Additional requirements

A disability, medical condition or mental health issues can affect your accommodation requirements. Please tell us about your needs, we’ll do our best to meet them.

You can read more about the accessibility of our different halls of accommodation via the AccessAble website.

We do all we can to support students with specific requirements in our University accommodation. This includes students who:

• are D/deaf or hearing impaired
• are blind or visually impaired
• have a physical disability, and/or mobility difficulties
• have a specific learning difficulty (for example, dyslexia or dyspraxia)
• have a neurodevelopmental condition (for example, AD(H)D)
• have a neurological condition (for example, MS, epilepsy, Tourette Syndrome, stammer)
• are autistic
• have a mental health condition
• have a long-term medical condition (e.g. chronic fatigue syndrome, asthma, diabetes, cancer, HIV)
• have a combination of these

This list is not exhaustive. If you want to check whether you are entitled to access support please contact us for advice.

You may also want to consider if you currently have any equipment or adaptations in your home that may assist you during your time in university accommodation.  Letting us know of any condition that may impact on your time in University accommodation will help us to make your stay here a positive experience.  Giving us this information in advance won’t adversely affect you coming to the University of Leeds, rather it will allow us to make the best possible provision for you and make the most of your time in University accommodation.  All the information you give to us will be used on a need to know basis only and in line with the Data Protection Act 2018.

Your requirements

So that we can allocate or adapt suitable accommodation for you we ask you to:

• Fill in the supporting your requirements section of your accommodation application telling us what we need to take into consideration when allocating you a room, and any emergency evacuation issues you may have
• Provide us with supporting medical evidence of your medical condition or disability (e.g. a Doctor’s note or Disability Evidence form for Accommodation Allocation if applying for a rent reduction)

Please provide this information no later than 1 July so that we have as much time as possible to suitably adapt the accommodation before you arrive.

University Adapted Accommodation

A number of our halls of residence, both on and off campus, have adapted accommodation which is accessible to disabled students with a range of requirements. This includes catered and self-catering accommodation.  

We also have larger rooms for students who need extra space for equipment, as well as rooms for personal assistants/support workers. 

There is a high demand for this accommodation and limited availability especially in our halls on campus, so we also adapt accommodation where needed.

Once you have applied for accommodation and where you have stated that you have specific requirements, such as lowered worktops in the kitchen or self-closing doors, you may be invited to come to the University for a visit to look round potential accommodation and to discuss your requirements in detail. This is your opportunity to tell us what it is you need.

Depending on the level of support required, we may recommend that we involve an Occupational Therapist to advise us on any specialist support or equipment that you may needs. The University will provide an Occupational Therapist for this purpose and if you have anyone who has been involved in recommending specialist equipment or adaptations for you already you are welcome to involve them as well.  If you are unable to visit us in person, please let us know and we will advise you and look to arrange an alternative format for the assessment such as over telephone or online video.

We do all we can to adapt accommodation to suit your needs, but if you decide not to visit in advance or engage in fuller discussion with Accommodation Services, we cannot guarantee that your requirements will be met by the time you begin your course.

At the University of Leeds we believe that disabled students should have access to accommodation that meets their specific needs, and that disabled students should not be financially disadvantaged due to limited accommodation options.

If you are a disabled student, based on the Equality Act 2010 definition of disability* whose accommodation options are limited due to your disability related needs, you may be eligible for help from the University in the form of a rent discount. If you think this applies to you, you will need to provide us with further details about your requirements using the Additional Requirements Form, and ask your doctor to complete a Disability Evidence Form for Accommodation Allocation. Please note that without the Disability Evidence Form, we cannot consider request for rent reductions.

Information on both these forms will be used to help the accommodation team allocate your appropriate accommodation. We will do all we can to meet your disability related requirements, however, as with all accommodation requests, this does not mean that you are guaranteed your preferred residence.
If you require any assistance or further information regarding this please contact the Accommodation team.

*To be considered disabled under the Equality Act 2010 definition, you must have a physical, sensory or mental disability which has a substantial (more than minor or trivial) and long term adverse effect on your ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities (including education). To be considered long term, the effect of the disability must have lasted or be likely to last at least 12 months or for the rest of your life.