Our accommodation guarantee for care leavers and estranged students

If you have accepted either a firm or insurance place at York and apply for University accommodation by 31 July, we guarantee you an offer of a room owned, managed or approved by the University. You'll be able to stay in University accommodation for 365 days of the year should you need to.

• Things to consider
• Colleges, room and prices
• How to apply for university accommodation

Just let us know

The sooner we know that you're a registered care leaver or an estranged student, the better we'll be able to help. Even if you're making a late application, let us know your situation as soon as possible.

You can let us know about your situation in the supporting comments section of your accommodation application. You can also get in touch via email at accommodation@york.ac.uk or by phone on +44 (0)1904 322165.

Picking a let length

Our 40 and 44-week lets cover both the Easter and Christmas vacation while our 50-week lets cover summer too. Even If you want to live in York over the summer, you can still include shorter let lengths in your preferences. You can apply to live on campus for the summer nearer the time. 

Many students will move into private sector accommodation for their second year. As you won't know what your plans are yet, we'd advise you to select a 40 or 44-week let length to keep your options open. We suggest you don't choose a 38-week let length as this would mean moving your belongings out of your room during Easter. 

We understand you may require additional information to help make your accommodation choices and are happy to discuss individual requirements.

Deferring your advance payment

We ask for a £200 advance payment when you accept your room. If you'll struggle to pay for this, simply let us know in the supporting comments section when you apply for accommodation. We can defer the payment until your first term's rent is due in October.

Accommodation after first year 

Private sector accommodation

After your first year, you may want to rent shared private sector accommodation with your friends. Contracts for these tenancies normally start in July and require a UK based rent guarantor.

If you don’t have a UK based guarantor, the University will either act as your guarantor through the Rent Guarantee Scheme, or cover the administration fee charged by the guarantor service. 

University accommodation

If you decide you'd like to live on campus again after your first year, we open applications for continuing students in November each year. You can apply as an individual, or as a group with friends.

Summer accommodation