Renting in England

Renting as a student: halls, house shares and your rights

Your rights as a student renter depend on what you rent. In halls, and in private halls signed up to the National Code, you usually have a fixed-term agreement for the academic year. In a private house share you have an assured periodic tenancy, like any other renter since 1 May 2026, though a shared house let to students can be taken back for the next intake if the landlord follows strict rules.

England only · Checked against GOV.UK on 25 October 2026 · Independent, not a government service

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Halls, private halls or a house share

GOV.UK’s guide to renting as a university student sorts student housing into these three. The difference matters most when you want to leave early, or when someone wants you out.

University halls: Usually a common law tenancy or a licence, not an assured tenancy. It normally runs for a fixed period, often to the end of the academic year, and you owe rent for all of it unless the agreement or the university lets you leave early. A university providing halls must belong to a government-approved code of practice, which sets standards and a complaints route, or be licensed by the council.
Private halls (purpose-built student accommodation): Treated like university halls only if the provider has signed up to the National Code. Then it is usually a common law tenancy or licence for a fixed period. If the provider hasn’t signed up, you are likely to have an assured periodic tenancy with the same rights as any private renter. Ask which applies, and check the provider on the National Code’s website.
A private house or flat share: Almost always an assured periodic tenancy since 1 May 2026: no fixed end date, you can leave with two months’ notice, and the landlord needs a legal ground and a court order to make you go. A shared house of three or more students from different households is usually an HMO.

The private halls exemption comes from regulations in force since 1 May 2026, which name the ANUK/Unipol code for larger developments not run by a university. It covers students at a university or college named in the rules, in a building whose landlord or manager is a member.

The student ground: when a landlord can end a house share

The Renters’ Rights Act added ground 4A, so a landlord of a shared student house can get it back for the next year’s students. It is a mandatory ground: if every condition is met, the court must order possession. All of these must apply:

The home is an HMO, or a room or flat within one. A flat let to one student, or to a couple, doesn’t qualify.
Every tenant was a full-time student when the tenancy began, or the landlord reasonably believed they would become one during it.
Before you signed, the landlord told you in writing that they might use this ground.
You signed the agreement no more than six months before the tenancy started. A court can set this aside only in limited cases, where it has let the landlord skip the usual notice.
The landlord gives at least four months’ notice, and the date it gives as the earliest they can go to court falls between 1 June and 30 September.
The landlord intends to let it to students again next time.

A separate ground, ground 4, is for student lets by universities, colleges and some other specified providers, with two weeks’ notice. Either way, if you don’t leave when the notice ends, the landlord needs a court order. How section 8 notices work.

Joint or individual tenancy

Most student house shares are joint tenancies: everyone signs one agreement. Check which you are being offered, because it changes what you owe.

Joint tenancy

You are “jointly and severally liable”: if a housemate doesn’t pay their share, the landlord can ask any of you for it.
Damage one person causes can come out of everyone’s deposit.
Any one of you can end the tenancy for all, with two months’ written notice. Talk to the others before anyone gives it.

Individual tenancies, one per room

You owe only the rent for your own room, and a housemate leaving doesn’t affect your tenancy.

What to check before you sign

The licence

A house with five or more people from more than one household, sharing a kitchen, bathroom or toilet, needs an HMO licence from the council. Many councils also license smaller shared houses. If a house that needs a licence is let without one, you may be able to claim back some rent at a tribunal. Check a property’s licence.

The money

A holding deposit is capped at one week’s rent. You may lose it if you change your mind.
A tenancy deposit is capped at five weeks’ rent if the yearly rent is under £50,000.
No rent before you sign, and no more than one month’s rent in advance after.
Most other fees, such as admin and referencing fees, are banned.

The deposit

On an assured periodic tenancy, the landlord or agent must protect your deposit in a government-approved scheme within 30 days, even if a parent paid it. Check your deposit is protected. That legal duty is for assured tenancies, so in halls or code-member private halls, ask how your deposit is held.

