Student specific accommodation (SSA) is housing that is used for the sole purpose of providing accommodation to students during the academic term.
All SSA tenancies and licences are under the RTB’s remit. This includes SSA provided by colleges, universities and private companies.
How a landlord can end the SSA tenancy
If you want to end a tenancy, you must
- Send a valid Notice of Termination to the tenant.
- Give the minimum notice period required by law.
We recommend you follow the RTB sample Notices of Termination to make sure the notice sent to your tenant is legally correct. Read more about serving a Notice of Termination.
Notice periods (effective 6 July 2022)
The notice you need to give depends on how long the tenancy has been in place.
| Tenancy length | Notice period |
| Less than 6 months | 90 days |
| 6 months to 1 year | 152 days |
| 1 year to 7 years | 180 days |
| 7 years to 8 years | 196 days |
| More than 8 years | 224 days |
Shorter notice periods
There are some cases where notice periods can be shorter:
- Breach of tenant obligations: You must send the tenant a warning notice that gives them a reasonable time to fix the issue. If the issue is not fixed, you can then give the tenant 28 days’ notice to end the tenancy.
- Serious anti-social behaviour by the tenant: or behaviour that threatens the structure of the property. You can end the tenancy with 7 days’ notice. You don’t need to serve a warning notice.
- Unpaid rent: you can also give a shorter notice period.
Follow these steps for unpaid rent:
1. Send a rent arrears notice with the amount they owe and give 28 days to pay.
2. Send a copy of the notice to the RTB on the same day you send it to your tenant.
3. If unpaid after 28 days, you can give the tenant 28 days’ notice to end the tenancy.
How a tenant can end the SSA tenancy
A student can end a fixed-term SSA tenancy at any time between 1 May and 1 October for any reason by serving a valid 28 day Notice of Termination. Outside of these dates, the existing rules about ending a fixed term tenancy apply. A student can only end their tenancy for specific reasons:
- The landlord has not met their legal obligations.
- The lease or tenancy agreement contains specific reasons to end the fixed term tenancy. Those reasons cannot breach Part 4 of the Residential Tenancies Act 2004.
We recommend you follow the RTB sample Notices of Termination to make sure the notice sent to your landlord is legally correct.
Disputes about ending the tenancy
If there is a dispute about ending the tenancy, either party can contact the RTB dispute resolution service.