Fees, guidance and payment

Once you have accepted your offer of accommodation, you will need to make a prepayment of £400 to reserve your booking. 

To make your prepayment:

• Visit the UCL Accommodation Portal
• Go to Applications
• Choose your Term Session
• Press continue

If you have accepted your offer and your licence/tenancy agreement you will be directed to make your prepayment via the Flywire portal. If you have not accepted your offer, you will be guided through the process first.

For UCL-managed halls: A student that has accepted and paid the prepayment amount but does not meet their offer conditions or decides to no longer live in UCL Accommodation has until 31 August 2025 to request to cancel their booking. This will terminate the licence/tenancy agreement, and they will receive the prepayment amount back in full.

For urbanest halls: A student that has accepted and paid the prepayment amount but does not meet their offer conditions or decides to no longer live in UCL Accommodation has until 31 August 2025 to request to cancel their booking. This will terminate the licence/tenancy agreement, and they will receive the prepayment amount back in full.

1. In order to cancel your UCL or urbanest hall reserved booking, please return to the UCL Accommodation Portal, to your application for the term you accepted a place for.
2. On the right side there is a box named 'My Booking' with a link to where you can cancel the booking. You will be asked to provide a reason for cancelling the booking.
3. After you submit this, the prepayment amount of £400 will be requested from Flywire, providing you cancel by 31 August 2025. They will refund to the account you made the original payment from. We advise that it may take up to 28 days to receive a refund, however, it is quite likely to be much sooner than that. Please note that if you cancel after Sunday, 31 August 2025 you will not receive a refund of your £400 prepayment.

For Unite halls: Students allocated to Unite halls are asked for an advanced rent payment. Refund eligibility depends on your student status: Home students should refer to Unite's Cancellation Policy, and international students should refer to Unite's International Cancellation Policy. 

If you book urbanest Canary Wharf:

• If you receive your Booking Reserved Email before 13 August 2026:  
  
  You’ll have a 14 day cooling-off period from the date of your Booking Reserved Email, where you can cancel your booking via the Accommodation Portal. If you haven’t taken up occupation of the room, you will have your prepayment received in full.
• If you cancel after the 14-day cooling period from the date of your Booking Reserved Email, or if your Booking Reserved Email is received on/after 13 August 2026:  
  
  You can still cancel before your Tenancy Start Date, however you will lose your prepayment. You will not be liable for any accommodation fees. 

For more information, please refer to Section 15: Tenant's termination rights in the urbanest Tenancy Agreement 2026-27.

You are required to pay for your accommodation fees through Flywire’s payment portal, which is accessible through Portico.

To view your UCL Accommodation account

• Log on to Portico
• Go to the My Money tab
• Click on Student Statements
• Click on View Full Statement for Your Accommodation Balance

You will be able to see your balance and all your transactions and download invoices and receipts. You can also make a payment via the variety of methods supported by Flywire, including card payments and bank transfers. 

To pay an outstanding amount on an invoice or charge

• Log on to Portico
• Click on Make an Accommodation Payment
• Choose the invoice(s) and amounts to pay
• Click on Click Here to Pay and follow the instructions on the Flywire portal

Watch a video on how to make a payment with Flywire

If you no longer have access to Portico or wish to pay your accommodation fees for the full year in advance of invoicing, please email the Accommodation Finance Team for instructions on how to make your payment.

It is possible to set up an instalment plan, i.e. monthly payments, to pay your invoice. You must do so before the payment deadline. The first instalment date should be the original due date. The final instalment payment date must be no later than two weeks before the last day of term.

To request an instalment plan

• Log in to askUCL
• Log an enquiry under the Request for Hall Fees Instalment Plan category and complete the form.

You are required to submit a Notice to Quit (NTQ) request via the UCL Accommodation Portal to notify us of the earlier check out date.

If a replacement student is found to take over your room, your liability will end from the check-in date of the replacement student and you will receive a refund accordingly. The full terms of your licence agreement can be found in the General Regulations.

If no replacement student is found, your liability will continue until your contract end date. 

If both partners are UCL students, both partners will be individually invoiced for half the accommodation rate each.

