How to apply for accommodation at Edinburgh Campus

Applying for student accommodation on the Edinburgh Campus is a four-step process:

You can also find out more about your payment options and cancelling your contract.

Apply online

You can apply for on-campus accommodation online between 16 April 2013 and 22 August 2013, providing you have an Unconditional Firm (UF) offer of a place to study at Heriot-Watt.

The system will not accept your application if you have a conditional offer, but if you think your status should have been changed to UF, then undergraduate students should contact the Admissions Office, and postgraduate students should contact their academic School or Institute.

You can still apply for accommodation after 22 August 2013, but you will not be covered by our accommodation guarantee. We will still do our best to offer you accommodation, but we can’t guarantee it after this date.

We hold back some of each room type for A-level students, so as soon as you get your results (around 15 August) you can apply online.

Accept your contract online

Once you have applied, we will email you to confirm that we have received your application. If you don’t receive this, please email halls@hw.ac.uk to let us know.

We will process your application and aim to email you an offer within 10 days. If you are an A-level student we aim to email your contract at least 7 days before the start date of the contract.

You can accept or decline your offer online by following the instructions in your offer email. Your contract is not valid until you have accepted your offer online.

We can only make one offer of accommodation.

Pay your reservation fee

You will need to pay a £300 reservation fee within 7 days of accepting your contract online.

You must accept your offer of accommodation online before paying the reservation fee. Simply paying the reservation fee does not secure your offer.

You can pay your reservation fee online. If you can’t pay online, you can contact the Student Service Centre.

If we don’t receive your reservation fee within 7 days of sending you your offer, then your offer may be cancelled.

Arrive

All contracts start on 7 September 2013. We'll send you more information about how to collect your keys when you arrive on campus to enrol.

Payment options

Once you have enrolled, you will receive an invoice for your accommodation. You can either settle each semester in full by credit card, cash or debit card or you can set up payment plan called recurring card. Full details are on our payment pages.

This will allow you to split the cost over 9 monthly payments if you have a 40 week contract or 11 payments if you have a 51 week contract. You must set up a recurring card plan by 14 October 2013. Read more about paying by instalments.

Cancelling your contract

The accommodation contract is a legally binding contract for the duration of the contract period (either 40 or 50 weeks). When you accept your contract online you are accepting that you are liable for the rent for the duration of the contract and that you will abide by the terms and conditions. 

If your circumstances change and you no longer want to take up your place at university, please let us know so that we can cancel your contract, otherwise you may not get your reservation fee back and you may be charged for the rent on the room.

  • If you cancel your contract before 7 September 2013, your reservation fee will be refunded.
  • If you do not cancel your contract, and you do not enrol, your reservation fee will not be refunded.
  • If you withdraw on or after the start date of the contract, your contract can only be cancelled if there is another student on our waiting list who wishes to take your room. A £50 administration charge will apply.