Student accommodation
Place reservation
A place reservation is the step by which someone admitted to a colegio mayor (a Spanish hall of residence with a formative programme) or a residence confirms they will take up their place the following year, often by signing the terms and paying an advance. Until then, the place can go to someone else.
Also known asreservation · booking confirmation · booking deposit · reserva de plaza
How it works
Months go by between admission and arrival, and the reservation is what covers them: the admitted person says yes, the residence holds the place and both sides know where they stand if someone changes their mind. In a colegio mayor, Decree 2780/1973 makes the choice of college conditional on "there being places available" (art. 18.2) and gives priority in selection to those who already lived there the previous year (art. 21.2). That is why it is worth separating the reservation of someone staying on, the rebooking, from that of someone joining for the first time. What a good reservation settles:
- The deadline to confirm and what happens to the place if it is not confirmed in time.
- What is paid and on account of what: whether it comes off the first instalment or is separate.
- What is refunded if the person does not come, and up to what date.
- What is reserved: a specific room or a type of place.
Worth knowing
Reserving is not paying the deposit. The reservation secures a place before moving in; the security deposit guarantees the contract once inside and, if it is a lease, the LAU governs it. Neither Decree 2780/1973 nor the University Student Statute says what happens to the reservation payment if the person withdraws: the residence's own terms set that, and it is worth having them in writing before asking for the first payment. The earlier conversation with someone looking for a place is covered in admissions.
Sources
Related terms
- Waiting listA waiting list is the ordered list of people who applied for a place in a colegio mayor (a Spanish hall of residence with a formative programme) or a residence and did not get one because it is full. When a place frees up, it goes to the next person under the residence's criteria.
- AdmissionsAdmissions is the process by which a colegio mayor (a Spanish hall of residence with a formative programme) or a residence decides who gets a place for a year: call for applications, application, selection under its criteria and notice of the result. In a colegio mayor, the entry rules must be in its house rules.