Accommodation

If you have any questions about accommodation or any of the College facilities, feel free to contact the JCR Green, Accommodation and Facilities Officer.

E-Guest Sign-in

To sign in guests electronically, log in here. Students at Corpus before the 2016/17 academic year will have to first sign up here.

Leases

Before arriving in Cambridge, you are advised to read the generic tenancy agreement, as there is often not much time to look through it before you have to sign it in the Porters’ Lodge in order to collect your room keys.

General rules

As detailed in the College Rules, you are not allowed to:

  • Keep any pets,
  • Store cycles in your room,
  • Cook in your room,
  • Make noise that can be heard outside of your room and potentially cause disturbance to others,
  • Tamper with any fire safety equipment,
  • Make copies of your room keys,
  • Climb out of windows or walk on roof areas,
  • Erect external washing lines or hang items out of your windows,
  • Use fairy lights, tea lights, candles, oil or incense burners or any other item that burns with a naked flame,
  • Obstruct fire escapes,
  • Smoke in any room or communal area.

ANUK

The College is registered with and are members of the ANUK Code of Practice, which covers the provision of student accommodation. This national code is voluntary and those who join do so as part of their commitment to providing students with a first-class housing service. Effectively, the code acts as a student accommodation quality guide, which gives us the following advantages:

  • Best practice in day-to-day management is supported and recognised.
  • Your tenancy agreement is clearly written, stating what you are paying for and how much your rent is, with reasonable terms and no hidden costs.
  • Your accommodation will be fully prepared for you when you arrive to take up residence.
  • Your accommodation meets a set of nationally recognised standards in respect to services, furniture and fittings.
  • Repairs and maintenance are carried out within agreed timescales.
  • Your building will meet with, and exceed, the required health and safety standards.
  • You will know what your deposit is for and it will be returned to you promptly when you graduate, or you will be given a clear explanation of why a deduction has been made.
  • You will be given information to explain what management routines are followed in the buildings.
  • There is a set and accountable procedure for dealing with any disputes or complaints.

If you have any questions about the ANUK Code of Practice, you should contact the College Treasurer and Second Bursar.

Deposits

When you take up residence within College accommodation for the first time, you will have to pay a deposit of ?150 via your College account. This will be used by College to repair any damage made to the fixtures and fittings of your room at the end of the tenancy agreement. The deposit will also be used to replace any items missing from the accommodation at the end of the tenancy period. Following graduation, the deposit may be used to clear any outstanding balance on the your College account. The deposit will be held in the College’s deposit account and any interest from the deposit account will be credited to the College’s general hardship and access account.

Fixtures and fittings

To accurately record the contents of a room and the state of repair of its fixtures and fittings, the following process will be conducted each academic year:

  1. Thorough room inspections will be carried out by the College Accommodation Officer, prior to the beginning of the tenancy agreement. Any missing items and any damage to the fixtures and fittings of each room will be recorded in the College’s Room Inventory Database.
  2. A printed copy of the Room Inventory and a Room Condition Report Form will be left in your room for your arrival.
  3. You should fully and accurately complete the Room Condition Report Form, noting any damage or missing items that have not already been recorded by College on the Room Inventory.
  4. You should sign the Room Condition Report Form to agree that all the damage to the fixtures and fittings of a room and any missing items have now been recorded (either on the Room Inventory or on the Room Condition Report Form).
  5. You should return the Room Condition Report Form to the College Accommodation Officer by the end of the first week of Full Term.
  6. The College Accommodation Officer will update the Room Inventory Database with the information from the Room Condition Report Form. The Room Inventory Database will then be taken as being correct up until the beginning of Michaelmas Term.
  7. Before and after vacation periods less vigorous room inspections will be carried out by the College Accommodation Officer and the housekeeping staff to record in the Room Inventory Database any damage that has been caused by Conference guests etc, so that this is not attributed to you.
  8. On your return following a vacation, you should inform the College Accommodation Officer of any damage done to or items that have gone missing from the room during the vacation period.
  9. At the end of the room lease, the College Accommodation Officer will carry out a final thorough room inspection, recording any new damage to the fixtures and fittings of the room and any newly missing items.
  10. The current state of the room will be compared to the Room Inventory Database. The Senior Tutor and Treasurer and Second Bursar will then be informed of any damage that has occurred and any items that have gone missing since the beginning of Michaelmas Term.
  11. The information collected during this final room inspection will be added to the Room Inventory Database in preparation for the next academic year.

Charges

You will be charged for items missing from your room at the end of your tenancy period and for clearly visible damage that has occurred during the tenancy period. General wear and tear will not be chargeable.

