Rent payment FAQs

If you wish to make an advanced payment, you will need to ensure it is done at least 5 calendar days prior to your next payment is due, to avoid the card or account being charged, which may leave your account overdrawn.  

Click here to make a payment

To make a payment, you can use the following alternative options:

• By card using the University’s online link
• By Bank transfer via our Western Union partner

Once you are logged onto your Student portal (MyEd), go to Finance channel – Accounts - View Account.

Scroll down slightly and you should see a tab that says "View instalment plan".  Here you will see the amount and dates for payment.

If the network or MyEd is down, you can you email us at accom.rentenquiries@ed.ac.uk and we will aim to reply to you within 2 working days.

To change the way you pay your accommodation fees with us, you will need to complete this online form. Our system is designed to only hold one set of bank details at any given time, so we can only collect on your latest payment instructions.

When you put your student number in as the reference, do not use the “S” as your mandate will become invalid. For example rather than S1800000, please put in 1800000.

We recommend that any changes made to your method of payment are done at least 10 calendar days before your next payment is due, especially if you are looking to switch the way you pay us to Direct Debit, as this process can take longer to be validated.

For security and compliance reasons, our provider encrypts those details in a secure safe website.  You can call us and we can go through a few security questions and tell you what details we have on file to which is very limited. Call 0131 651 2118

We do not ask for a deposit; however you can choose to make an advanced payment towards your accommodation fees invoice.

This advance payment is designed to make your repayments easier to manage.

We offer three options, £500.00, £1000.00 and £2000.00. 

Example

If your accommodation fees are £6,000 and you are a UG student who has opted to pay by monthly instalments.

If you opted to pay £2,000 as an advance payment, our team will deduct this amount from your invoice.

Your repayments would be:

£6,000-£2,000=£4,000

£4,000 divided by 8 instalments so £500/month

If you did not choose to make an advance payment, your repayments would be £6,000 divided by 8 instalments so £750/month.

In most cases, it would be because you have made a payment towards your accommodation fees after our team has sent our payment collection request to your bank.  

When we apply for you accommodation fees, we have to do this in advance of the payment date, approximately 6 days before it is due. A request is sent to your bank/card provider and unfortunately, once our request has been sent, our team is not able to stop our collection process.

To avoid duplicate payments being made we recommend that students or parents don’t make any payments between the 25th and the 31st of the month to prevent double payments. The University of Edinburgh will not be responsible for any costs incurred in the event a duplicate payment is made to us.  

Our team will contact you to arrange how your overpayment can be refunded back to your card/bank account, please note you can also chooses to allocate this payment to any future payments you may have scheduled.

Students who are experiencing financial difficulties in paying accommodation fees should seek help at the earliest opportunity

Accommodation, Catering and Events will at all times seek to be sympathetic to and understanding of each individual student's financial circumstances

If, during your term of study, you experience financial difficulties, please contact the Rent Payment team as soon as possible. You will be asked to provide as much information about your situation as you can, and if possible you should propose an alternative payment schedule. We will always ask for evidence of your circumstances, so please be ready to provide this. We will make every effort to understand your situation, and will try to make suggestions that may help you address the financial difficulty. We do appreciate that financial difficulties can be very distressing however this does not mean that we are in a position to accommodate all alternative payment schedules proposed to us. Where this is the case, you will be asked to give the matter further thought and to work with us to achieve an acceptable outcome. 

You can call us on 0131 651 2039 or make an appointment to see us face-to-face in Pollock Halls.

Support may also be available from Edinburgh University Students' Association's (EUSA) Advice Place who can be contacted on 0131 650 9225.

Your flatmates may have paid an advanced payment towards their invoice and this would reduce the monthly/semester rent.

When you accept your accommodation offer our system automatically generates an invoice that needs to be paid in full within 30 days or you can choose to set up an instalment plan within this time frame to pay off the total. This is purely for financial auditing purposes.

As you have chosen to pay via an instalment plan this is the agreed method of payment. We set up instalment plans manually once you have accepted your offer so can take up to 72 hours to be put in place and show on your MyEd Finance Channel.

As the contract is with yourself, we only have permission to deal with you directly, you can however give us permission to deal with any third parties regarding your accommodation fees, but this must be put in writing to us at accom.rentenquiries@ed.ac.uk (Please provide their full name, relationship to you and what you are authorising us to discuss with them)

Our team will revise your invoice based on your new lease dates and or new room price.

If you have been given official permission to be released from your lease, you will be charged up to the day of your departure.

Any monies to be refunded will be refunded back to the original method of payment.  If you owe the University, we will send you an email with a statement attached requesting payment.

Once signed, you can't move out without our permission. If you do, you remain responsible for payment of rent until someone else takes your room. There may be exceptions whereby a student may be able to terminate their lease agreement, contact us on 0131 651 2118 so we can direct you to the right team.