FAQs

Applications for 2025/2026 (full academic year and Semester 1) will open on Monday 3 March 2025.  

Applications for Semester 2 will open on Monday 3 November 2025 and close on the Monday 1 December 2025. 

You must be a full time registered student to be eligible to apply for accommodation. Please see our off campus living pages for accommodation options as a part time student.

We do not have any family/ couple accommodation on campus. Please see our off campus living web pages for suitable family accommodation. 

Students can only be accommodated during the academic year.  We do not provide all year-round accommodation unless you are an exempt (widening access, care experience students)  -  please check our web pages for care experienced/widening access criteria. 

Undergraduate students are offered a 40 week contract: 30 August 2025 - 06 June 2026

Postgraduate students are offered a 50 week contract: 30 August 2025 - 15 August 2026.

The campus closes from 15 August for deep cleaning and maintenance. 

Room are allocated by student type, contract length, room preference, age and gender. All our accommodation is single occupancy and mixed gender. 

Please see our Accommodation guarantee page for more information on this.

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 (Edinburgh Campus) or bordershalls@hw.ac.uk (Scottish Borders Campus) to let us know.

Once you hold your unconditional firm offer, we aim to process your application and email you your offer from July onwards. 

You must accept the contract within 48 hours of the date of your offer email. If you do not accept the offer it will not be valid and may be cancelled.

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. If the applicant chooses to decline the room offered to them their application shall be placed on the waiting list and another offer of accommodation will only be made subject to availability.

You are required to pay a 4-week advance rent payment within 48 hours of accepting your offer of accommodation. This payment is made through the Accommodation Portal.

If you are unable to pay through the Accommodation Portal, you can also use bank to bank transfer via Convera.

Please ensure that you provide within the reference your HWU ID number starting with letter H so we can correctly identify the payment transferred to us and allocate this toward your student account as Advance rent fee payment. 

If you require to confirm and request a receipt, please email: student-services-uk@hw.ac.uk with your student H number. Please note that if you do not make payment of the advance rent payment through the accommodation portal this will not update.  

This payment is deducted from your accommodation invoice once you have arrived and fully enrolled. 

You will need to pay a 4-week advance rent payment within 48 hours of accepting your accommodation offer within the accommodation portal. You must accept your offer of accommodation online before paying the advance rent payment.

Find out more about how to pay for accommodation.

The University offer fixed term contracts with a start and end date. We are unable to provide flexible contract dates or short term accommodation. Please see our off campus living pages for information on where to secure this type of accommodation in Edinburgh.

You will be asked to select your first and second room preference and we try our best to offer you these. However, in some cases this is not possible if the room type is fully booked. Inevitably, some room types are more popular than others.

Please ensure any additional information to support your allocation (e.g. male/female only living spaces, quieter area, higher floor etc) is noted on your application. Please note that requests are not guaranteed. 

Yes. Once you receive your offer of accommodation and the terms and conditions, you are advised to read those carefully. The accommodation contract is still valid up until the end date of your contract. The room is yours until the end date regardless any holiday plans, so you do not need to remove your belongings when leaving for holidays, Christmas, etc.

Please complete the online guest application form, this will be reviewed within 72 hours. Please kindly wait for the team's response before allowing your guest to stay on campus.

Students are only allowed one overnight guest at a time for a maximum of 3 days per calendar month. Please inform your flatmates of your guest and note that their behaviour and conduct is your responsibility.

Guests are not allowed to be in your bedroom/kitchen/flat while you are on holiday, returned home, or departed at the end of the year.

This information is processed and monitored by our Residences Life team so for any follow up enquires please email reslife@hw.ac.uk

The rent includes:

• internet connection (100MB as standard)
• heating
• power
• assisted clean of communal kitchen's and public areas only, which means you are expected to maintain cleaning standards in your own room/studio.
• Basic room contents insurance is included with your on campus accommodation and is provided by Howden. Enter in your policy number HH1074 to check your policy details.

All maintenance issues should be reported using the QR code in the kitchen. This will then be attended to by a member of our estates to attend. A room move would not be authorised unless in exceptional circumstances.

No, accessible rooms can be allocated to, and are suitable for, all students.

Room moves to be with friends will not be authorised. This creates an imbalance in the flat dynamics. For support settling in please contact reslife@hw.ac.uk

If you wish an upgrade, this may be possible subject to availability, please email halls@hw.ac.uk to enquire.

Rooms must not be swapped without authorisation. You are assigned a specific room and the record must be correct for fire safety and security purposes. If you are on a student visa, swapping rooms will also breach your conditions with the Home Office.

There are extensive, experienced professional support services to offer advice and guidance. We have a Residence Life team to support you during your stay in University accommodation. Our advisors from Student Wellbeing services offer range of advice, from difficulties with settling in, your studies to counselling and disability support.

Our SafeGuarding team offer 24/7 emergency support all students on campus. They can be reached via the Safe Zone app, by picking up one of the red phones within any hall of residence or by calling 0131 451 3500. 

Parking

The accommodation contract states that residents are not allowed to keep cars/vehicles overnight at Heriot-Watt University's Edinburgh Campus. If you have any further concerns regarding parking, please contact our Estates service:  CarParking@hw.ac.uk

Storage

You have a storage space in your bedroom. There are no additional storage facilities available in Heriot-Watt University's Edinburgh Campus. Should you require storage, as an option, we recommend Big Yellow Self Storage Edinburgh or Flexistore.

Pets

There are no pets allowed in residences or academic buildings.

Deliveries

Deliveries work the same way as it would when you live at home. The address is on your contract and you need to be 'home' i.e. in your room, to get your delivery. There are Amazon lockers in the Student Union. We only handle Royal Mail parcels; there are collection points on campus from where you can pick up your parcels. You will be asked to provide your parcel slip and matriculation card as forms of identification.

Bikes

You are not allowed to place or store either bicycles or any other similar possessions in the property, stairs, or shared areas of the building as they represent a hazard in the event of a fire.

There are bike sheds near all residences and across the campus with securing points. However, use a good padlock as the campus is open (we recommend Kryptonite bike locks). Also, SafeGuarding provides free bike marking that allows you to register your bike.

If you are thinking about leaving the University, please visit our leaving accommodation advice page.

Accommodation contracts are fixed term with no option of cancellation unless you are withdrawing from the University or taking a temporary suspension of studies. 

Your accommodation contract covers the time period relevant to your studies, we cannot amend dates if individual programmes change. 

The accommodation contract is legally binding for the duration of the contract period. When you accept your contract online, you are accepting that you are liable for the rent for the full period 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 the University, please let us know so that we can cancel your contract, otherwise you may not get your advance rent payment back and you may be charged for the rent on the room.

Please note:                                       

• If you inform us that you wish to cancel your contract before the date of entry, your advance rent payment will be refunded.
• If you do not inform us that you wish to cancel your contract before the date of entry and you do not arrive, your advance rent payment will not be refunded.