Queen's University Belfast (QUB) has said it is "unlikely" to offer accommodation to students living less than 40 miles from its campus. 

The university, which is faced with "unprecedented" demand for its halls, said students living within a 40 mile radius will have  to make "alternative travel and accommodation arrangements".

It comes after QUB offered students a £1,500 deal to withdraw from its accommodation. 

On Wednesday, students who had applied for rooms in halls of residence received an email from the university, which said it is "unable to meet the demand" for accommodation.

QUB apologised "for the upset caused by the uncertainty of the past few weeks" and said it was doing all it could "to find solutions".

"In prior years, the 3,400 rooms provided by the university has been enough to meet all our requirements," the university said.

"This year, despite securing an additional 770 rooms, we are still unable to meet demand which hopefully gives you some idea of the size of the challenge we have faced.

"We continue to work tirelessly to secure other options but it may be mid to late October before some of these become available.

"We will be allocating all available accommodation by distance lived from Queen's.

"Presently, it is unlikely we will be able to offer a room to anyone who lives within a 40 mile radius of the university."
 
The email urged students living more than 40 miles from QUB to make "travel arrangements" for the beginning of term.

"We strongly advise students who have not yet received an accommodation offer and who live outside the 40-mile radius, to make travel arrangements for the first three to four weeks of term as it is unlikely you will be able to move into your accommodation before mid-October," the university said.

The University said it is "working with a range of local hotels" to allow students to book rooms "for one or two nights per week".