Unite accommodation

Serenity

I'm thinking of living in one of their halls next year: http://www.unite-students.com/
Does anyone have any experience of the company, are they good to deal with?
Also anyone staying with them could you tell me how much they charge for the internet access? The website doesn't tell me, I'll give em a phone next week but thought I'd ask here meantime

pavlovs_dog

there was a recent thread HERE which might make for interesting reading :eek:

robs12

after reading this, i actually felt it was my duty to sign up to the forum to warn you.
NEVER, under any circumstances, go to a UNITE halls of residence.

I'm a student at Leeds College of Music at the moment, and, as a small college, until last year they didnt have any halls whatsoever. However, the year i came *last year* Unite had built a building to cater for the College and i moved in.

It looks nice when you move in. but beware of the following things.

1> the 50+ week rent you have to pay despite the fact you arent there. for example, as a music student i only have practical exams which take place over the course of the year. on the 7th of next month, i finish my first year and i'll be returning to bolton to work for the summer. on the 12th of next month, however, i have to pay £1063 in rent, which pays up until the beginning of july, despite the fact i wont be here.

2> everything looks nice, but believe me, it breaks easily. and when it does, you have to pay through the teeth. they have these cheap curtains in every room of the halls, which looks like they cost a fiver from matalan. ours got slightly frayed at the end, due to simple wear and tear, and they have charged us £120 to get them replaced. for a single set of curtains.

3> they'll rob you blind. as i said, i live in unite halls at the moment and recently the lifts broke. this was because of a group of 4-5 students coming in drunk and jumping around inside. they are charging every single person in the halls £40 each out of their deposit because of this. daylight robbery.

4> the broadband internet... you pay £20 a month for a "512kb Connection". however, read the small print and you'll see that their service (called Ubroadband) is comprised of one 512 KBs connection between every 50 people in the halls. so im paying 20 pounds a month for a 1/50 share of a 512 connetion? in reality thats 20 a month for a connection little over 10kbs per person.... 5 times slower than dial up.

at the moment thats all i can think of. but yeh, as i said. avoid at all costs.

Serenity

Thanks for the post robs! I suspected about the internet connection and knew about the 50 week rent. But I didn't realise it was that bad. Thanks for the warning. I hope you find somewhere better for next year.

yorkshirebird_2

hey, I live with unite in sheffield, i also work for them part time, and I must say I think the 51 week contract thing must depend on the site in question as wher I live everyone is on a 44 week contract. Unite are a big company and their accomodation is in excellent locations. I think the best thing you can do is ring up as although they are owne by one company, each site in each city is run by a team of different people.

aav

I would never use them. A friend of mine lived in one of the Southampton branches and not only did they charge her a high rent her flat was infested as well. Her and her flat mates had to move to another part of the building whilst they de-fumeagated. Not only that, they are refusing to give her any money back or reduce her rent. So NO I would not reccomend them.

jenny_f

if you rented a house you'd pay for the full year too.

My mate is in Unite and she's had no problems what so ever, I've visted and think it's ace. I'm living in a student house.

crazy_guy

DO NOT STAY WITH UNITE!
Manchester New Medlock house is a dump! as already mentioned yeah nice when you move in, but things break easily! I had to for the year have a blanket ova my window as the curtains didnt block the light out in the slightest. The rent is over priced for the quality given.

They will try their utmost to charge you when you move out from your deposit - and will not do any maintenance work. The only time that they did was when I threatened them with legal action. Contracry to the website, their payment installments are not made towrds student loan payments - had many problems with this last year.

The broadband was a joke, always going down for days at a time for £20 a month 512 kps, very disaspointing!

Try elsewhere, theres plenty of alternatives wherever you are living!
Rant ova

JoeyEmma

I lived with them a few years ago 2003-4 in Manchester

We had absolutely no problems with them. All the bills were paid for us. Nothing broke in the flat.

I lost my keys and had to order a new set (they included key pass etc) and they told me that they would take the cost of them (about £110) out of my deposit. When I got the deposit back at the end of the year, they'd forgotten about it.

Serenity

I just noticed the new replies here. Thanks everyone for letting me know your thoughts. I don't mind about the 51 week rent so much as I understand most other places would be the same but the broadband is freaking me out, lol.. I need my internet.

I'm going away to mull it over now.

Ryan.Maloney

Hi. I live in London - Unite - East Central House

The location is very good


The rooms are tiny, the kitchens are filthy, common areas are extremely dirty, every January they put the rent up (there is a clause in the contract saying they are entitled to)

But they can get away with it because it's central London. Surrounded by ugly council estates, dog mess on the streets outside..

It's awful, it seemed like a good idea at first, but I'm going to move out..