Applicant Frequently Asked Questions

Every year, HUH applications for the leasing season open on March 1st and will continue to be open year-round. Approved applications are valid through the end of February of the following year. 

To submit a new application, navigate to the "New Applicants" link at the top of our website.

All applications that are submitted between March 1st to May 1st will be automatically included in the HUH Lottery and randomly assigned a View and Select window.*

While there is no preference given to applicants regarding their application submission date as it relates to their randomly assigned View and Select Window dates, applying early does give you the opportunity to select units that may come available prior to the Lottery, listed on the Currently Available List.

Approved Applicants who applied by the May 1 deadline will receive an email in early May with their assigned Housing Lottery window.

For more information, we encourage you to review our Application Process page.

*As long as the applicant has not already selected a unit from the Currently Available List prior to the Housing Lottery.

During the Application Process, HUH will check all applicants’ affiliation eligibility.

To be eligible to rent an HUH apartment, you must meet the following criteria:

• A full-time Harvard Graduate Student, Harvard Faculty, or Employee with an affiliation at least through March 1st of the following year. 

• Harvard Faculty and Employees must be full-time, working a minimum of 35 hours per week with an active Harvard University ID number, receiving a Harvard University paycheck, and eligible for full University benefits.

For more information, we encourage you to either Submit an Application to see if you’re eligible or check out our Eligibility and Occupancy Guidelines page.

No, HUH is separate from the Undergraduate housing and Graduate school dorms. Our properties are solely managed by HUH with no affiliation to the College, Graduate schools, or other Harvard departments.

Some Graduate schools have their own affiliated housing, which they independently maintain and manage - this means they have their own application processes, deadlines, and policies.

• For Graduate school-affiliated housing options, please reach out to your school for their housing information and options, if available.
• For Undergraduate college housing, please refer to the resources provided by the Harvard College Dean of Students website.

Applications for HUH are to confirm your Harvard affiliation eligibility. The questions in the application will prompt for information such as ‘School’ and when you will earn your degree (if applicable).

Having an approved application means that your eligibility to live with us has been approved after a member of our team has reviewed it, and that your application account is now able to see all available units from our Currently Available list. 

• It's important to understand that having an approved application does not mean that you are guaranteed a unit, or guaranteed that we have any units available for selection at that time.

When you apply, you are applying to live in HUH in general - not for a specific property. Unit selection will occur if/when units are available and listed within the Currently Available List or during the Housing Lottery.

On average, roughly half of HUH’s total inventory of 3,000 apartments become available each year. Due to high demand, HUH receives approximately 5 applications for every 1 available apartment. Because of this, HUH is unable to guarantee housing even if your HUH application is approved.

However, to best position yourself to select an apartment, it is best to understand how and when apartments become available. HUH units become available in four general categories:

1. Units where the outgoing tenant vacates 4/30 or earlier:

   • Lease start dates will be between early March and early May

   • These units are released immediately to Currently Available as they become available.

2. Units where the outgoing tenant vacates between 5/1 and 5/31:

   • Lease start dates will be between early May and early June

   • These units are typically released early April, approved applicants at this time are given more information about this release.

3. Units where the outgoing tenant vacates 6/1 and later:

   • Lease start dates will be early June and later

   • These units will be released into the annual HUH Lottery.

4. Units that become available Post-Lottery though end of February:

   • These units will be released immediately to the Currently Available List as they become available.

Units released immediately once they have been processed to our Currently Available list are typically posted during our business hours of 8am – 5pm EDT. 

Unfortunately, we do not maintain a waitlist nor does the system allow for alerts when apartments are posted, so we encourage you to check the Currently Available List within the Applicant Portal regularly once you have an Approved Application.

UNIT SELECTION CANCELLATION PROCESS

After you have selected an apartment, you are typically given 3-5 business days to sign your lease and make your initial payment. If you decide to cancel your unit selection prior to signing/paying, there is no fee/penalty. You can cancel by emailing leasing@harvard.edu.

LEASE TERMINATION PROCESS

Once your lease has been signed and you have made your initial payment, there is a $300 cancellation fee associated with that process and you are responsible for the rent of the apartment until it is re-rented (including turnover days), or your lease end date - whichever is earlier. The FAQ section further down this page titled "What is the Lease Termination Process?" outlines more details, including who to contact and how to initiate the process.

The HUH portfolio is comprised of 45% One Bedroom apartments, 23% Two Bedroom apartments, 20% Studio apartments, 8% Three Bedroom apartments, 2 % Two Bedroom Efficiency apartments, 1% Four Bedroom apartments, and 1% Suite apartments (suite apartments are only available at Harvard at Trilogy).

Every spring, a limited number of HUH apartments become available to rent. Due to high demand, HUH receives approximately 5 applications for every 1 available apartment. Because of this, HUH is unable to guarantee housing even if your HUH application is approved. To manage all requests equitably, we have created the Housing Lottery.

