You’ll receive an Inventory/Room Condition Report Form when you first check-in to the Village. This form must be completed and returned to the office within 48 hours of moving in. It is really important that your form is completed in detail, as it will be a record of the condition of your room when you arrived. If you don’t return the form, we will consider everything is OK. Please make the effort, as it will avoid issues with your Security deposit/Bond when you move out.

Your Bedroom includes: Bed frame, mattress, open wardrobe with shelves and drawers, desk with attached bookshelf and desk chair.

Your Apartment includes: Lounge chairs, coffee table, dining table, dining chairs, fridge, kitchen bin, main kitchen fit-outs (bench, sink, stove top, microwave oven).

To set up your new room, bring your own bed linen, duvet and cover, pillow and case, and towels. For your kitchen, bring drink ware, tea towels, basic crockery, cooking utensils or cutlery that you need. Consider also bringing some laundry liquid and basic food or cleaning supplies, so you have the bare essentials until you can arrange a shopping trip!

For shared apartments, we recommend waiting until you move in before you purchase a kettle or toaster - in case your roomies already have them and are happy to share (this will avoid you having 3 kettles and 4 toasters in the same apartment!)

Arrived without any of life’s essentials?
If you’re in need of a linen pack you can pre-order this on-line through our website. They include a duvet, duvet cover, flat sheet, fitted sheet, pillow, pillow case and a blanket.

You’ve just arrived in a community of great people, many of whom are in exactly the same situation as you. Making friends is one of life’s great pleasures. Say hello to someone you don’t know – they could turn out to be your new best friend.

You can do this pretty easily, all you have to do is open your bedroom door and say hello. Beyond that, make your way to the common areas – these are great areas to meet up with friends from around the Village, meet new people or just hang out and watch the world go by.

Our Residential Life Team runs regular events and activities throughout the year which gives you a chance to meet new friends, take part in charity events and learn new skills. Keep up to date with what’s going on by following our Facebook community group, checking the notice boards around the Village and keeping an eye out on your email inbox!

TIP! If you need a bit of help, that’s fine! Head out to the common areas of your apartment or keep your bedroom door open to show your roomies that you’re free to chat.

Our resident portal includes resources that you might need during your stay at the Village such as our Village Rules. This is also where you log maintenance requests, make account payments and re-apply each year. Be sure to check out the portal and make the most of the information available. Can’t find what you are looking for? Just ask the office.

If you are a resident you can access the wireless zones in your room and throughout the Village using your login.

Mail
You may have a lot of people who want to contact you via good old postal mail too – make sure that friends, relatives and any companies (such as your bank or mobile phone company) have your new address, located at the top of this guide.

Parcels
Parcels delivered by couriers will be kept in the Village office; parcels can be collected during office hours only.

You will be required to show ID when collecting parcels. Please check and pick up your mail regularly. Village staff will email you if you receive a package or anything that looks important.

While we accept mail from courier companies we do not accept any liability if the mail goes astray. Any arrangement to have mail delivered by courier is based on this understanding.

We live in a wired world, so your apartment will probably have a few electrical appliances, including your own! We ask that, in order to prevent our circuits overloading and to preserve energy, you only keep smaller electrical items (e.g. computers, lamps, hair straighteners) in your room. Keep them in a good, clean operating condition so that they meet our safety regulations.

Other than your hair straightener, any appliance with an open heating element (e.g. hotplates, BBQ’s, fridges or electric blankets) are prohibited in apartments and rooms, unless you have written permission from Village Management.

All electrical appliances brought to the Village need to be safety checked at the beginning of the year.

Only safety tagged appliances should be used within the Village. This is to ensure we comply with fire and safety policies, ensuring the safety of all our residents and not to make your life difficult!

TIP! It is your responsibility to make sure any electrical equipment you bring has been checked and tagged.

Our jam-packed Live, Learn, Grow residential life program means you’re never out of options when it comes to meeting new people! There is something for everyone. From cooking classes to harbour boat cruises and a huge range of social, cultural, arts, volunteering and sporting events, we’re dedicated to creating activities that allow you to meet like-minded people and make friends for life. We suggest you start small, come to one of our many BBQ’s or free food events and introduce yourself!

