Case Summaries

Disciplinary matters (non-academic) - CS102307

Case summary October 2023 | Not Justified

A student was disciplined after the fire alarm in their room was disabled by their partner. The provider decided that this was a breach of the Accommodation Terms and Conditions. The student was fined £500 and their accommodation contract was terminated, with a ban on re-applying in the future. The student appealed this sanction as they considered it was too harsh. The provider rejected the appeal.

The student complained to us. We did not uphold their complaint (we decided it was Not Justified).

The student believed that they should not be asked to vacate their accommodation because they themselves did not tamper with the fire alarm. We agreed that the provider’s conclusion that the student was responsible for any guest in their accommodation and therefore the sanction should be applied to them was reasonable.

The sanctions applied were taken from a range of sanctions available to the provider. The provider concluded that the disabling of the fire alarm was very serious and therefore the sanction needed to reflect the seriousness of the action. The provider confirmed that previous cases with similar circumstances had received similar penalties. We decided that the sanction applied was reasonable and consistent with the provider’s approach to cases of this nature.