Each applicant is randomly assigned a window of time where they are able to log in, view the inventory of remaining units, and select a unit (if available). We refer to that assigned window as your randomly assigned “View & Select Window”. The Housing Lottery begins in early to mid-May and runs through early June, or until all available units have been selected.

• Since the number of approved applicants typically outweighs the number of available units, being assigned a View and Select Window in the Housing Lottery does not guarantee an apartment.

For more information about the Housing Lottery process, please view the Housing Lottery section of our Application Process page.

View & Select Windows are assigned randomly, regardless of application date, and cannot be changed upon request. 

**Please exercise caution to not miss your View & Select Windows - we recommend setting calendar reminders, alarms, and/or notifications. If you miss your randomly assigned View & Select Windows for the Lottery, we cannot assign you another one.

Since the number of approved applicants typically outweighs the number of available units, being assigned a View and Select Window in the Housing Lottery does not guarantee an apartment.

For more information about the Housing Lottery process, please view the Housing Lottery section of our Application Process page.

No, HUH does not assign co-lessees (Roommates). It is the responsibility of the applicant/current resident to find and select their own co-lessees.

To find a co-lessee, we recommend contacting your graduate school or department for any resources they may have, as well as using harvardhousingoffcampus.com. Keep in mind that HUH does not mediate disputes between co-lessees, so it’s important to protect yourself by choosing people you can trust to follow HUH policies and meet the payment requirements listed in your lease.

For more information regarding Co-Lessees (Roommates), we encourage you to check out our Roommates page, as well as the Applying with a Roommate section on our website.

Co-Lessees

Co-lessees are roommates that are Harvard Affiliates who meet the HUH Affiliation Eligibility Requirements. Learn more about living with co-lessees/roommates on our Roommates page, as well as our Application Process page for applying with a roommate.

Authorized Occupants

Authorized Occupants are generally family members of the applicant/tenant whom will be living with the applicant and are not affiliated with Harvard as eligible faculty, staff, or graduate students. This includes spouses or domestic partners, children, parents, or siblings.

There are specific guidelines to follow when adding Authorized Occupants to your application/lease. For more details, please review the "Applicants with Family" section of our Application Process page.

Lease start dates are based on the outgoing tenant's move out date plus the turnover days (unit cleaning, painting, maintenance, etc.) and therefore vary. However, most leases will start between early June and late August, and all HUH leases end on June 30.

Please take careful consideration of the lease start date listed for the unit you are selecting, as the lease start and end dates for HUH apartments are non-negotiable.

If your lease begins prior to your arrival, you have the option of subletting your apartment.

After you have successfully selected an apartment, you will receive an email confirming your selection.

Typically, within 2 business days your Leasing Coordinator will send you a lease to sign. In most cases, you will have between 3-5 business days to review the lease, sign, and make your initial payment. However, if the lease start date is immediate, the time to complete the lease signing process may be quicker.

Please note that the lease signing process is not complete until you (and your co-lessees, if applicable) have signed the lease and made the initial payment.

For more information, we encourage you to check out our Signing a Lease page

If you have signed your lease or during your lease term you wish to terminate your lease or move out early (and do not have a co-lessee), you should email leasing@harvard.edu or your Leasing Coordinator who can assist you.

Please note that the lease termination process includes a $300 fee, and you will remain responsible for the rent of the unit until it is re-rented (including, if you have moved into the apartment, turnover days for cleaning, painting, maintenance, etc.) or your lease end date, whichever is earlier.

If you have a co-lessee, your co-lessee must release you from the lease, as they would be assuming full responsibility for the rent of the unit. If you and your co-lessee(s) are all leaving, then the normal cancelation policy would apply.

• As co-lessee cancellations can be complicated, we strongly encourage residents to reach out to their Leasing Coordinator to discuss options and go over the process.

For more information, we encourage you to read the 'Vacating Your Apartment During the Lease Term' section of our policies and procedures, located within your lease and on the PDF guide supplied on our Policies & Procedures page.

All requests for an exception to HUH policies are made only on the basis of eligible requests for a disability-related accommodation. Before any waiver of policy is considered, your request must be reviewed and supported by your local disability coordinator (LDC) or by University Disability Resources (UDR).

• If you are a Harvard student, please contact your Local Disability Coordinator (LDC) to make a housing accommodation request. 

• If you are a Harvard faculty or staff member or other Harvard non-student affiliate (fellow, postdoc, visiting scholar, etc.), please contact University Disability Resources (UDR) to submit a housing accommodation request.

• All other requesters (including spouses, domestic partners, family members of Harvard affiliates, former rent control residents, HUH affordable housing residents, and any other person who is not a Harvard student): Please contact University Disability Resources (UDR) to submit a housing accommodation request.

Please visit UDR for more information on the housing accommodation request process.

