Current Residents

Full-sized communal fridges (including freezer) are located in common area kitchens on each floor. Space is limited in these fridges and is available on a first-come-first-serve basis. More information about McMaster University’s refrigerator policy is available here.

Your Service Centre will contact you by email to let you know when a package has arrived. If your item is shipped through Canada Post, there will be a delay between your arrival notification from the shipper and it arriving at the Service Centre for you to pick up. We will contact you when any package arrives.

When it’s time to get your item, please bring your Student ID to the Service Centre to pick it up. Please note, we do not accept packages or items dropped off by family or friends.

If you get locked out of your room, you are able to get a lockout key from the Service Centre. You will be granted three grace lockout keys with no questions asked!

If you find yourself locked out four times, a member of the Residence Life staff will follow-up with you to help create habits to remember your key in the future.

Click here on to find out more about missing, damaged or temporary lock-out keys.

If you have lost an item, check in with the Service Centres or email housing@mcmaster.ca. The Service Centres will attempt to locate the owner of any found items.

All unclaimed items will be sent to the main Campus Lost & Found at Security Services on a weekly basis. You can complete their lost and found report here.

Indoor bike storage is not available at this time. If you are bringing a bike to residence, you can lock it to an outdoor bike rack near your building.

A reminder that bikes cannot be left in any common room, hallway, stairwell, study or other public area because of Fire Code regulations. All personal bikes on campus are the sole responsibility of the owner.

We want you to feel at home in residence and decorating is an important part of that. We just ask that you don’t damage or alter any part of your room by drilling holes, nailing, painting, etc.

We recommend using 3M Command products and sticky tabs as adhesives. Don’t use Scotch tape, duct tape, masking tape or thumbtacks as they damage the paint and you will be responsible for all damages. Need more sticky tabs? The Service Centre has them for whenever you need to hang up a new poster! Learn more about damage-free decorating here.

A work order is required for any maintenance related issue in your residence room or building. Our Residence Facilities Team is present Monday through Friday, from 7 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., to keep all of our Residence buildings in good repair. This is the team that will be handling the majority of the work orders you submit. Learn more about work orders here.

It’s easy to do your laundry in residence as washers and dryers are located in all residence buildings.

Learn how to load your laundry card and safely do laundry at here.

Every building has a different location for garbage, recycling, and in our pilot buildings, organic waste.

Full garbage bags or cans can be emptied in the garbage room on your floor.

The custodial staff will clear these rooms on a regular basis. For Bates and Mary E. Keyes residents, you can dispose of your garbage in the garbage chutes located on your floor. Please take your garbage out regularly and be sure not to plug the chute by stuffing oversized items into it. If you notice a plugged chute, report it to the Service Centre immediately.

When unseasonable weather occurs, you may need to adjust the heating and cooling in your residence room. Different buildings have different systems, so check out the page below to see how your building’s system works.

Heating and Cooling Your Residence Room

When you first arrive in residence, you will be asked to complete a room condition form. You can do so by logging into the Housing Portal. This gives you the opportunity to note any damages or missing items in your room, so that we don’t charge you for them at move-out.