propertytalk Live!

The National Union of Students (NUS) has announced that the UUK code - which covered students in England and Wales - has included in it's revision of the code of practice for student accommodation a requirement for universities to return students' deposits within four weeks.

In 2008, NUS and Unipol put forward an Early Day Motion 1557 which called on the Government to require the tenancy deposit protection timescales for the return of students' money to be written into the UUK Approved Code of Practice for Educational Establishments. 

Sport at Durham University has been offered a £500,000 investment to enhance its social outreach work and improve facilities for its world-class athletes.

The grant, from Sport England’s new Sustainable Facilities Fund, will support a £6.7 million project to refurbish and develop facilities at Maiden Castle, the University’s main sports site in Durham City.

Durham University has submitted a planning application for a landmark development in the City.

The high-profile Gateway programme has been planned for land on the edge of the University’s Science Site, on Stockton Road. The plans have been submitted after 18 months of consultation.

The Gateway symbolises an important development for the University and the City, which would see an under-utilised and disjointed University site redeveloped with an environmentally sustainable scheme of high quality.

A warning about bogus landlords advertising on the internet has been issued to students seeking accommodation.

The scam usually involves bargain ads posted on free listing websites in student cities.

Shadow Children’s Secretary Michael Gove has spoken out against £170m of a school refurbishment budget being spent on consultants.

Despite the high consultancy cost, just a handful of schools out of almost 25,000 have seen any improvements or been newly built.

The Freedom of Information figures raise fresh concerns over the efficiency and cost control of the Government’s £50 billion Building Schools for the Future (BSF) programme, which has already suffered from severe delays and escalating costs.

The Deposit Protection Service has warned students not to be caught out by rogue landlords and to make sure that their deposits are legally protected.

The start of the university academic year means thousands of young people are moving out of the family home to live independently for the first time.

While there is no reason that such an exciting step should not be a great experience, The DPS wants to make sure all students know that landlords must register their deposit.

With record numbers of students heading to university this autumn, an increasing number of first years - as well as returning students - will be living in private rented accommodation rather than university halls for the coming year.

While the majority of returning students will have next term’s accommodation all sewn up, email4property.co.uk, offers advice for those who are new to university and still searching for a rented property: