Affordable Housing scheme

Find out about our Affordable Housing scheme, part of various initiatives to support our students in the cost-of-living crisis.

The University of Sussex is offering an Affordable Housing scheme for academic year 2024-25. It provides a capped rent rate for eligible students who qualify for the Sussex Bursary. This means that the maximum amount of rent eligible students will have to pay is £125 per week.

Eligibility criteria

To be eligible for the rent cap, all the conditions below must be satisfied, you must:

be a new, full-time undergraduate student starting your first year of study at Sussex in September 2024
have been assessed as a Home student for fees purposes
have made Sussex your firm/first choice of study
apply for accommodation at the University before 30th June 2024
have an assessed household income of less than £25K per annum.

Accommodation

If you choose to apply for Affordable Housing, you will be allocated a room at random in the following accommodation:

Brighthelm
Lewes Court
Kings Road
Norwich House
Stanmer Court
University-managed houses (off campus)
East Slope (town houses)
Northfield.

Please note that the following accommodation is not included in the Affordable Housing scheme. No rooms will be allocated in:

Swanborough
East Slope (ensuite).

Please note, that if you have a disability or long term health condition you can still make a request for reasonable adjustments in accommodation that meets your needs. This is separate to any application made under the Affordable Housing scheme.

The University reserves the right to alter which accommodation is included within the Affordable Housing Scheme from time to time without prior notification.

Application process

You can apply for Affordable Housing when you apply for accommodation on the Housing Portal. When we receive your application, we will check that you have met the eligibility criteria.

If you have met the eligibility criteria, you will be allocated a room at random in accommodation which is included in the Affordable Housing scheme (see list above). You will not be able to express a preference for a room allocation.

If you do not meet the eligibility criteria, we will let you know and ask if you would like to express a preference for your room allocation at the uncapped rent rate.

After your room has been allocated, you will receive an offer letter with details of your accommodation. The offer letter will state the standard rent for your accommodation for the length of your contract.

Once this confirmation is received, a credit will be made to your student account if you have been allocated a room where the standard rent is more than £125 per week. The credit will be equal to the difference between the capped rent of £125 and the standard rent for your allocated room. This might not happen until after term has started but will then be back dated to the start date of your Accommodation Licence Agreement. The credit will only be applied against rent payments and cannot be used for any other purpose.

If we do not get confirmation that you are in receipt of a Sussex Bursary, you will not be entitled to the rent cap. If you have already accepted an offer of accommodation, the rent will be charged at the full standard amount for that accommodation and will not be capped. The maximum rent you could be charged is £208.60 per week (rate for a Northfield ensuite room).

No other University of Sussex rent subsidy and/or allowance will be applied to an Affordable Housing room.

Withdrawal or changes to accommodation

If you wanted to swap rooms into accommodation which is not included in the Affordable Housing scheme, for example from a room in Lewes Court to a room in Swanborough, you would not be entitled to the rent cap and would be liable for the full standard rent for the new room. You would forfeit any rent credit from the date of the swap.

If you wanted to swap to another room in accommodation which is included in the Affordable Housing scheme, for example from a room in Lewes Court to a room in Brighthelm, you would not lose the rent cap

If for any reason you are eligible for a partial rent rebate, then the value of any rebate given to you will be based on your capped rent and not the full standard rent.

If you have received a rent credit and withdraw from the University, or your Accommodation Licence is terminated for any reason, then you will still be liable for rent in line with the terms of the Licence, although the credit would continue to be applied to the rent.

Contact

If you have any queries, email the Housing Team at housing@sussex.ac.uk.