Check out our Facebook Village Community Page for the latest information on what’s happening, and how to get involved in the events. Also, keep your eye on posters and notice boards around the Village which will keep you informed of any upcoming events or opportunities. If you have any ideas for an activity that’s not currently available, speak to your Resident Assistant team - we LOVE new ideas!

Exercise, besides being good for you, is a great way to get outside, meet people or even just take a break away from the books or your computer screen. If you are interested in joining a team or getting a team together to enter into university or local sporting competitions, speak to a member of the Resident Assistant Team and they’ll help get you in touch with the right people.

• Live: ‘Live’ events are the heart and soul of the Village community. They help you meet new faces, make new friends and grow your Village family! Events may range from low-key pancake breakfasts to exciting weekend trips away.
  
  
• Learn: ‘Learn’ events support your studies - that’s why you’re at uni in the first place! From essay-writing workshops to study groups, this is where you want to be for tips and tricks on doing well at uni.
  
  
• Grow: It’s not always simple moving out of home and into an independent environment. ‘Grow’ events are there to make the transition easy. Never cooked a meal? We’ll teach you. Never changed a tyre? We’ll show you! While uni helps you excel in your studies - our workshops are perfect if you want to excel at life too!

Know your waste!
The Village strives to reduce its levels of waste, and decrease the amount of waste that ends up in landfill. Make sure you familiarise yourself with the waste bins available (general waste, recycling, green waste) and dispose accordingly. If you are unsure, you can use the RecycleMate app – free for iOS and Android. Get your housemates involved and make sure recycling is a habit you get into every day.

Repurpose and re-use!
As a resident you have access to the whole Village community via our social media pages. If you have items that are no longer used, they might find a new home with other residents! We will organise sustainability fairs or ‘swap and goes’ if there is enough interest, so reach out to your friendly Village reception who can facilitate this. We also encourage donating any second-hand clothes to charities like the Red Cross, Salvation Army, or St Vincent’s.

Showers
A hot shower after a long day of classes, work, or exercise is a great way to unwind or prepare yourself for exciting Village events. However, it is important to limit shower time to conserve water. Shower timers are a great way to start and keep this good habit. We recommend ‘1 song showers’ – no longer than 4 minutes.

Taps
Brushing your teeth, washing the dishes, filling a bucket to mop the floor – all of these involve turning a tap on and most importantly, off again. Only using the amount of water you need is a great way to limit usage.

Lights
On average, lighting accounts for 10-15% of household electricity use! By making sure you turn off lights when you leave your bedroom or common areas you can help to make instant change.

Heaters and Fans
We know how hot summer can get in the southern hemisphere, and equally how quickly the temperature can drop in winter, and this means we have to be especially conscious of our use of heaters and cooling systems. Before turning on a heater, try putting on a pair of warm socks or grabbing an extra blanket! In summer, try opening your windows and screen doors before turning that fan on full blast. As always, make sure these appliances are switched off when you leave the Village.

Standby Mode!
You may not know but devices and appliances still use power when in standby mode! Make sure you are turning these off at the power point when not in use to minimise energy usage. Examples include the kettle, microwave, and gaming systems.

But why?
It’s the right thing to do. As a community of young and diverse students, the Village is the perfect place to develop, practice, and share sustainable habits that can make positive change for our environment. The Village will keep you updated on sustainability initiatives and the real impact your decisions have on our environmental footprint. Keep your eyes peeled for competitions within and between Villages, with rewards for sustainable achievers! As always, keep it green!

Login to the Resident Portal. Select maintenance from the home page and enter the maintenance issue.

Please provide as much information as possible, the more detail we have the quicker we can get the problem fixed.

Urgent maintenance involves things that need immediate attention, such as:

• Floods/Leaks
• Broken doors
• Electricity shortages

On the rare occasion that any of these happen they should be reported immediately to the office, and the Facilities Management Team will see that the matter is attended to as quickly as possible.

