Sublets#

Subletting your room or flat is a privilege offered at the College and not one you will find with private landlords or other student accommodation. We understand that the ability to sublet your room or flat may be important for your finances if, for instance, you plan to travel home during the year. For the sublet system to work and be safe you must follow the correct procedures.

If you wish to sublet your room or flat during your absence, you may either do so to a friend or family member known personally to you or, by advertising on The Square, to someone known to the College. All sublets listed on The Square will also be promoted to the Alumni community via our online Alumni community site, Goodenough Global. Even if you are allowing a friend to stay without charge while you are away, you must complete the procedure for sublets, including paying the fee. Members may sublet their room/flat for a maximum of forty-five days per academic year (which starts on 15 September each year). For reasons of security, the College does not allow Members to sublet their rooms on the open rental market. Since you are responsible for the actions of your sublessee, you will wish to ensure that this person is well known to you (a friend or family member) or already known to the College. Sublets accordingly must not be advertised through external websites such as Facebook, Gumtree, Spareroom, Airbnb, etc. Those who do not respect this rule will find their sublet privileges removed. Please remember to remove your sublet notice from The Square once your room has been let.

Once you have identified a sublessee, you should fill out a sublet request form on the Portal at least three working days before the sublessee is due to arrive. The Sublet Booking Form must be approved by your House Administrator. Once the sublet is approved, the House Administrator will notify you by email and inform Reception. Please note that in certain circumstances sublets will not be granted, so it is important that you give enough notice so the person can find other accommodation if refused. Sublets may be refused if the person has seriously contravened rules on a previous stay, or the person has stayed more than the allocated number of nights, the person has behaved badly during another sublet such as leaving the room very dirty or not paying, or the person has previously been excluded from the College.

Please note that Members occupying flats may not sublet one individual room in their flat. They may sublet the whole flat when it is unoccupied.

Members are not allowed to sublet their room/flat during the 28-day period before their final departure date.

Sublets are for a minimum of three nights;
A sublessee may stay up to a total of 90 days at the College in any one academic year, although an individual Member may only sublet to them for a maximum of 45 days. If they wish to stay at the College for a longer period, they should apply formally to the College for membership or a short-stay residency;
Sublessees are not permitted to have additional guests to stay with them and may not hire campbeds;
A single room must be only sublet to a single person and if the bathroom facilities are shared, that person must be of the appropriate gender for the bathroom;
The College administration fee to sublet your room is £25, included in your monthly invoice, irrespective of the number of nights or whether you are charging the sublessee. In instances of late application, giving rise to extra workload for the administrative team, the fee rises to £50;
Before issuing keys to sublessees, Reception staff must ensure that the Sublet Booking Form has been completed and that they have received an authorisation;
Sublesseeswill need to provide ID on arrival (passport, drivers’ licence or national ID card) and should collect a Sublet Goodcard from Reception on arrival. You should not leave your Goodcard for your sublessee;
Sublets must leave by 9.30am on their date of the departure. If you wish to delay the departure time, you should contact your House Administrator.

Members’ Responsibilities#

A sublet is a contract between the College Member and a sublessee. It is the Member’s responsibility to collect all payments from the sublessee. The Member remains responsible for all payments to the College, including rent. Neither the Reception desk nor Finance office will accept payments for rent from sublessees.

The Member is responsible for leaving their room clean, tidy and providing clean linen for an incoming sublessee. If a sublessee causes damage to a room or other College property, financial responsibility for repairs falls to the Member.

The Member is responsible for the sublessee’s behaviour on College premises. The Member should inform the sublessee of College rules and regulations, and provide the sublessee with a copy of the Information for Sublessees and this Handbook. If the sublessee makes excessive noise or otherwise breaches College rules, they risk expulsion from the College.

Sublessees are not College Members and are not permitted to attend free Members events, take out Garden keys, apply for Albert Hall or other tickets, or make other bookings or use of privileges normally reserved for Members. Sublessees are not entitled to use College computer facilities in computer rooms and Members must not give sublessees their computer passwords. Sublesses are not entitled to subsidised meals. They can purchase full priced meals.

Members may only charge sublessees the daily rate they themselves pay for the room/flat, plus the cost of administrative charges from the College. The College reserves the right to deduct any profit which is made by Members who contravene this rule and take further measures such as revoking sublet privileges.

Any sublet not arranged in accordance with the policies and regulations outlined above will be considered unauthorised. Unauthorised sublessees will either be refused entrance or asked to leave. In such circumstances, there will be no compensation for either the Member or sublessee for any losses incurred as a result. Members or sublessees organising unauthorised sublets are subject to the following sanctions: upon their first occassion, the offending Member will no longer be entitled to sublet. Upon their second occassion, Members may be asked to leave the College.