A MAJOR UK student accommodation provider is offering students a 50 per cent rent discount for four weeks, in response to government lockdown measures to tackle the coronavirus pandemic.
Unite Students, which describes itself as the UK's largest owner, manager and developer of purpose-built student accommodation, says eligible students will be able to apply for a discount of 50% of their rent for a total of four weeks, to be credited in March.
It added that, in addition, eligible students would be given a four-week complimentary extension of their tenancy agreement at the end of the academic third term to extend their stay into the summer “for their own enjoyment and convenience”.
The company said: “All Unite Student properties across the country remain open and today provide homes for thousands of students. However, this package provides support to students who have been asked by the Government to remain at home and comes on top of the additional safety measures and wellbeing support Unite Students has put in place following the outbreak of the pandemic last year.”
READ MORE: Coronavirus: Ian McConnell: Time Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak make amends for their shortcomings
Richard Smith, chief executive of Unite Students, said: “We recognise that this is again a particularly challenging time for all students which is why their health, safety and security has been our priority since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic.
“We are now providing a 50% rent discount for a four-week period and an additional complimentary four-week contract extension at no extra charge, in recognition of the challenges and disruption that students face following the Government’s latest lockdown announcement. We feel this is the right thing to do."
He added: "Working through this decision has had its challenges as there are a range of varying circumstances to consider in different parts of the country and across different universities."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here