Student accommodation ripping us off!

Out,_Vile_Jelly

ILW wrote: »

If you dont like your landlord, why not just move. Its what grown ups do.

Some grown ups like to stand up for themselves and make the world a less unfair place. This company will continue to take the pi55 until taken to account.

This is the kind of issue student papers are designed for; as well as naming and shaming this company they can also highlight awareness of contract terms generally. Your Accommodation Office should also be informed, although surely it would have been more effective to raise this at the start of the academic year rather than now?

tbs624

Generally the accomms offices at Universities themselves are unlikely, IMO, to make a stand against Unite or any of the other private firms who provide student accommodation blocks. ( Unite are currently providing 30% of the private bedspaces within the student accoms sector)

The Unis tend to be keen to offload their liabilities with their own ageing halls of residence blocks -for example, IIRC, a couple of years ago Birmingham Uni sold off 3 HoR to one of the other big players (Liberty Living) for around £46-47 million

In most of the big cities students will be able to find decent rooms in standard shared houses for almost half what they would have to pay to live in a student ghetto in one of these blocks.

Some may have particular views on big companies making huge profits out of youngsters who are building up massive student loan debts. However, students should perhaps look at what's really important to them whilst at Uni rather than being swayed by glossy brochures showing designer sofas & snazzy kitchens. It's temporary accommodation after all and so long as it is clean, warm and safe the key thing for most students surely has to be value for money.

If you have to get into the "home as a statement" malarkey it's perhaps best to leave it until you are out in the big bad world pulling in a good salary.;)

Pork89

Out,_Vile_Jelly wrote: »

Some grown ups like to stand up for themselves and make the world a less unfair place. This company will continue to take the pi55 until taken to account.

This is the kind of issue student papers are designed for; as well as naming and shaming this company they can also highlight awareness of contract terms generally. Your Accommodation Office should also be informed, although surely it would have been more effective to raise this at the start of the academic year rather than now?

My sentiments exactly, running away from your problems isn't always the best way of solving them. Part of my anger comes from the fact that they are continually misleading new prospective students.. Each year quite a few will come from overseas, and the only glimpes of the accommodation they are going to live in is from UNITE and thier promotional material.

They used to have a picture of an actual room on thier website, now they only have a picture of the show-flat, which I'm guessing is an intentional ploy to lure more people in.

As for raising these issues at the start of the year, it wasn't something I was prepared to do at the time. Many of the problems I've mentioned only surfaced much later in the tenancy anyway.

I know a student who I beleive has good contacts with local and students newspapers so I'm going to try and enlist his help.

Thanks again moneysavingexperts

belisha-beacon

ILW wrote: »

If you dont like your landlord, why not just move. Its what grown ups do.

That seems a bit unfair to me but I'm assuming that you don't have experience of Unite yourself, or you'd know that wouldn't be an option. I've worked in universities and in every one I've been at, Unite has been notoriously bad, all of the welfare staff that I knew hated them because of the amount of stressed students visiting them about the same recurring issues.

It's all very well to say 'move elsewhere' but most student contracts lock students in for the whole academic year (and this student has noted that the contract is a long one). That's entirely reasonable in one respect, because Unite would have problems selling rooms after the academic year had started and they need to know that all rooms are going to be full so they don't make a loss. However, they are utterly inflexible and if a student wants to move out earlier then they will almost always insist that all of the year's rent is paid. Students just can't afford that as well as rent on a new place. I've heard about some really upsetting cases, eg. where a suicidal students gave up their degree and returned home (they alleged that part of their condition had been caused by being housed in a flat with people who stole their things and generally made their life hell, and that nothing had been done in response to their complaints) and they still insisted on full payment being made. Even when the student found a new tenant, which racked them with guilt for causing someone else to live with the same people who should have been evicted, there were high charges levied to change the contracts.

Personally, I would never advise anyone to live in a managed hall. You get the worst of both worlds. In a uni hall, you get all-inclusive etc and you get the atmosphere but you also have the university's formal procedures to fall back on and if something unexpected happens and you get bullied or have to leave or interrupt your degree, they will almost always agree to cancelling your accommodation or agreeing to a move somewhere more suitable. With your own house, you have a much shorter notice period and have complete control over what sort of people you live with and how you want to live.

tbs624

belisha-beacon wrote: »

It's all very well to say 'move elsewhere' but most student contracts lock students in for the whole academic year ...... they are utterly inflexible and if a student wants to move out earlier then they will almost always insist that all of the year's rent is paid. Students just can't afford that as well as rent on a new place.

