Frequently Asked Questions

Your accommodation will be heated to a target temperature of 19 to 21°C from the start of October until the end of April. These dates may shift slightly if it's unusually hot or cold.

It can take up to 24 hours from checking in to receiving your inventory email. If you still haven't received your inventory after this time, please contact us: 

• accommodation@york.ac.uk
• +44 (0)1904 322165

Advertise your room for a swap on our accommodation adverts page. 

Find out how you can report maintenance issues. There's different methods depending on the issue and where you are located on campus. 

Find out about different payment methods.

Your rent is collected in 3 instalments, at the end of October, January and April. You can see what your rent instalments are on your accommodation portal.

You will need to submit your accommodation application on our website. Once you have made the University of York your Firm or Insurance choice on UCAS track you will need to wait up to 48 hours before being able to apply for accommodation.

Apply for accommodation

Yes you will need to be applying as a full time student at York to apply for our accommodation. Part time students are not eligible for the council tax exemption which covers our accommodation.

• Clear your browser history and close all of your browsers, then try again. This usually clears any issues with the application. 
• Ensure you have selected a minimum of 7 room preferences (maximum 4 ensuite), and you don’t have any filters enabled so you can see all of the options. 
• Try opening the application system web page in a different browser, e.g. if you are using Safari, try using Google Chrome instead.

If you are still having issues with submitting your accommodation application, please contact us at accommodation@york.ac.uk.

When applying for accommodation you need to select seven preferences before you can submit your application. Out of the seven, a maximum of four ensuite rooms can be selected, leaving you to also choose three shared bathroom options. If you're hoping to be allocated an ensuite room, we'd suggest that you put the three shared bathroom options towards the end of your preference list. The order of preference is 1-7, 1 being your first choice and 7 being your last choice.

When you submit your accommodation application you will have the chance to include details on what your additional requirements are, what room type you feel you need and to upload supporting medical evidence. If we need more information from you, we will be in touch to discuss this further.

If you are struggling to upload documents to your accommodation application, please submit the application as normal, including any comments you want us to see, and send your documents to us as an email attachment instead at accommodation@york.ac.uk.

Unfortunately, we do not offer single gender accommodation at the University of York.

Yes, if you're completing an Additional requirements Supporting Evidence Form, it's no problem to complete it by hand and scan it in to attach to your accommodation application.

Yes, everyone who stays in catered accommodation has access to a kitchen too. Catering at the University means you get your breakfast and evening meal, Monday to Friday in semester time included in the price of your room. You may want to make your own lunch and snacks in your kitchen.

Yes, there's always plenty of choice at our catering outlets for different dietary requirements. If you're looking at catered accommodation, we'd recommend contacting our catering team on ycl-catering@york.ac.uk to check you're happy with the availability before applying for catered accommodation.

Halal food menus are available at all of our 'call to order' menu outlets, we also offer halal menus for our catered accommodation and college night meal sites. If you have a different dietary requirement, we'd recommend contacting our catering team on ycl-catering@york.ac.uk to check you're happy with the availability before applying for catered accommodation. See our web page: About our food. 

Breakfast is served 8am to 10.30am, dinner is served 5pm to 7.15pm.

• Our catered accommodation will be in Derwent, James and Vanbrugh Colleges, this includes breakfast and evening meals, Monday to Friday, in Semester time only. You can find more information on catered accommodation here.
• If you're a first year student, our Colleges on Campus East include a Weekly College Meal. You'll have dinner on campus at the Piazza restaurant one evening each week, with other students who live in your College. You can find more information on the weekly college meal here.
• If you do select a Catered or Weekly College meal, our prices are inclusive of that. Whether you select Catering or the Weekly College Meal.

Rent instalments are taken on the following dates for the 2024-25 academic year:

• 31 October 2024
• 31 January 2025
• 30 April 2025
  

For further information on payments, visit our Accommodation Payments web page.

Yes, you're more than welcome to bring house plants to your room / accommodation.

We do not recommend personal kitchen appliances to be brought onto campus. In your kitchen, you'll be provided with all of the essentials such as a fridge, freezer, microwave, kettle and toaster.

Unless you have specific needs that require you to store medication in a cool environment, we do not allow mini fridges to be brought on to campus and be used in your room. Explore our web page: New Undergraduates - What to bring. 

Unless you have specific needs that require assistance from a dog that's registered with a charitable organisation affiliated to Assistance Dogs UK, we are unfortunately unable to give permission for animals, including cats and dogs to be brought onto campus accommodation.

Yes, we have a range of rooms available to those with accessibility needs. You'll just need to tell us about any access needs you have when you apply for accommodation. Find out more on our Additional Requirements web page. 

It depends, some of our rooms have single beds and some have 3/4 or a small double bed. If you look up the specific room you're interested in on our website it will specify what size the bed is.

All of our accommodation is heated, it is turned off once the weather warms up in spring. We hope you're comfortable in your room, but it's always nice to have a blanket or big hoodie to hand for extra cosiness. Portable heaters aren't allowed.

We'd recommend you consider if you'd like ensuite or shared bathroom, catered or self-catered, and which campus you'd like to be on first. Then use our helpful College, rooms and prices web page to compare the 2024/25 room option availability.

Vacuum cleaners are provided but we do not provide irons or ironing boards, unless they're left behind by previous tenants. You might want to split the cost and purchase these with your flat mates if you don't find them in your kitchen cupboard after moving in.

Studios are furnished similarly to single-occupancy bedrooms in shared flats, but you will have exclusive use of your own kitchen and bathroom.

There's a Nisa on both Campus West and Campus East. The number 6 bus takes you to Clifton Moor from Campus East where there's lots of shops such as a Tesco Extra, B&M and Home Bargains. You can cycle or walk to Aldi in Fulford or Foss Islands which has a number of supermarkets on it too (Lidl, Waitrose and Morrisons). It's always an option to have your shopping delivered on campus too.

We don't have any quiet/alcohol free accommodation, however we do have a sober society and plenty of students on campus don't drink.