate. The property student may require a copy of this 7 days after you enrol on your course.

You will be required to pay the Council Tax charge on the property you are staying in.

If you are in attendance at a University/College/Institution in the UK and your course is classed as full-time, you are usually exempt from paying Council Tax. Aforementioned, not all courses qualify, so please do check this at the UK Council for International Student Affairs (UKCISA).