If urgent problems occur after hours, report them to the Village Team by calling the contact details at the top of this page.

The Village is equipped with fire detection/protection devices including smoke detectors, alarm systems and fire blankets.

The Village Team and Residential Fire Wardens have been trained in how to respond to such an emergency. Please do exactly as they or any emergency personnel ask.

On hearing a fire alarm sounding, residents must evacuate immediately and follow the emergency procedure (listed on the back of your apartment door).

The fire services will be notified in the event of a fire being discovered, their advice must be followed on arrival.

Important notes to follow:

• Do not attempt to take any personal belongings with you
• Close doors behind you as you exit
• Do not use the lifts during evacuation
• Follow the green signs indicating the shortest exit route
• Make your way to the assembly point.

The assembly point is designated on your emergency procedures sign on the back of your apartment door. Please familiarise yourself with your assembly point as it can differ for each building.

Fire alarms are often caused by leaving cooking food unattended in kitchens or from excess steam coming from the bathroom. Our fire protection systems are sensitive to ensure we keep you safe, so please take care when making your snacks or doing your hair. We are sure that you don’t want to be responsible for a full evacuation of the building!

You’re calling the Village your home, so you’re going to need to know how to take charge in the kitchen! Don’t worry if it’s your first time. We’ve all been there.

Here are a few hints to keep the kitchen clean and running like a well-oiled machine:

• Don’t leave your dirty dishes lying around! This is important. Treat your roomies the way you’d like to be treated – so if you wouldn’t like seeing their mess everywhere, don’t leave yours out for them to see! Do your bit by washing what you make dirty. Easy!
  
  
• If you’re sharing equipment, be considerate. Always ask before you use someone else’s kitchen utensils. It’s just good roomie behaviour.
  
  
• Decide at the start whether you’re going to cook together, or individually. While sharing cooking responsibilities and grocery shopping can be cheaper, it’s not for everyone. If you want to give it a try, first figure out if your tastes and budgets align, then it’s smooth sailing!
  
  
• If you decide not to cook together, make sure you’re still spending time in the common area of the apartment to see what they’re up to. Staying social with your roomies makes for a happy household.
  
  
• Come up with a system in the fridge and with the chopping boards. Everyone has different dietary requirements. If you’re vegetarian, vegan, or eat halal or kosher foods make sure you let your roommates know. That way you won’t have any contamination issues.
  
  
• Do you drink a lot of juice or milk? That’s cool! Just make sure you’re leaving enough space in the fridge for everyone to store their groceries.
  
  
• Whatever you do, don’t let food rot in the fridge! Keep tabs on what you’ve put in the fridge, because it will be your responsibility to throw it out when it goes bad. If you’re not going to eat something, share it with your roommates! They’ll thank you for it.

It is your responsibility to make sure your room and apartment are kept in a safe, hygienic state on a daily basis. Our team will check in with you to make sure you’re looking after yourself and your living spaces regularly.

Take out your rubbish when the bag is full! If you’re about to put your foot in there and stamp it down, then it’s definitely time to take the rubbish out! Think about setting up a roster so there is no confusion and your flat doesn’t start smelling of ten-day old lasagne.

We’d love you to recycle as much as possible, so it’s worth thinking about how you and your roommates are going to separate out the rubbish during the week.

You can find the large recycle bins at the base of most buildings at the Village.

Hot water and damp towels do tend to create a bacteria-friendly environment, so keep tabs on the state of your sink, shower and toilet.

Make sure you share the responsibility of cleaning the bathroom equally – and regularly.

Likewise, basic bathroom etiquette goes a long way when using the bathroom day to day. Simple things like flushing the toilet, mopping up any excess water, rinsing out the hand basin especially after shaving, changing dirty hand towels and placing sanitary items in the bins provided, make a difference.

Communal laundry facilities (including washing machines and dryers) are available to residents 24 hours a day. You will also need to buy your own laundry powder.

