REGULATIONS

ABOUT US

Erasmus is an unforgettable experience and our aim is to make your time in Porto as good as possible. Most other places treat students as children or vandals. We aim to treat our Tenants as responsible adults. Unlike most places we allow visitors, including overnight guests. We’re also fine with you inviting your friends over to the property as long as people take full responsibility for every single person they invite into the house. Our partners can also provide personalized help integrating you into your new life in Porto.

With those benefits come responsibilities. The Portuguese culture is very laid back and it’s common for foreigners to understand that rules tend to be flexible and penalties very soft. This is not the case at the Residence. Our rules are fair and mostly common sense. Breaking them will lead to immediate and severe penalties, including on the first offense.

We are open to discussing rules, adjusting them, and even on special circumstances allowing for exceptions. But we will always favor people that take responsibility over people that make excuses. Politeness and common sense will be essential on your day to day at the House.

RENT, DEPOSIT AND EXTRA FEES

  1. Rent shall be paid as follows:
    • 20% of deposit (100€) paid paid at the moment of reserving the room. The other 80% of deposit (400€), paid until the 8th of the month before arrival. The full deposit (500€) is returned on checkout.
    • The first calendar month is paid on arrival.
    • Each calendar month to be paid before the 1st. There will be some tolerance in special circumstances but the rent must have been received by management by the 6th day of the month.
    • Rent received after the 8th will be subject to a 20% penalty.
    • Any delay in rent can lead to immediate termination of the contract.
    • All transfer fees are fully paid by the tenant.
  2. Check-in fee is 20€. This fee is not collected for Schengen guests (or guests that for any other reason do not need the extra paperwork) as long as they fill their check-in form in a timely manner.
  3. Outside the summer season (July and August) rooms are rented for the duration of one semester. Semesters last from September 1 to January 31 and from Feb 1 to June 30 depending on availability. Early arrivals and late departures are not guaranteed and should be arranged on a case by case basis. Late departure is common, especially in July. If warned in advance we can usually provide our guests with pro-rata pricing based on their room rent, meaning only the extra days are paid.
  4. Access to the property, including the Tenant’s room and common areas is dependent on the timely payment of the rent. If the rent is not paid on time, the deposit and any items left on the property will be forfeit to the Owner as compensation. Access to the property will be immediately denied so that a new Tenant may occupy it.
  5. The deposit shall be returned at the end of the Lease, once the home is checked for damage. Any damage or missing items will be deduced from this deposit, including but not limited to towels, sheets and keys. Lost keys have a penalty of 30€. Portuguese law anticipates a 30 day period for returning safety deposits but we usually do it within a week of checkout.
  6. No discounts should be expected for checking in late in the month. Similarly, no discounts are given for leaving early in the last month.

RESPONSIBILITIES

  1. Any damage must be reported as soon as it’s identified, even if the tenant did not cause it. We are very lenient towards common sense accidental damage, but we need to be able to repair or replace affected items. Occasionally we also need to investigate the circumstances of the damage. Failure to notify management in a timely manner will result in damages being charged on the deposits.
  2. The Tenant shall respect the well-being of other tenants and will not make excessive noise nor act in any way that may not be socially acceptable and respectful, including but not limited to cooking hours and volume of TV or music. Some flexibility towards noise levels is expected on weekend nights.
  3. No smoking is allowed inside the House. Damage or smells resulting from these activities will be the responsibility of the Tenant leading to the loss of his deposit, in part or in whole.  The outside areas (patio and terrace) can be used for smoking and related activities but ashtrays should be used. Putting out cigarettes against the walls or throwing buds towards the neighbor’s property will be severely punished.
  4. No pets are allowed in the House.
  5. The Tenant is directly responsible and waives the owner of all responsibility for:
    • Damages that may be caused to persons or property arising from the installations of the services and utilities in the house;
    • Damages, deterioration or loss caused to it, either caused by the Tenant or by the persons living together in the house.
  6. The Tenant may not perform building work, nor make any modifications at all without the written permission of the Landlord. Under no circumstances may the walls be drilled or holed.
  7. The Tenant is responsible for the washing and overall conservation of the sheets and towels supplied, as well as furniture and appliances, and is obliged to conserve the House in perfect conditions.
  8. The Tenant shall be mindful of the use of water and energy in his room and common areas. Any excessive use (e.g. due to electrical heaters) can be charged or deduced from his deposit. A monthly allowance of 100 kW of electricity and 2 m3 of water is included in the expenses, as is weekly cleaning and any small maintenance costs.
  9. The Tenant may not interfere with the working of the water heater clocks. A penalty can be charged or deduced from the deposit if this happens. There are 21 water heaters in the house and they need to be working at different times or they will inevitably overload the building’s power supply creating large inconveniences for all tenants.
  10. Electrical heaters are not allowed in the common areas. Heating of the common areas is provided on each floor through aircon. Tenants should be mindful of costs and the environment by turning off the heating when not in use and never having the heating on with a door/window open to the outside.
  11. It is absolutely critical not to leave an electrical heater working unattended. This may impact the security of the building and the tenants and will lead to termination of the lease with full loss of deposit.
  12. Being located in the city centre, the building is connected to an old sewer network. Sewer blockages cause large inconveniences for everyone in the building therefore is important that nothing except toilet paper and human waste should be flushed down the toilets. Wet wipes and sanitary pads are especially problematic and prone to create blockages.
  13. The kitchen should be cleaned immediately after use as a sign of respect for other guests. There should never be any dirty dishes or pans left behind. It is absolutely forbidden to leave the kitchen while cooking.
  14. Furniture should not be moved around the building. An exception can be made for chairs in house events, but they should be put back in their place when the event is finished.
  15. The Tenant may not interfere with the emergency equipment (fire blankets, alarms, and extinguishers).
  16. English is the official communication language at the house. Tenants are welcome to use any language in the private areas, but when holding a conversation in the common areas they are expected to do it in a English. Usage of “private languages” in front of others can lead to misunderstandings and a bad atmosphere.
  17. The Tenant is responsible for keeping the House keys in his/her possession. They should never be transferred to another person, nor left behind in the room.
  18. Porto is an extremely humid city, especially in the Winter. It is important that guests ventilate their rooms and wardrobes whenever the weather allows. Clothes should not be dried inside the house as this will greatly increase indoor humidity.

CLOSED CIRCUIT SURVEILLANCE SYSTEM

The House is equipped with a closed circuit surveillance system in some common areas. For privacy reasons only one person has access to the images and they will not be provided to tenants under any circumstances.

This security system was deployed to solve serious issues: cameras images will be used in situation of violence, theft, serious damage, or repeated breaking of rules, especially if leading to disruption of house harmony.

Surveillance in some areas can be deactivated on request, as long as all tenants accessing that area take shared responsibility for any problem that could be solved using the cameras.

GATHERINGS

  1. Gatherings require acknowledgment of responsibility by the tenants over the actions of all guests. Any damage caused during a gathering is the shared responsibility of all the tenants that share that area.
  2. It is particularly important to remember that tenants are responsible for making sure their guests follow all rules, including the smoking rules. If guests put out cigarettes against walls or throw buds onto the neighbor’s property, there will be a penalty for the tenants.
  3. Parties at the house are a privilege and not a right. If this privilege is abused they may be suspended for a period of time proportional to the problems caused.
  4. Parties should have a main organizar responsible for coordinating responsibilities and clean-up tasks. Usually one of the tenants takes this responsibility for the semester and assigns tasks as necessary.
  5. A tenant foregoes responsibility over damage to common areas by communicating to the landlord his temporary absence. This must be done before the occurrence of damage. Any absence reported after the occurrence of damage may not absolve the tenant of responsibility.
  6. The front door must be kept closed. If a tenant or a tenant’s guest leaves the door open or ajar, there will be a penalty applied to the deposit.
  7. Noise at the terrace should be kept at a minimum, especially after 23:00. Complaints from neighbours or police will lead to penalties to the deposit.
  8. It has been our past experience that larger gatherings without a guest list regularly lead to damages and problems. We strongly suggest using a guest list, but we will not enforce it.
  9. We reserve the right to request a safety deposit for the organization of parties, if circumstances require it.

GUESTS

  1. The provided room is intended for the Tenant only. Guests are allowed but always for a limited period of time. Overnight guests must be pre approved by the Landlord and other Tenants.
  2. A Tenant is responsible for all actions of his guests and should not leave them alone in the House under any circumstance. If any other Tenant requests a guest to leave, the tenant responsible for the guest must escort the guest out. Common sense should allow for compromise in these situations.
  3. The Tenant may not borrow, sublease or in any other way provide access to his room to a third party.
  4. Guests staying more than one night need to be preannounced to the Landlord and other Tenants and will pay a fee of 5€/night (including the first night). This fee reverts to the house fund and Tenants can request new appliances to be bought with the available funds. Guests may not sleep in the common areas.
  5. Regular overnight guests significantly inflate energy use which, if excessive, may still be charged at the end of the month.
  6. Regular guests should read our regulations. Guests that break rules may have their visitation rights suspended or removed.

CHECKOUT

Checkout day and time should be arranged with the landlord in advance. Due to low cost airlines it’s common for checkout to be necessary outside business hours. Checkouts requested between 20:00 and 08:00 have an off-hour cost of 20€ and will normally be arranged for the evening before the flight. The room should be as ready as possible for inspection and checkout.

We expect our guest to perform the following actions upon checkout day:

  1. Tenants should leave their room and bathroom empty of any personal belongings and reasonably clean.
  2. Sheets and towels should be washed and folded on the bed except the sheets and towels used for the last few days.
  3. Kitchenware used by the guest should be washed and ready to be used by other guests.
  4. The fridge should be clean and empty.
  5. Failure to comply with prior points will be charged from the deposit.

PENALISATION

Failure to fulfil any obligation in the contract shall make the Tenant liable to pay for all damages, expenses, loss of income and other compensation that may be due, including but not limited to the fees of lawyers and procurator, although their intervention may not be required.

Failure to fulfil any obligation may also lead to immediate termination of the contract and loss of deposit in part on in whole.

Cancellation of a reservation, in part or in whole, will lead to deposit penalties.

DATA SHARING AND GDPR

Erasmus Life Porto, together with several other landlords and hostels in Porto, have an information sharing agreement for toxic guests. Any guest that is deemed harmful can be added to a list along with some very limited identifying details (usually name and ID/Passport number). All other personal data is deleted from our systems within one year of checkout.

ALUMNI

We believe in maintaining a connection with our guests even after their Erasmus is finished. In the years following your Erasmus you will be welcome to visit and to join our events. If you come during the Summer we will host you at heavily discounted prices whenever there’s an available room.

Erasmus reunions are always happy moments, even after 10 years have passed. We will be happy to help you plan a reunion.

As this project is a work in progress, we are always looking for feedback, positive or negative. If your Erasmus experience has forever changed your life, don’t forget to tell us. We love getting those messages.

If you recommend a potential tenant, their chances of being accepted will be much higher. For a recommendation to be valid you will have to message us, vouching for your friend as a good fit for the house. Your friend saying that you vouch for him is not enough. We will not ask you for a recommendation and the initiative should always be yours. One way or another your friend’s fitness as a guest will reflect on you. If your friend is a good guest, we will be extremely grateful for the recommendation. If you are not sure, then you should not vouch for your friend.