A Homestay is an accommodation arrangement which provides first year International (non-EU) Postgraduate students with the opportunity to live with a local family (called a host), while studying at the UEA.

The benefit of a Homestay is that it provides students with a home-away-from-home. Student’s who choose to live in a Homestay, get the chance to experience home comforts, live in a family atmosphere, practise their English in an authentic environment and generally learn about the British way of life. 

Homestay hosts

Homestay hosts vary in terms of age, family situation and living arrangements. A Homestay host may comprise a couple with children, a retired couple whose children have left home, a single-parent with children, a young couple without children, a pair of cohabiting adults, or a single, divorced, or widowed individual. They may live in a two storey house, an apartment or a bungalow and they may or may not have pets. However, all Homestay hosts work at the UEA, live close to the UEA campus and have been carefully selected for their kind and caring personalities and their genuine desire and willingness to open their homes and share their family lives and customs with International students.

Homestay facilities

Homestay accommodation includes:

• A safe, clean and comfortable home close to the UEA campus;
• A kind and caring environment;
• A private fully furnished bedroom with study area;
• Bed linens and towels (students must provide their own toiletries);
• The ingredients to make a reasonable breakfast every morning (e.g. cereal and milk, toast and butter/jam, juice and tea/coffee);
• An English-speaking environment;
• Access to kitchen facilities and utensils;
• Access to a private or communal bathroom (including a bath and/or a shower);
• Access to laundry facilities (including a washing machine, an iron and an ironing board);
• Internet access.

Homestay licence

The Homestay accommodation licence (contract period) is 50 weeks and runs from 16th September 2013 – 3rd September 2014.

Homestay fees

The Homestay accommodation fee is £110.00 per week.  This fee includes a reasonable breakfast every morning, all utilities (e.g. water and electricity) and reasonable internet access.

Homestay accommodation fees can be paid either by credit card (please note we do not accept payments by American Express or Diners card), cheque or bank transfer and all payments should be made directly to the UEA.

Students can choose to pay for Homestay accommodation either annually (the full amount of your accommodation charges will be paid in one lump sum) or termly (the full amount of your accommodation charges will be split into three equal installments).

Cancellation policy

The Homestay accommodation licence is 50 weeks and the minimum tenancy period is three months. If students wish to change their accommodation, after three months, they must inform their host and the UEA Homestay Support Team (Homestaysupport@uea.ac.uk) and give one months notice. We will always try to re-house students, within a month, in another Homestay. However, if this is not possible, we will re-house students in UEA campus accommodation.

Please note that the UEA reserves the right to re-house students, if their behaviour has been deemed unacceptable. Examples of unacceptable behaviour include theft, vandalism and harassment.