Starting December 16, students living in the residential halls in Education City will have to check out of their rooms before leaving for winter break or pay a weekly rate if they plan to stay during the break.

The changes were announced in an email sent out Thursday by Housing and Residence Life that also outlined changes in the student housing contract and community living standards.

The new policies are a result of an update to the HRL housing contract, under which students are now asked to apply separately for each semester’s housing. Previously, residents applied for housing for the full-academic year and could stay in their rooms over the winter break without any fee.

According to the email, it appears that residents traveling over the break, but who plan to return to the residence halls in the spring, will be able to leave their belongings in their rooms and “will not be charged storage fees” for this. However, residents are still expected to follow the check-out procedure before leaving for the break, which typically involves packing their belongings into boxes. It is not clear if students will have to pack their belongings into boxes for check-out this winter if they are returning to the same room.

Here are the storage policies as listed in the email:

The updated contract also states that students will need to check-out within 48-hours of their last academic commitment at their respective university. For instance, if the last official day of the semester is December 10^th for a student, he will need to check-out by December 12^th, according to the email.

The spring semester check-in will begin on January 1, 2017.

The housing and residence staff could not be reached immediately for further explanation. The Daily Q will run a detailed piece when more information is made available.

Read the highlights of the updated housing contract, as sent out in the email by HRL.