Frequently Asked Questions
I’m struggling to pay my bills, what support is available to me?
Unfortunately, as a full time student, we’re not aware of any government or energy supplier support that would normally be available to the wider public. We would suggest talking first to your parents/guardians and especially your guarantor, as the risk of not being able to meet your obligations will have an impact on them. Speaking to a debt charity such as Stepchange to work out a monthly budget may help you find a way of paying your bills with the money you do have. Speak to your energy supplier as they may also have a way of assisting you or spreading payments in a more affordable manner. Do not ignore any letters or demands from them as this is likely to lead to escalation and further costs being added.
Speak to your university finance team and see if there is any extra funding or assistance available from them. We would also suggest contacting their mental health and wellbeing services if you’re feeling anxious or depressed about the situation. You can find the service for each university in Manchester/Salford here:
University of Manchester
Manchester Metropolitan University
University of Salford
Bills are included in my rent, is it worth me getting involved?
Yes!!! Bills inclusive rent is not something that will always be on offer. As the current crisis worsens, it could mean it’s not a service that is feasible anymore. You will also find once you leave university, it’s also rare to have this in professional lets. Ultimately, at some point in your life, you’re going to have to learn to manage household bills and we’re offering you free support to learn how to do that. We hope your future self will thank you.
I’m your tenant but not a student, can I get involved?
Absolutely. Our outreach is catered to students because they make up the majority of our tenants and we believe in need of the most assistance but everyone is welcome. Plenty of the information will be useful whether you’ve lived away from home for 6 weeks or 6 decades.
I’m a student but not your tenant, can I get involved?
The main programme we have running with SOS is limited to the capacity of our tenants so unfortunately not in this area. However, we’ll be posting on this website regularly with information and resources so please come back and check often as a lot of that information will be useful. As this initiative gets more established, we are hoping we can use what we’ve learnt to help a wider student base who share similar experiences and the local community who share similar housing.
Why are houses you manage not included in the household prize if they don’t have bills included in your rent?
This is simply because we have no historical data on properties we’ve never managed the bills for, nor a reliable way for us to track ongoing costs to measure any reduction. We are looking into ways we could do this in the future, but at this current point we are unable to fairly judge the prize if we were to include properties that we don’t directly manage the bills for. However, the overall individual prizes as well as all other prizes and gifts from competitions throughout the year remain open to everyone.
My bills are included in my rent, but I’ve not had confirmation that I’m eligible for the household prize?
Unfortunately, if you or your housemates have not had an email confirming you are eligible, your household is not part of the houshold competition. Some of our landlords manage the bills for the properties themselves. Like for properties that manage their own bills, we don’t have historical information or a way of tracking ongoing usage. We are looking into ways we could do this in the future, but at this current point we are unable to fairly judge the prize if we were to include properties that we don’t directly manage the bills for. However, the overall individual prizes as well as all other prizes and gifts from competitions throughout the year remain open to everyone.
What benefit do MCR/LIV Move get out of this initiative?
Offering a bills inclusive package for our student properties has been a big part of why people to choose to rent with us. We have never put in usage caps with our package as we don’t want our tenants to receive unexpected bills during or after their tenancy, or ever worry about being able to afford to heat their homes.
With the current rise in prices, there is a real possibility that either it will become too risky for us to offer this package, or it will have to be priced at an unaffordable level. We want to make sure we are always able to offer the same level of high service to our tenants and the bills package is big part of that.
We hope that if we can see a reduction in energy use, we can keep the package prices consistent and competitive, rather than constantly raising prices in line with the market. We also hope that we won't have to consider the possibility of usage caps or even not being able to offer this service altogether.
My bills are included in my rent, surely my landlord is the only one to benefit if I get involved?
The chance to learn how to manage your bills is going to be useful for the rest of your life so we would encourage you to get involved as much as you can. When renting with us, MCR/LIV Move are (in the vast majority of cases) the ones who pay your bills, so it generally makes no difference to your landlord. We’ve explained in the question above what we are aiming to achieve through this program and why reducing energy use will help us to continue offering our bills package in the future.