Accommodation

6 ways to hack the halls applications

By UALHalls 11 Apr 2024

Securing university accommodation to live in London can be stressful, which is why we want to make sure you have everything you need before you start the application process to live on halls in 2024/2025.

Applications for this year open on Tuesday 16 April for Returners and Tuesday 23 April for students who have firmly accepted UAL's offer. To ensure you are ready to apply when the applications open, we have put together some useful tips below.

1) Register for an account in advance 👨🏽‍💻

To apply, you will need to have a UAL account and a log in to our student portal.

If you don’t have an account, you will need to go to the main UAL accommodation page and click on the Register and Apply panel button here. Once you create an account, you will be asked to submit your eight-digit student ID number, for example 12345678. If you are unsure of your student ID, you will need to speak to the college you’ve received your offer from.

2) Shortlist your top 5 halls 🖐🏼

Applying to live on one of our 14 halls is a highly competitive process, so we highly encourage you to shortlist your top 5 halls to list on your form.

Sometimes your first choice might not be available, so if you don’t list any other halls, our accommodation team will have to choose your next option for you.

We will always strive to place students in one of their top five choices, however, this isn’t always guaranteed. If this does occur, we will allocate you to a nearby hall or one with availability.

3) Allocate time in your calendar and get comfy 🛋️

Due to their popularity, we have a lot of students trying to apply as soon as they are open. This means it could take a bit of time to work through the application, but you will get through.

Before the applications open, make a cup of tea or coffee and get comfortable before you work your way through the process.

4) Do NOT refresh 🙅🏼‍♀️

With a high number of people trying to apply, if you think you haven’t seen any activity in a while, whatever you do, do not fresh the page. This will cause you to potentially make your application and several others take longer and it can also crash the site!

5) Read through everything thoroughly 📑

We understand that choosing where to live is a huge part of your university journey and that there is a lot of information to digest.

Even though you might be tempted to finish the application as soon as possible, we strongly recommend that you read over every question properly to ensure you have completed the section correctly.

6) Please don’t panic 🙇🏽

We appreciate that you want to apply as soon as possible to secure your accommodation. If you can’t get through straight away, please don’t panic as our applications will remain open from April until August.

If after reading this you still have any concerns our team would be more than happy to help! You can contact us via: