Application process

When you access the accommodation application for the first time, click on the red link labelled ‘First time user account creation’. You will be prompted to enter your UEA Applicant / Student Number (this is a 7 or 9 digit number, which you can find on your correspondence from UEA). You will also be asked for your surname, and your date of birth (which must be entered in the format: dd/mm/yyyy).

Please note that this account is only for your accommodation application. It is not the same as a MyUEA account.

You will only be able to register for the accommodation application once you have accepted an offer to study at UEA. Please allow 24 hours after accepting your course offer before registering for the accommodation application.

After confirming your personal details, you will be asked to provide a contact email address.

We strongly recommend that you use a non-Hotmail email address for your accommodation application. This is because of numerous problems which have been reported to us by previous applicants using Hotmail accounts. In some cases, these problems have led to applicants not receiving their accommodation offers, and therefore having their offers cancelled.

Please ensure that the email address you provide is for an account to which you will continue to have access until your arrival at UEA. In particular, we recommend that you do not use a school or college email account, which is likely to be closed during the summer period.

After the successful completion of your application, you will receive an email confirmation. If you do not receive a confirmation email, please contact us urgently.

We will use email to contact you about your application. Please add ‘accom@uea.ac.uk’ to your Safe Senders list or equivalent. Regularly check both your inbox and your junk mail folder for any messages from us.

Your accommodation offer will be sent via email. You will typically have 3 days to respond. If you do not respond within the time limit, your offer may be cancelled.

The application section titled ‘Accommodation Requirements’ includes several questions to enable us to make an appropriate accommodation allocation for your specific circumstances. The default response to these questions is ‘No’, but if you click on the answer box you can select ‘Yes’.

One of the questions in this section is ‘Do you have any illness, disability, or special requirement relevant to your accommodation needs?’ If you select ‘Yes’, a text box will appear, in which you can type details of your circumstances (for example, a dust allergy / asthma, restricted mobility) and any accommodation adaptations you require. Please note that this information may be shared confidentially with relevant staff in the Student Support Service.

Please note the following important points before completing your application.

The application form will take approximately 5-10 minutes to complete. Before beginning the application form, please refer to the accommodation options for full details about all accommodation types. You should consider factors such as location, price and room facilities when choosing your preferences.

The room options available to you will be listed on the application form. Please note that you will need to rank each option in preference order. If a room type is not listed, this is likely because it is not available for your student type. This is sometimes the case with some of the accommodation types that only have a very limited number of rooms.

Allocation policy

Allocations will commence once applicants hold an unconditional course offer which has been accepted (as firm choice for students applying through UCAS).

UEA Accommodation allocates rooms based on accommodation type preferences selected during the application process. We will always try to give each applicant the highest possible preference but are limited by the numbers of rooms we have of each accommodation type. We will only allocate a room to an applicant once they have met the conditions of their course offer. For international Postgraduate students, they must also have paid their international deposit before a room is allocated. 

When allocating rooms, we accommodate Undergraduate, Postgraduate, and HSC students separately. Within these groups we aim to create a mix of students that mirrors our diverse student population. Where possible we try to ensure that each flat has an appropriate gender balance, that there is a mix of Home and International students, and that residents are studying a variety of courses. We also offer quiet living, low alcohol, and mature flats and where there is demand can offer single gender accommodation. 

We offer an accommodation guarantee, which guarantees certain students a room of any type. If possible, we will also offer accommodation to applicants without a guarantee. The type of accommodation offered and the number of rooms available will vary year by year. 

Our priority is to ensure that all students who require accommodation receive an allocation. Because of this we will prioritise students without a room over offering room changes. Our room change process will commence after the start of the autumn term, allowing residents to request a different room.

We try to allocate students one of their top preferences, but this is not always possible, particularly due to the varying numbers of rooms available in each accommodation option. The room stock information below shows the number of rooms available in each accommodation option: 

At the beginning of the application form, you will be asked to select which type of applicant you are. Please answer this question carefully. Standard Undergraduate accommodation licences are for 40 weeks, but MED and HSC (Health Sciences) students have longer courses and therefore longer accommodation licence periods. Postgraduate licences are for a 50 week period.

Exact start and end dates will be detailed on the room offer email and accommodation licence.

You will need to select from the following application types:

• Undergraduate – New Undergraduate students (except Health Sciences or Norwich Medical School students)
• Health Undergraduate – Undergraduate students who will be studying in HSC (Health Sciences) or MED
• Returning Undergraduate - Students who are returning for their 2nd, 3rd, 4th, or 5th year of study
• Postgraduate – All Postgraduate students
• Visiting/Exchange Student (Full Year) – Students who are coming to UEA as a visiting or exchange student for the full year
• Visiting/Exchange Student (Semester 1 Only) – Students who are coming to UEA as a visiting or exchange student for one semester from September
• Visiting/Exchange Student (Semester 2 Only) – Students who are coming to UEA as a visiting or exchange student for one semester from January

It is very important that you choose your application type carefully. Completing the incorrect application form will delay your allocation and you may lose any accommodation guarantee you have. If you are unsure which application form you should complete, please contact us. 

Upon completion of the application form, you will receive an email confirmation detailing your preferences. It is important that you check that this email has been received as it confirms that we have received your application.

If you do not receive the confirmation email once you have submitted your application, please contact us before the accommodation deadline.