Bills

Ask whether bills are included, and get it in the tenancy documents. If they aren’t, agree who pays what before anyone signs up: on an account in several names, the supplier can chase any of you for the whole debt. What bills you pay when renting.

When to start looking

Shelter says adverts for the next academic year often appear in October or November, and many student tenancies start in the summer holidays or at the start of term. Starting early gives you more choice, but don’t sign in a rush. Signing early isn’t illegal, and if you sign more than six months before the start, the landlord generally can’t use ground 4A against you.

Your students’ union or student advice service may check an agreement for you before you sign.

Can a student house still have a fixed term?

Not a private house share in England. Since 1 May 2026 these are assured periodic tenancies, which roll on with no end date until someone gives notice. Halls, and private halls whose provider has signed up to the National Code, can still use fixed terms, usually for the academic year.

Do I have to leave my student house in the summer?

Not automatically. A rolling tenancy carries on until it is ended. If your group wants to leave, one of you gives two months’ written notice, which ends it for everyone. If your landlord wants you out, they need a valid notice on a legal ground, such as ground 4A, and a court order if you stay.

Shelter warns that without a valid notice the tenancy may not end, and you could stay liable for rent. Being made to leave without a court order is an illegal eviction.

What happens if a housemate drops out?

On a joint tenancy, you and the others are still responsible for the whole rent, including their share, until the tenancy ends or the landlord agrees a replacement. On individual tenancies for each room, their leaving doesn’t change what you owe.

Will I need a guarantor?

Often, yes. Landlords and agents commonly ask students for a UK guarantor, usually a parent or relative. Without one you can use a guarantor company for a fee, but the landlord can’t make you use a particular one. Ask your university too: Unipol notes some act as guarantor for their students.

On a joint tenancy, check whether the guarantee covers only your share or the whole house. What a guarantor signs, and what a guarantor should check.

Can a landlord ask an international student for a year’s rent upfront?

Not on an assured periodic tenancy. A landlord can’t take any rent before you both sign, and after signing the most they can usually ask for is one month’s rent. Being a student, or not having a UK guarantor, is not an exception.

Rent in advance has the rules and the two exceptions.

Do students pay council tax?

Not if everyone in the home is a full-time student: the home is exempt, but you have to apply to the council. Halls are exempt too. If someone in the house isn’t a full-time student, the home gets a bill, though it may get a discount. Where rooms are let on separate tenancies in an HMO, the landlord is usually the one liable.

For council tax, a full-time course usually means one lasting at least an academic year, with at least 24 weeks of study a year and an average of 21 hours a week. Your tenancy may start before your course or end after it, and you can be liable for those weeks. Who pays council tax when renting.

How do I spot a student housing scam?

The classic one is a room or house that isn’t the advertiser’s to let, often cheaper than everything nearby, with pressure to pay a deposit before you have seen it. Don’t pay anything until you have viewed the home in person and checked who owns it.

The Home Office said in March 2025 that reported rental fraud cost renters nearly £9 million across around 5,000 cases in 2024, and that 18 to 29 year olds made 48% of reports. It singled out students and young workers, many of whom look for homes in spring. How to spot and report a rental scam.

Where this comes from

On GOV.UK: renting as a university student, tenancy types, houses in multiple occupation, grounds for possession guidance, how to end your tenancy, rent in advance and deposits, tenancy deposit protection and the Home Office’s rental fraud warning of March 2025. On legislation.gov.uk: ground 4A in the Renters’ Rights Act 2025 and the Student Accommodation Regulations 2026. From Shelter: first-time student renters, how student tenancies end, ending a joint tenancy, mandatory grounds for possession and council tax student exemptions. Also Citizens Advice on sharing a home and on standards in halls, Unipol’s Renters’ Rights Act FAQs for students and Sheffield City Council on student council tax.

This guide covers common private tenancies in England and is general information, not legal advice. Different rules apply in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, and to lodgers, social housing and some specialist accommodation. RenterCheck is independent and not connected with the government.

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