For more HUH information, we encourage you to check out our Accessible Housing and Reasonable Accommodations page.

The initial payment is your first rent payment to secure your apartment. The payment amount will depend on your lease start date:

• Leases starting on the 15th of the month or before, your initial payment is the pro-rated first month's rent.

• Leases starting after the 15th of the month, your initial payment is the pro-rated first month's rent, plus the second month's rent.

Please note that the lease signing process is not complete until you (and your co-lessees, if applicable) have signed the lease and made the initial payment.

HUH has a limited number of furnished apartments. To see an exhaustive list of all HUH furnished apartments within the portfolio, please check our List of Furnished Apartments. Please note that this list does not mean the apartment will be available for unit selection, as it may be currently leased.

To view furnished apartments while selecting an apartment from the Currently Available list or during the Housing Lottery, you can use the filter options on the list to filter for 'Furnished' under the 'Amenities' section.

• For information regarding finding furniture: we encourage you to check out the 'Furniture' section on our Local Resources page. A great place to start is our Free and Low-Cost Items page for ideas and checking out the Harvard Recycling & Surplus Center - which provides furniture, supplies, equipment, textiles, and a wide-variety of other items available free to anyone on a first-come, first-served basis.

• Please note that HUH does not permit furniture to be left behind in unfurnished units by residents, and any hand-offs of furniture between residents will need to be coordinated at an off-site location.

On the HUH Website:

HUH apartments offer a wide variety of amenities. For general research, we recommend browsing individual properties on our Apartments page. Each property has a dedicated page with general information, including amenities and features.

In the Applicant Portal:

After your application is approved, you can see specific amenities for available apartments through the Currently Available list or during the Housing Lottery within the Approved Applicant Portal.

You can use the filter option at the top of the page to filter your selection for certain amenities, as well as clicking the 'Details' button under the 'Amenities' column to view the specific amenities for that unit. For more detailed information regarding the unit during the selection process, you can click on the unit number under the 'Apartment' column.

Our Apartment pages will show you sample floorplans for any specific property on their individual page, but please know that those are sample floorplans and not representative of the exact unit you may end up selecting.

However, specific floorplans for any available unit can be reviewed by approved applicants on the unit listing within the Applicant Portal. This applies to the listing within the Housing Lottery View & Select Windows, and within the Currently Available List.

The floorplan for your specific unit will also be included within your lease.

Unfortunately, HUH does not provide tours of apartments.

However, after you have selected a unit through the Currently Available List or the Housing Lottery, HUH can reach out to the current tenant to see if they can share photos of their apartment. Please know that in this case, HUH does not require the tenant to provide photos, but typically tenants are willing to cooperate. If you have not selected a unit, HUH will not connect you with the current tenants.

If you would like to inquire about being connected with the tenant of your selected apartment, please reach out to HUH Leasing to initiate that request. For HUH photos, please browse the website’s Apartment pages for all currently available photos of any given property in our portfolio.

Graduate Commons Program events are open to all resident affiliates (Graduate students, Faculty, and Staff) and their authorized occupants. We encourage spouse and partner participation, as well as multi-generational household members, to enrich our community. Most events are free of charge to ensure participation and support our mission of making Harvard home.

Amenities such as playrooms, study rooms, and common rooms are building specific, and can only be used by residents of that specific property. Please send any questions to graduatecommons@harvard.edu

While we hope that you are able to make your next home with Harvard University Housing, we understand that there are other options and we encourage you to do some research and find what best suits your needs.

Many individual schools have their own housing options, and we encourage you to reach out to your specific school to inquire what they may have available.

In addition, if you are looking for off-campus housing, we recommend visiting harvardhousingoffcampus.com. However, please understand that this site is completely independent from HUH and we do not endorse or review the information posted on the site. We encourage all potential tenants to verify all information you receive from listings before making any decisions and performing any monetary transactions.

For more information regarding Non-HUH Housing, we encourage you to check out the Other Housing Options section on our website.

All HUH leases end on June 30. Every March, HUH has what we call our Housing Election Period. During this time, all residents are given four options:

1. Renew Your Lease:
   Request to extend/renew your lease through June 30 of the following year if eligible.

2. Short-term Lease Extension:
   Request to vacate your apartment on a date between July 1 and July 31.

3. Request Early Move Out:
   Request to vacate your apartment before June 30 and potentially end your lease charges early.

   • You will be responsible for the rent of the unit until it is re-rented (including turnover days for cleaning, painting, maintenance, etc.) or your lease end date of June 30, whichever is earlier.

4. Decline All Options:
   Vacate your apartment on your lease end date, June 30.

All lessees are required to provide an individual response, even if they are leaving on their lease end date. This annual Housing Election Period helps determine what units will be available for incoming applicants. The vacate date and the turnover period (painting/cleaning period) is what determines the lease start date for the incoming tenant.