The guidelines for charges are as follows:

  • Missing items are charged at replacement cost (e.g. bins are ?6 and lamps are ?12),
  • Damaged items are charged at a standard rate of ?50 (this covers damage to curtains, chairs, wardrobe doors, carpet stains, carpet burns etc.),
  • Minor damage from blue tack or pins is charged at ?20,
  • Major damage from blue tack or pins which requires a wall or ceiling repaint is charged at ?50,
  • Extensive room damage will be assessed on a case by case basis

Deductions from the deposit

The Senior Tutor and Treasurer and Second Bursar will review and approve the College Accommodation Officer’s findings of damage that has occurred to the fixtures and fittings and items that have gone missing from your room during the room tenancy period. Once these findings have been approved, the information will be passed on to the Finance Office to make appropriate deductions from your deposit. You will be notified of any charges you have incurred via your final College bill of the academic year.

If you are continuing study in the following academic year, deductions will be charged to your College account in order to maintain the full balance of the deposit whilst you remain a member of College. If you are graduating, deductions will be made directly from your deposit.

Students wishing to query or appeal against a deduction from their deposit should contact the College Treasurer and Second Bursar.

Returning the deposit

The remaining balance of your deposit will be returned to you following graduation via bank transfer. For students continuing study in the following academic year, the balance of the deposit will therefore be transferred to any future tenancy.

The full deposit may not be returned if there are outstanding sums payable on your College account. Conversely, if the College account is in credit, the reimbursement will include such sums to be refunded.

The Head Housekeeper and Dean can impose extra charges for damage and breakages in your room and in common areas, breaches of College rules, inappropriate behaviour etc. These fines and charges are separate from the deposit. Should damage occur to the fixtures and fittings of your room and be notified to the Head Housekeeper and/or Dean during term time, the charge for this will be added to your College account immediately. This ensures that the repair or replacement of the damaged item can occur swiftly to return the room to good order. It also ensures that the damage is fully recorded in the Room Inventory Database so that you are not charged again from your deposit at the end of the academic year.

Guests

There are a few rooms in College that can be used as guest accommodation. The cost of a guest room is ?45.00 per night (correct as of Sept 2018), which does not include breakfast! To book a guest room, please email the Head Porter or mailto:kms38@corpus.cam.ac.uk. Guests staying in a guest room must vacate their accommodation by 9.30am.

You may also have guests to stay in your own room, providing that you have signed them in at the Porters’ Lodge in case there is a fire. Under the College Rules, you may only have a guest for up to three nights in any given week and for a total of up to seven nights in any term. To help your guests sleep comfortably, you can book a campbed from the JCR Committee. Unfortunately the JCR cannot supply bed linen, so you may want to advise your guest to bring a sleeping bag.

Heating

The College will supply “background heating” in the winter months. “Background Heating”? shall be defined as the heating provided from 5th October to 19th April from 6.30am to 9.30am and from 5pm to 11pm seven days a week. These heating hours can be extended for a minimal charge per additional hour, per week, per student.

The JCR Committee will hold an Open Meeting on the first Tuesday of Easter Term in order to vote on whether the heating system should be turned off or whether it should remain on for additional weeks. At this Open Meeting, the following options will be discussed:

  1. The entire College heating system can be turned on for additional weeks at a charge per week for every undergraduate student in residence in College accommodation.
  2. These areas of College can be heated separately if necessary by turning on their separate heating systems. Should heating only be turned on in a specific area of College for additional weeks (giving heating from 6.30am – 9.30am and 5pm – 11pm), all students in residence in that area will be charged per week of extra heating.
    • Bene’t Hostel,
    • Beldam,
    • Botolph Court,
    • Newnham,
    • Old House (New Court, Old Court, Library Court and Stable Yard),
    • T-Street.
  3. During cold spells, the heating can be turned on for the morning period (6.30am – 9.30am) only, at a cost per student, per week in the areas of accommodation where heating is required.

If you have any questions about the arrangements for heating, please email the JCR President.

Storage heaters

Some rooms, mostly in Old Court, have electric storage heaters to provide background heating.

The input knob controls the amount of charge built up in the heater during the charge period (approximately midnight until 6am). The higher the setting, six being the most, the more heat is stored. The output knob controls the rate at which heat is released, one being the slowest rate of release. The faster the heat is released, the warmer the temperature of the room becomes.

Working the storage heaters does require a small balancing act as the heat is not unlimited and a faster release rate will cause the heat to be lost earlier in the day. It can also take a few days to have the heater fully charged to achieve a level of constant comfort. You may find it useful to slow the output overnight and increase it during the day.

Some rooms contain two of these storage heaters; a “College Pays” heater, with a green sticker and a “Student Pays” heater, with a red sticker. When the heating system is switched on, the “College Pays” heater supplies background heating. The cost of this, for the same 20 weeks of gas heating, is budgeted from the undergraduate rents. Should additional heating be required, the “Student Pays” heater can be switched on. The cost of this is added on to your electricity bill. This storage heater works as an electric heater would, independent of whether the heating system for background heating is switched on.

