COVID-19 Allied Students

Updates for Coronavirus (COVID-19)

During these unprecedented times of the Coronavirus outbreak, we wish to assure our students, current and future, that we are doing everything we can to stay in line with the Government’s latest advice and updates and to do our utmost to help those who find themselves affected in some way – which currently includes all of us, to some degree.

The continued spread of the Coronavirus is a source of distress and uncertainty for us all. At Allied Students, our sole focus is to ensure that everyone is fully supported during this difficult time. We also want to play our part and do what’s right to prevent the spread of the virus. This means our students and our people having access to the most up to date expert advice about what to do and look out for in order to protect themselves and others from infection. To help with this, we’re proactively directing everyone to a range of regularly updated information from the World Health Organisation, Public Health England, the National Health Service and key government departments (see links below).

https://www.who.int/emergencies/diseases/novel-coronavirus-2019

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/travel-advice-novel-coronavirus

https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/coronavirus-covid-19/

What we at Allied Students are doing

• Keeping all our residents updated with Government and Public Health England guidance and instructions.
• Increasing the frequency of cleaning essential public areas and touch points including receptions, lifts, door handles and public bathrooms.
• Implementing procedures to ensure any student who is unwell is supported.
• Instructing all staff and residents to practice social distancing as per Government regulation which includes temporarily closing study rooms and other common spaces.
• Adhering to social distancing by conducting all communication via telephone and email except in the case of essential maintenance or emergency situations. You can still contact your property team on the usual telephone number or by email and our out of hours service remains in place.
• Introducing an enhanced remote support structure to assist our residents with any concerns or queries.
• Temporarily suspending all student guests/visitors to our properties with the exception of essential maintenance or emergency situations.
• Adhering to the Government non-essential travel restrictions through a reduced staff presence at our properties. These staff are attending properties to prioritise and perform essential health and safety checks to ensure our properties are run safely and in line with statutory compliance.

• We are equally supporting our people to ensure they can protect themselves and their colleagues. This means that our dedicated team are currently working remotely – they will be on hand over the telephone and email to provide support should you need it and will do whatever they can to help all residents.

We firmly believe that with everyone working together and supporting each other we can, individually and collectively, help each other through this difficult and challenging time.

WHAT YOU NEED TO DO – GOVERNMENT LOCKDOWN INSTRUCTIONS

You should only leave your residence for one of four reasons:

1. Shopping for necessities, for example food and medicine, which must be as infrequent as possible.
2. One form of exercise a day, for example a run, walk, or cycle – alone or with members of your household.
3. Any medical need, or to provide care or to help a vulnerable person.
4. Travelling to and from work, but only where this absolutely cannot be done from home.

These four reasons are exceptions – even when doing these activities, you should be minimising time spent outside of the home and ensuring you are 2 metres apart from anyone outside of your household. Please follow all the latest Government advice here

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-outbreak-faqs-what-you-can-and-cant-do/coronavirus-outbreak-faqs-what-you-can-and-cant-do

WHAT YOU NEED TO DO IF YOU ARE LIVING IN ONE OF OUR PROPERTIES

• Follow your usual property fire and emergency procedures.
• Arrange for limited and essential deliveries only to be collected by you personally and not to be delivered to the property reception.
• Refrain from holding or attending any gatherings of more than two people whilst maintaining social distancing. This does not include your fellow housemates if you live in a shared cluster flat or townhouse.
• Protect yourself and others and remember the importance of good handwashing.
• When cleaning you should use your usual household products, like detergents and bleach. Clean frequently touched surfaces such as door handles, handrails, remote controls and table tops regularly.
• Personal waste (such as used tissues) and disposable cleaning cloths should be stored securely within disposable rubbish bags. These bags should be placed into another bag, tied securely and kept separate from other waste. This should be put aside for at least 72 hours before being put in your usual property waste bin. Other household waste can be disposed of as normal.

WHAT YOU NEED TO DO IF YOU ARE LIVING IN ONE OF OUR PROPERTIES AND FEEL UNWELL

• The Government advises that you should self-isolate in your room or studio if you have a high temperature (if you don’t have a thermometer check if you feel hot to touch on your chest or back) or you have a new, continuous cough (which means you are coughing repeatedly). Please read the NHS’s advice here https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/coronavirus-covid-19/ and its advice on self-isolation https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/coronavirus-covid-19/self-isolation-advice/ in student accommodation here.
• If you are concerned about any potential symptoms then please call the NHS Helpline on 111
• Inform your property team via your property email address and they will contact you with further information regarding self-isolation in your property.
• If you become aware that somebody is self-isolating in your shared accommodation cluster flat, you too will need to self-isolate as per the Government advice.

TRAVEL ADVICE

The latest advice from the Minister of State for Universities is that ‘students remaining at university in England should now stay where they are and not attempt to travel. If they are living in student halls, or private rented accommodation, they should remain there and stay indoors while current restrictions are in force’.

STAY CONNECTED

All our properties have unlimited internet usage to allow you to keep in touch with family, friends and your property team. All of the internet providers are continuing their 24/7 support structure and please continue to contact them if you are experiencing any issues. It is important to look after your mental health as well as physical health and stay connected. If you feel you need extra support, please contact your University wellbeing teams or the charity Mind (Mental Health) on 0845 766 0163 or perhaps take a look at some tips for your mental wellbeing here https://www.nhs.uk/oneyou/every-mind-matters/coronavirus-covid-19-anxiety-tips/

TENANCY AGREEMENTS

The Minister of State for Universities also has issued a letter to students confirming that students will receive their third term student loans whatever the circumstances and a further update from the Government can be viewed here https://www.gov.uk/guidance/guidance-for-current-students

The Student Loans Company has confirmed that students will receive their scheduled or next instalment of their Maintenance Loan at the planned start of their summer term, regardless of whether their university or provider has made alternative arrangements for teaching.

The Government has also recently issued guidance on support available for landlords and renters reflecting the current coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak and setting out a range of Landlords obligations relating to health and safety and emergencies here https://www.gov.uk/guidance/government-support-available-for-landlords-and-renters-reflecting-the-current-coronavirus-covid-19-outbreak

Allied Students is a third-party manager and manage properties on behalf of many private owners. We are regularly updating these owners in relation to current government and university guidance. This includes details of those Universities and private providers who have refunded third term rents. Most of these owners have indicated they have obligations to lenders and need to make timely loan repayments to them out of the rents collected.

Allied Students is currently engaging with all owners to assess what measures each one can agree to, in order to support students who have tenancy agreements in their properties. We will be communicating with students who have contacted us with concerns over their third term rent payments with particular measures to support them as and when these are agreed by the owners of the properties and would in the interim ask for your patience while we progress this which we are doing as quickly as possible.

If you have any questions regarding your tenancy with us during this difficult time, please contact us via [email protected] providing your name, property name and flat number on your tenancy agreement.  We are logging each of these enquiries and keeping our investors informed at every step along the way.

Above all, we wish for our residents and staff to stay home and stay well, and hope that we can help each of you to also stay informed.  Please let us know if we can help in any way.