That's the case wherever a student rents - if you sign a contract for the year the good bit is that you generally have some security, the bad news is that it means that you are committed for the year - you can't have one without the other. Much though I dislike these large companies taking over so much of the student accomms sector it has nothing to do with being inflexible and everything to do with being part of the adult world where the fixed term under a mutually agreed contract has to stand, or one party has to make some form of recompense to the other.

belisha-beacon wrote: »

I've heard about some really upsetting cases, eg. where a suicidal students gave up their degree and returned home (they alleged that part of their condition had been caused by being housed in a flat with people who stole their things and generally made their life hell, and that nothing had been done in response to their complaints) and they still insisted on full payment being made.

That can happen with any student who moves into a shared property with others that /she doesn't know but students have access to welfare officers at the Uni and should use them. If people are stealing form their fellow T's you get the police involved too and make a formal complaint to both the Uni and to Unite.

belisha-beacon wrote: »

Even when the student found a new tenant, which racked them with guilt for causing someone else to live with the same people who should have been evicted, there were high charges levied to change the contracts.

AFIAA there is an admin charge of around fifty quid if you want to transfer your tenancy which is probably less than you would get charged by a letting agency for an assignment on a tenancy for a shared flat/ house. (They do however mention that they may ask the outgoing tenant for some form of guarantee over the replacement tenant meeting their obligations.)

belisha-beacon wrote: »

Personally, I would never advise anyone to live in a managed hall. You get the worst of both worlds. In a uni hall, you get all-inclusive etc and you get the atmosphere but you also have the university's formal procedures to fall back on and if something unexpected happens and you get bullied or have to leave or interrupt your degree, they will almost always agree to cancelling your accommodation or agreeing to a move somewhere more suitable. With your own house, you have a much shorter notice period and have complete control over what sort of people you live with and how you want to live.

Agree with most of that although when you are sharing with any group of people you really don't have "complete control" over how you want to live:D

ILW

belisha-beacon wrote: »

That seems a bit unfair to me but I'm assuming that you don't have experience of Unite yourself, or you'd know that wouldn't be an option.

It's all very well to say 'move elsewhere' but most student contracts lock students in for the whole academic year (and this student has noted that the contract is a long one).
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The OP said their contract ends June 2009.
The main complaint seems to be that the room is "insultingly small" and 5 residents have to share a kitchen. Does not sound like the end of the world to me.

Emmzi

you have about 5 weeks to go?

swallow it. learn and choose who to rent with next time, and take your time looking.

Jowo_2

Pork89 wrote: »

On Unite's website, the only picture they display of a bedroom is not of an ACTUAL bedroom, but of the showroom, which as mentioned earlier is grossly misleading.

Other problems include the changes and removals to certain services since I started my tenancy. This includes the removal of a parcel collection service by the reception staff, fitting water-saving devices in our bathrooms without our consent and introducing internet-usage-caps when we were told our internet would be unlimited! All of these above have been to the detriment of residents – we have NOT been offered rent reduction or compensation.

You never viewed the property - comparison to pictures is a waste of time as anyone that's every booked a holiday or hotel will have found out by now.

Fitting of water-saving devices - great eco friendly move and one that any citizen should welcome.

Internet usage caps - my speculative assumption is that it was subject to abuse by residents.

Don't know how you stand legally but all sounds a bit trivial to me.

alexlyne

by the time you even get a response from unite, you'll be long out of there... would have been better to complain soon after moving in... but good luck on your quest for justice! A lot (certainly not all) of companies think students can be !!!!!! all over, but as a group they are a strong minority!

Fire_Fox

Pork89 wrote: »

I know many students that have written to Unite about the aforementioned problems only to have their email bounced around from person to person with no result or to be fobbed off with some pathetic excuse or to receive an email back with an explanation that barely addresses the original complaint.

I've noticed that a mere complaint does nothing. I'm hoping that if I have legal reasoning behind my complaint, perhaps that UNITE are in breach of some sort of regulation then I may receive a better outcome.
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An e-mail is not a proper written complaint - use paper and send your complaint recorded delivery with a clear timeline for a response. Copy it to the university lettings department. You haven't a leg to stand on with regards complaining about the size of the room or the facilities as you have left it far too late. You can only reasonably complain about any problem or incident that has occurred in the last month.