Lawyer Destroyer Yes. Deliberately giving a false word count can amount to academic misconduct in its own right, quite apart from any penalty for exceeding a word limit. Why it can be misconduct A word count declaration is a factual statement the student makes to the marker. When it is deliberately false, the wrongdoing is not simply … Read more
Short answer Usually no. In almost all universities in England and Wales, an academic appeal is defined as a request to review a formal decision of a Board of Examiners, Progression Board or Award Board. Until that body has actually met and confirmed your marks or progression outcome, there is normally no decision to appeal … Read more
The basic rule: the account holder is liable to the supplier When only one person’s name is on a utility account, that person is the supplier’s customer and is legally responsible for paying the whole bill. This is a matter of contract law: the supply contract is between the named account holder and the gas, … Read more
Short answer The answer depends on timing, because the law is changing. Under the rules currently in force, yes, a private landlord in England can lawfully ask a student for more than one month’s rent in advance. There is at present no legal cap on how much rent a landlord can require to be paid … Read more
Short answer Yes. A university in England and Wales is expected to give you clear, intelligible reasons for rejecting your academic appeal. This is not merely good manners: it flows from the university’s own regulations, from the expectations set by the Office of the Independent Adjudicator (OIA), and from public law principles of fairness that … Read more
Short answer In almost all cases, no. The general rule across universities in England and Wales is that once you have passed an assessment or module, you cannot resit or retake it simply to obtain a higher mark. Reassessment (a resit or resubmission) is normally available only where you have failed, or in some cases … Read more
Short answer Whether you can stay in student accommodation over Christmas, Easter and the summer depends entirely on the type of contract or licence you signed. There is no automatic legal right to occupy the room year-round. Your right to occupy comes from the specific agreement, and student accommodation is typically offered on fixed periods … Read more
Yes, it can. Whether your student house needs a licence does not depend only on the mandatory HMO regime. There are three separate licensing schemes under the Housing Act 2004, and a property can fall outside the mandatory scheme but still be caught by one of the two discretionary local schemes. The three licensing regimes … Read more
Who bears the burden of proof In academic misconduct cases at universities and other post-16 education providers in England and Wales, the burden of proof rests on the institution, not the student. It is for the university, college or awarding body bringing the allegation to demonstrate that misconduct occurred. The student does not have to … Read more
The short answer There is no fixed statutory deadline in England and Wales for a university to decide an academic appeal. The timescale is governed partly by the university’s own regulations and partly by widely followed good practice. The general benchmark: 90 calendar days The Office of the Independent Adjudicator for Higher Education (OIA), which … Read more
Overview Spiking, meaning secretly putting alcohol or drugs into someone’s drink or body without their consent, is a criminal offence in England and Wales. It can be prosecuted under the Offences Against the Person Act 1861 (administering a noxious substance) and, where relevant, sexual offences legislation or the Modern Slavery framework. The Criminal Justice Act … Read more
The legal position in outline Intimate-image abuse covers a range of conduct, and the law in England and Wales now treats several distinct things as criminal offences. It matters which category your situation falls into, because the offence, the evidence needed, and the remedies differ. Broadly, the law now criminalises: 1. Sharing an intimate image … Read more
Understanding what you are dealing with Bullying and harassment on a university placement can involve several overlapping legal and procedural frameworks, and the right route depends on the facts. Before treating what happened as unlawful “harassment” in the legal sense, it is worth separating three different things: conduct that is legally unlawful harassment, conduct that … Read more
Short answer Yes. A student on a university placement can, and in some circumstances should, refuse duties that are genuinely unsafe or that fall outside what has properly been agreed for the placement. The right is strongest where the task poses a real risk to health and safety, and it is supported both by health … Read more
The short answer There is no single rule in England and Wales that makes one particular party legally responsible for the travel, accommodation and subsistence costs of a university placement. Who pays depends on the type of course, what the university’s own terms and course documentation say, and whether a specific funding scheme applies. In … Read more
Short answer Yes, you can usually challenge a placement location, but how you do it depends on what the university has actually promised and why the placement is so far away. There is no general legal rule guaranteeing a placement within a fixed distance of home. Your strongest position comes either from the university’s own … Read more
Overview of your position When a university cancels a placement that forms part of your course and cannot provide an alternative, several different legal and regulatory frameworks come into play at once. Your relationship with the university is a contractual one, so consumer protection law applies. On top of that, the university is subject to … Read more
Short answer Yes, in many situations a university can be legally responsible for foreseeable safety failures in halls or on campus, but responsibility is not automatic. It depends on the source of the duty, whether the university had the relevant control, whether it fell below the standard of reasonable care, and whether that failure actually … Read more
Short answer There is no blanket criminal or statutory ban across England and Wales on a member of university staff and an adult student having a sexual or romantic relationship. However, since 1 August 2025 such relationships are subject to important new regulatory requirements, and in practice they are increasingly either prohibited outright or tightly … Read more
Overview Yes, you can usually challenge both an interim (precautionary) suspension and a referral to a professional regulator, but the two are legally different in nature, and the routes for challenging them are not the same. An interim suspension imposed by your university is a decision by the institution that you can contest through the … Read more