Winning the Laundry Battle

• Keep on top of your laundry. One or two medium sized loads a week is a good base. If you try to put too much in the machine at once your clothes won’t get that thorough clean they deserve.
  
  
• Keep your whites looking sharp by washing your dark clothes separately to your light clothes.
  
  
• Read the care labels in your clothing. If the label says wash in cool water and lay flat to dry...do it! Shrinking your favourite sweater costs a lot more than taking time to read the label.
  
  
• Unless you love to iron, remove clothes from the dryer as soon as they are done, fold or hang them up. Most wrinkles are the result of clothes sitting for hours or even days in a pile.
  
  
• If you notice any of the washing or dryers are not working - let our office team know and they’ll get it fixed.

How much noise you make, or how much noise your roommates make, is a particularly tricky issue, and you should work to keep all sides happy. Here are a few ideas.

Be aware of how loud you and any guests are being, especially if a roommate isn’t the outgoing type. They may feel unwelcome if you and your mates are making lots of noise in the communal areas of the flat.

• Get to know your roommate’s timetables – it’s a good idea for you to let each other know when you have exams or essay deadlines, so that you don’t interrupt them too much.
  
  
• Be mindful of how loud your conversations may be on the phone or on Skype.
  
  
• Music tastes causing a few problems? If your roommates complain about your music, don’t get too defensive - maybe you’ve been cranking that volume up a little too much.

Noise Policy
Quiet hours apply from 10pm from Sunday to Thursday, and midnight on Friday and Saturday.

If you’re going to have a get together, plan it as a group and don’t leave anyone out. Neighbours are much more tolerant if you respect their rights by letting them know about a gathering. If you’re planning a party, a Party Application Form must be submitted and approved by Village Management. Don’t forget to get your roomie’s permission too!

The Decibel Scale

150DB - A jet engine. Don't fire up your jet in the apartment after hours.

95DB - The point where sustained exposure causes hearing loss. Not fun.

90DB - A pneumatic drill. Don’t use a drill in your apartment. You want your security deposit back!

70DB - Vacuum cleaner. That machine that cleans up the house. There’s one in your apartment. Check it out.

60DB - Normal conversation. Inside voices people. No one needs to hear you yell.

44DB - Bird call. Generally a pleasant noise, unless it’s 6am. Then the birds are not your friends.

30DB - Whispering. This won’t bother anyone (unless they’re not in on the secret!)

Living with other people, and showing them consideration is a two-way street. It’s a balance between being patient and knowing when to raise issues that are getting you down.

How do I go about sorting things out?
Like we said, no one is perfect! All of us tend to come across as thoughtless or passive- aggressive from time to time, even if we don’t mean to.

It’s worth keeping this in mind if you have an issue with a friend or flatmate. First, try to talk it over with them before you get upset or angry.

Don’t forget that there is always someone here in the Village for you to talk to if you’re not sure how to approach it. Disagreements are just part of life, and university is no different. So don’t feel like you have to deal with it alone!

• Talk to the person about how their actions are affecting you.
  
  
• Don’t get into accusations – you wouldn’t appreciate someone accusing you of something, so return the courtesy to your roomies.
  
  
• Think of solutions that are at the best interests of everyone involved – in other words, don’t just reel off all the things they’ve done wrong. Explain how you think things could work better in the future.

Remember we’re here to support you, so if you feel that you can’t come up with suitable compromises, you can speak to a member of the Residential Life Team to chat about the problem.

If for some reason things aren’t quite right with your room, please let us know as soon as possible. We may be able to move you to another room, subject to availability. We would prefer to try and work out the problem first, though.

You can find application forms for room changes on the resident portal.

With all the fun you’ll be having at the Village with your new friends, you’ll soon realise that one semester or one year is simply not long enough! You’ve only gotten started and it just gets better from here on in!

Being worried about commute times, crowded public transport and unexpected utility bills are all things of the past - now that you live comfortably and conveniently on campus!