Where one partner is not a UCL student, the UCL student will be invoiced for the entire accommodation and the invoice will be split into two parts, for each half of the flat, for each term. 

It is possible to request an extension to the payment deadline stated on your accommodation invoice. You must do so before the payment deadline.

The UCL Accommodation Team may allow you to defer your payment for up to 30 days, as long as it is no later than 2 weeks before the last day of term. Please note you will be expected to explain why you cannot make the original payment deadline.

To request an extension to your invoice deadline, please:

• Log in to askUCL
• Log an enquiry under the Request for Hall Fees Deadline Extension category and complete the form.

A £25 late payment fee will be added to the account for each term that payment is not made by the due date. 

If your accommodation fees remain unpaid by the due date and if you have made no formal repayment arrangement, UCL will pass all outstanding and future debts to an external debt collection agency, which may result in legal action through the Courts and a County Court Judgment made against you.

In addition the University reserves the right to issue a 28 day ‘Notice to Quit’ to expire at the end of the invoice period, at which point you will be required to leave your room.

On Portico you can view your accommodation account balance and the full statement of your accommodation transactions. You can also download invoices and make payments.

Log into Portico to:

• View your accommodation account balance: Click on 'My Money' > 'Student Statements'
• View your accommodation transactions including invoices, payments and any charges that have been applied: Click on 'View Full Statement' under 'Your Accommodation Balance'
• To download an official receipt or confirmation of payment: Click on the blue Download button to the right of any payment transaction
• To download an invoice: Click on the blue Download button to the right of any invoice transaction
• To download your full statement: Click Download Statement underneath your Accommodation Transactions

You can check to see if you have a credit balance on your accommodation account:

• Log into Portico
• Go to the MyMoney tab
• Click on Student Statements to view Your Accommodation Balance
• A negative balance indicates that you are owed money by UCL accommodation

If you have left UCL Accommodation
If there is a credit on your accommodation account, you will automatically receive a refund. We aim to return any credit balance left within 28 days from the end of your accommodation contract.

If you are still in UCL Accommodation
We suggest that you leave the credit on your account to offset against future invoices or charges. However, if you need the money returned right away, please request a refund. 

Requesting a refund
If your accommodation account is in credit, and there are no outstanding invoices or debts on your account, you have the option to apply for a refund.

• Log into Portico
• Click on MyMoney
• Click on Accommodation Fees Refund Request
• Follow the instructions to make the request

The Accommodation Team will be notified by email to administer the refund. UCL will return the funds to the original payer using the original payment method, where possible. Refunds can take up to 28 days to be fully processed.

If you no longer have access to Portico, you can email the Accommodation Finance Team to request a refund.

Keys

On arrival, you will be issued a set of room keys by your Hall Team. The safekeeping of your keys is important and is your responsibility. If you lose your keys, you must immediately advise your Hall Team, and you will be asked to present proof of identity.

You will be charged no more than the reasonable cost of replacing the keys, which may be in the region of:

1. £40 charge to replace a set of room keys (includes Electronic Key Fob, Swipe/Access Card, room keys, post key)
2. £20 charge to replace a fob/Swipe or Access card/single key (front door, post box, bicycle shed etc.)
3. £5 charge for a replacement meal card
4. £30 charge for a lock change where a lock change is reasonable in the circumstances (plus additional charge for room keys).

Cleaning 

Your Accommodation (including the bathroom if your room is ensuite) and any communal kitchen must be left clean and tidy.  Where your Accommodation is a studio, flat or bungalow you must leave all areas of the studio, flat or bungalow clean and tidy. Charges will be raised where your Accommodation has not been left in a clean and tidy condition upon your departure from the Accommodation or at the end of the licence period.

These will be no more than the cost of the cleaning charged to UCL estimated to be:

1. Standard single room - £25
2. Standard twin or double room - £40
3. Ensuite single - £50 (£25 for the bedroom and £25 for the bathroom)
4. Ensuite double or twin - £65 (£40 for the bedroom and £25 for the bathroom)
5. Studio - £75
6. 1-bedroom flat - £100
7. 2-bedroom flat/bungalow - £150
8. Communal kitchen - £25 per person