Additional heating

If you require additional heating, an electric heater can obtained by asking Housekeeping. Two spare electric heaters will also be kept in the Porters’ Lodge for emergency use. The cost of running the electric heater will be charged to your electricity bill.

Electricity charges

You will be charged for the electricity you use within your room. The cost of this will be added on to your College bill. Electricity meters are read on the first weekday following the end of each lease period to calculate your electricity charge and ensure you are not charged for any electricity used by Conference guests etc. The date shown on your bill will be the date the electricity charge was added to your account, which may be quite a bit later than when the meter was actually read.

Electrical equipment

Any of your own portable electrical equipment used in College accommodation is your responsibility. College does not accept any liability under the terms of the Electricity at Work Act 1989 for the electrical safety or correct functioning of such equipment, which should conform to the appropriate British Standard (the BEAS Kite Mark) and be fitted with the correctly wired and fused plug.

Any portable electrical equipment you own and bring to College will need to be PAT tested by the College Electrician. This is done annually on a date which will be communicated to you by Tutorial, though the College Electrician is more than willing to PAT test student’s electrical items at any time.

You must take care to avoid overloading the electrical supply system. This is why you are not allowed personal fridges in your rooms. The use of block adaptors is also not allowed.

While you are responsible for the safety of your equipment, you and College staff also have a duty to immediately report any unsafe wiring or equipment which you may notice. The maintenance staff are authorised to remove plugs, leads and equipment which, in their opinion, are dangerous.

If you are in any doubt about the safety of an electrical item, or would like to arrange to have an item PAT tested, please email the Maintenance Department.

Televisions

If you have a television in your room, you must have a TV licence for it. Your television will not be covered by your parents’ TV licence from home. All television sets require licensing, unless they are battery powered (battery powered televisions are covered by the licence for your parent’s home), or are not being used to receive a broadcast signal (for instance, if you were using it with your computer, or a games console).

Laundry

The College laundry rooms are located in Stable Yard, Beldam, Botolph, Newnham and T-Street. Each is equipped with washing machines, dryers, irons and ironing boards. Please do not remove irons/ironing boards from the laundry rooms.

Using the washing machines

  1. Check the display reads the amount of a wash.
  2. Load the machine, taking care not to overfill the tub (max. load per machine is 8 kg).
  3. Close the door, making sure it is firmly shut.
  4. Add detergent (it is recommended that you use liquid soap — do not load too much!) and if required add liquid bleach and softener in the relevant sections under the flap on the top left of the machine.
  5. Insert ?1.40.
  6. Select the appropriate cycle (see below) by pressing the button on the keypad on the front of the machine.
  7. The machine will start and will show its time till completion.
  8. The door will open shortly after the cycle has finished and the dial will read “0 minutes”.

Do not attempt to force open the door, or sit on the machine.

Washing cycles

  • Whites: 60 degrees, 3 rinses, high speed spin.
  • Colours: 40 degrees, 3 rinses, high speed spin.
  • Bright colours: Cold wash, high speed spin.
  • Permanent press: 40 degrees, medium speed spin.
  • Woollens: Cold, gentle wash and soak with medium speed spin.
  • Delicates and knits: Cold, gentle wash and low speed spin.

Using the dryers

  1. Open the door and load washing.
  2. Remove fluff from the lint filter located inside the door.
  3. Replace the filter.
  4. Insert appropriate coinage
  5. Press required ‘upper’? or ‘lower’? dryer button.
  6. Machine will start and count down time to completion.
  7. Open the door and remove the washing.

Faults

If you have any problems with the laundry facilities, please contact the Head Housekeeper, stating:

  • Your name and contact number.
  • The date and time,
  • Name of the college and where the machine is (room and which machine!),
  • The nature of the fault.

Insurance

The College’s general insurance policy covers items provided by the College for the use of undergraduates in residence. The College cannot accept any responsibility for undergraduates’ personal property.

Therefore, you are strongly advised to insure all your personal possessions for the time you are at College. Your parents’ household contents policy can be extended to cover you whilst you are at University. Otherwise, it is not difficult to arrange separate cover, at a modest premium, from an organisation specialising in student insurance.

The College’s insurance also does not cover any items you may leave in storage or in your rooms over vacation periods. If you are leaving belongings in the store room, it is worth checking that you are covered for personal possessions in “secure storage designated by your College authority during a vacation”.

Accommodation queries

If you have any questions about accommodation or any of the facilities in Corpus, please email the Head Housekeeper. Any queries to do with room occupancy/allocation, vacation rooms, or other such issues, should go to the Tutorial Office.