You can easily extend your stay with us by re- applying for a new contract at the end of each semester or the end of each year, via the Resident Portal.

We’ll let you know when it’s time to re-apply, so keep an eye out on your email inbox, the Village Facebook Community Group and for posters on the noticeboards.

We’d really love you to re-apply to stay on with us, however if you do choose to move out of the Village, we’ll get in touch with you closer to the termination date of your contract!

The departure process email will ask you to confirm your departure date and will have the Departure Checklist attached. This is a list that you should go through to ensure your check out is as seamless as possible!

The Village does not have the capability to store your personal items. You will need to make external arrangements to store your things over the summer, while you go exploring. Visit the Village office for more information.

Your welfare is important to us and we want to make sure that all our residents are safe. Our Village Management may investigate or check rooms suspected of being empty or unoccupied for long periods of time.

To avoid confusion, please notify us via the resident portal if you are going to be away for more than 48 hours.

If you are going home or travelling during the holidays, please make sure you have locked your window and doors and switched off any electrical items (excluding your fridge and freezer). Additionally, don’t leave any valuable items in communal areas of the apartment. You don’t need to move out or move your belongings during the holidays. Remember to store your room keys somewhere safe while you’re on holiday - they are your responsibility.

The Village team work tirelessly to provide a safe and secure environment for you and your things, however, we strongly advise all residents to take out personal insurance. The Village assumes no responsibility for the personal property of its residents and their guests so the best way to ensure your belongings are protected is to get them insured against loss, damage and theft.

We’re a cashless Village! For payments made online and at Village reception we only accept Visa or MasterCard credit/debit card payments. We also accept EFTPOS at Village reception.

We do not accept cash. Please note that credit card surcharges apply to all payments made on the student portal or over the counter at the Village.

Advanced rent payments can also be bank transferred to the Village ahead of the rent schedule.

It is important to know that when you accepted a room at the Village you signed a legally binding agreement which commits you to pay for the room for the term of your contract. We understand that balancing your finances whilst being a student can be tough, therefore please ensure you speak to us if you are struggling to pay your rent. We can help students to budget more effectively and the University Faculty Admin and Student Services team may be able to provide financial advice and support.

Non-payment of rent can lead to eviction and may also cause difficulties in borrowing money in the future. We can help, so please make sure you speak to a member of the team if you are experiencing financial difficulties.

Definitions

• • Residential Fee
  The Residential Fee is the money you pay for occupying a room here, and enjoying the facilities of the site. It also includes water and electricity usage.

• • Payment of rent
  Payments must be made in accordance with your contract. If you find yourself in financial difficulty, there is help close at hand, contact the Village office as soon as possible. Don’t ignore it because it won’t go away. The best thing to do is to seek help and advice early – we’re more than willing to help you work out any problems.
• • Your security deposit
  You were required to pay a security deposit to Campus Living Villages before starting your residency here. This deposit is refunded at the end of your time with us, as long as there is no outstanding balance on your account, and the final inspection of your room or apartment following departure is satisfactory. Please note it may take up to six weeks after the end of your residential agreement for this money to be refunded into your nominated account.
• • Application Fee/Administration Fee (if applicable)
  This is to cover administration costs and is not refundable. Please note, this fee is not applicable at some Villages.

Living with other people involves a balance between patience with them and knowing when to raise issues that are affecting your personal wellbeing. If you feel that you are unable to come up with suitable compromises yourselves you can call a Resident Assistant to discuss strategies with them.

• All complaints, verbal or written, and no matter how seemingly unimportant, will be taken seriously.
  
  
• All complaints will be dealt with professionally, sensitively, and in a timely manner.
  
  
• If a complaint is being made on behalf of the student by a representative, it must first be verified that the person has permission to speak for the student especially if confidential information is involved.
  
  
• Our front line staff who receive a minor complaint will seek to solve the problem themselves immediately, if appropriate.
  
  
• All written complaints will be followed up with an acknowledgement email by a Village staff member within 24 hours of receiving the complaint.
  
  
• Please see us at Reception for a Complaints Form.