Failure to provide agreed accommodation adjustments

Overview

If you were promised specific adjustments to your student accommodation and they are not in place when you move in, you generally have two overlapping sets of rights: rights under your accommodation contract (a broken promise about what you would receive), and rights under the Equality Act 2010 if the adjustments relate to a disability. The best route depends on who your landlord is (the university, a private purpose-built student accommodation provider, or a private landlord) and on exactly what was agreed and how. The most sensible practical approach is usually to escalate quickly and in writing before turning to formal legal action, because you need somewhere to live now and litigation is slow.

What “agreed” means matters

Start by pinning down the basis of the agreement, because this affects which remedy is strongest.

If the adjustments were promised in your tenancy or licence agreement, an accommodation offer, an accommodation questionnaire response, or written correspondence from the accommodation office, that may form part of your contract or a collateral promise you relied on. Keep every email, letter, booking form, disability disclosure and any written confirmation.

If the adjustments were agreed because of a disability (for example a wet room, a ground-floor or accessible room, a flashing fire alarm, a fridge for medication, a particular room layout, or a support arrangement), the Equality Act 2010 duty to make reasonable adjustments is likely to be engaged in addition to any contractual right.

The Equality Act 2010 position

Under sections 20 and 21 of the Equality Act 2010, service providers, education bodies and those who let or manage premises owe a duty to make reasonable adjustments for disabled people, and failing to comply is a form of unlawful discrimination.

The duty has three limbs: changing a provision, criterion or practice; taking steps in relation to a physical feature; and providing an auxiliary aid. Which limb applies affects what can be expected. For a physical feature of let residential premises there are some limits on what a landlord can be required to do, but auxiliary aids and changes to policies and practices are generally required, and a university providing accommodation as part of its educational function has broader adjustment duties.

If your accommodation is provided by or through your university or college, the education provisions (including Schedule 13, which deals with reasonable adjustments in education) reinforce the obligation, and the duty is anticipatory, meaning the provider should have arranged the adjustment in advance rather than waiting for you to arrive.

Key point: a failure to make an agreed reasonable adjustment, or leaving you in accommodation that puts you at a substantial disadvantage compared with non-disabled students, can amount to unlawful discrimination even if there is also a contractual dimension.

Consider ordinary explanations first

Before treating this as discrimination or breach, identify what actually went wrong, because the right remedy differs. Possibilities include a genuine contractual failure to deliver what was booked, an administrative mix-up over room allocation, a delayed but planned installation, a supplier or works delay, or a dispute about whether the adjustment was ever definitely agreed. Ask the provider for a clear explanation and a firm timescale. If they are simply refusing, or offering nothing, that points more strongly towards a discrimination and breach argument. If it is a short, remediable delay with an adequate interim arrangement, the practical route is to hold them to a firm completion date.

Immediate practical steps

1. Report it in writing straight away to the accommodation office or landlord, describing exactly what was agreed, by whom, and what is missing. Ask for the adjustments to be put in place and for a dated timescale.

2. Ask for suitable interim measures now. This might mean a temporary accessible room, alternative equipment, or a short-term move while works are completed. Make clear the impact on your health, safety, studies and daily living, as this strengthens both the reasonable-adjustment argument and any complaint.

3. Keep a dated record of everything: the original agreement, the current failures, the practical impact, and all responses. Photograph the room where relevant.

4. Loop in your university disability or student support service and, if you have one, your disability adviser. Even if the landlord is separate, the university’s own anticipatory duty may be engaged and it can often apply pressure or provide alternatives.

5. If any missing adjustment creates a safety risk (for example an absent visual fire alarm for a Deaf student), flag that as urgent and insist on an immediate solution rather than a delayed one.

Escalating a complaint

If the informal request does not resolve it, use the provider’s formal complaints procedure and put your complaint in writing, referencing both the agreement and the Equality Act duty to make reasonable adjustments. Set out what you want: the adjustments completed by a specific date, interim provision in the meantime, and where relevant a refund, rent reduction or compensation for the period you have not received what you paid for.

The escalation route after that depends on the landlord:

University or college accommodation: exhaust the internal complaints procedure, then you can usually take an unresolved complaint to the Office of the Independent Adjudicator for Higher Education (the OIA), which handles student complaints against higher education providers in England and Wales and can consider disability and adjustment issues.

Private purpose-built student accommodation or a private letting agent: check whether the provider belongs to a redress or accreditation scheme. Letting agents in England must belong to a government-approved redress scheme (the Property Ombudsman or the Property Redress Scheme), and many student accommodation providers sign up to a code such as the ANUK/Unipol National Code, which has its own complaints process.

Discrimination generally: the Equality Advisory and Support Service can advise on discrimination claims, and Citizens Advice explains the options for raising a reasonable-adjustments failure.

Legal claims as a last resort

If complaints and escalation fail, there are two possible legal routes.

A discrimination claim under the Equality Act for services, premises or education is generally brought in the County Court, and it must usually be started within six months of the act complained of, so do not let time drift while you complain. Remedies can include a declaration, an order to do something, and compensation, which can include injury to feelings. Time limits are short and strict, so if you are approaching six months you may need to protect your position by issuing even while a complaint continues.

A breach of contract claim is also possible if the provider promised something in the accommodation agreement and failed to deliver it. Remedies can include damages, a rent reduction for the period the accommodation was not as agreed, or in a strong case release from the contract. The small claims track deals with lower-value money claims relatively cheaply.

In practice, litigation is slow, stressful and carries cost and evidence risk, and it does not quickly get the adjustments installed. It is usually better used as leverage or a genuine last resort, while your priority is getting the accommodation put right now.

Rent, refunds and getting out of the contract

If you are paying full rent for accommodation that does not meet what was agreed, you can reasonably ask for a rent reduction or partial refund for the affected period, and for compensation for additional costs you have incurred (for example paying for something to work around the missing adjustment). If the failures are serious and continuing, and the accommodation is genuinely unsuitable for your needs, you may have grounds to ask to be released from the contract or moved, particularly where a reasonable adjustment would have been to offer a suitable alternative room. Do not simply stop paying rent or move out without advice, as that can create its own liabilities; put any request to withhold or reduce rent in writing and seek to agree it.

What would strengthen or change the position

The answer turns on several facts you have not yet given, and each could change the outcome. It matters who the landlord actually is, because that decides the escalation and legal route. It matters exactly what was agreed and in what document, because a clear written promise is far stronger than an informal understanding. It matters whether the missing adjustment relates to a disability, which brings in the Equality Act and its short claim deadline. It matters how serious and how remediable the failure is, and whether adequate interim provision is available. And it matters what you actually want, whether that is the adjustments installed, alternative accommodation, money back, or release from the contract.

Suggested order of action

1. Gather the written agreement and evidence of the failure and its impact.

2. Report the problem in writing and demand both a fixed completion date and immediate interim measures.

3. Involve your university disability and support service.

4. Raise a formal complaint citing the agreement and the reasonable-adjustments duty, stating the remedy you want.

5. Escalate to the OIA, the relevant property redress scheme, or the accommodation code body as appropriate.

6. Only if that fails, and while watching the six-month discrimination deadline, consider a County Court or small claims action for discrimination or breach of contract.

If you tell me who your landlord is (university, private student accommodation provider, or private landlord), exactly what adjustments were agreed and how they were confirmed, and whether they relate to a disability, I can give you a more precise route and help you draft the written complaint.