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Rented accomodation for students - Their rights?

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  • kennyboy66 wrote: »
    I was under the mistaken impression that part of the attraction of studying away from home was the independence and self-reliance that goes along with it.

    Independence to get up when they want yes, self-reliance....i am not so sure about that one. :cool:

  • That's a great site actually. Maybe things have improved in recent times but in my (top 10, so not small) university the advice was a lot more limited.

    I suspect it would have been helpful for people who actually go and search it out, but it wasn't very proactive and always gave the impression it was really there to help out the foreign students (who were probably even more clueless and alone to be fair).
  • 00ec25
    00ec25 Posts: 9,123 Forumite
    1,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    Maybe things have improved in recent times but in my (top 10, so not small) university the advice was a lot more limited.

    with respect to the 10 universities I have done/do work at, then yes things have changed, each has loads of people either from within the SU or staff from the uni accommodation office who are well clued up on accomm matters and desperate to impart that to the students. Every Uni website is full of advice and contact details, albeit most SU will close for the summer but not on the staff side

    Its part of the culture change that comes when the student is now a consumer paying fees and expecting a service3 in return.
  • Bad landlords will also say that the student should be sorting it themselves, as it is easier for them to bully the students.

    I did warn you above, Mr W:D

    Bad landlords always get upset when they can't continue to bully the students.

    Ignore the stupid comments. As I said on another list, I helped my son and daughter when they have encounted bad landlords. My son left uni and started on a 44k wage and my daughter is a BBC presenter. Both of their jobs need people who can take care of themselves.
    RENTING? Have you checked to see that your landlord has permission from their mortgage lender to rent the property? If not, you could be thrown out with very little notice.
    Read the sticky on the House Buying, Renting & Selling board.


  • clutton_2
    clutton_2 Posts: 11,149 Forumite
    edited 28 September 2009 at 12:43AM
    Mr Warren says - ""Students are no saints I agree and if their house is damaged at the end of the rental period, I will quite happily leave them to sort their own mess out""

    what an astonishing double standard statement !!!

    you talk about your 19 year old and his chums as "kids" and dont let them at least try to solve their own issues before leaping in head-first

    and you will help them at the beginning of the tenancy but if they have made a mess at the end you will let them get on with it ??

    what a strange stance




    have you Actually talked to the landlord ?? - he may have had builders let him down, he may have had parts arrive late, he may have had a family illness - did you bother to find out ? - or did you just assume that ALL student landlords are demons who dont give a !!!!! about your "kid"

    You may not like this - but you actually come across as a bullying pompous sort of person who seems to REALLY resent having to pay rent for your kid and who is taking his bad temper out on the LL

    The landlord may be at fault - but until you have a rational conversation about the problems you wont know who is to blame

    you also talk about

    "self-reliance....i am not so sure about that one. :cool:""

    no young person becomes self reliant until they are allowed to be independent - making their own decisions and making their own mistakes

    my first bedsit turned out to be in a house that was 99% a brothel - i soon learned to look after myself.....
  • 2234
    2234 Posts: 48 Forumite
    edited 28 September 2009 at 4:39AM
    I had a similar experience, I lived in a flat with my boyfriend (we were both first year students) and for the entire 6 months we had no hot water. Our boiler was tiny, and insulated with, and I'm not kidding, wallpaper and polystyrene ceiling tiles. We didn't see in on our viewing because it was in a locked cupboard, and to be honest, it was our first rental and we didn't think to make a big deal of it, as it was through a reputable estate agents. We begged the estate agents to get it fixed, our house was freezing anyway, and washing in literally stone cold water was horrible. After the entire 6 months of various estage agents, workmen and even the landlord promising to turn up, and then not turning up, of a 12 month tenancy, we said we were withholding the rent until someone came to fix or replace it, and when that happened they could have our money. Eventually they offered u the chance to end our tenancy early, which we did, but we didn't pay the last month's rent, and they then withheld it from our original deposit. We simply said to them, not a problem, but we will be taking them to court for living in a house for 6 months with no hot water, and also with no (the word escapes me now, but the thing all landlords legally need to prove their house is energy efficient) the entire time we lived there. When, as we were moving out, the lady came round to do the aformentioned 'thingy' (- HMO maybe?) she could not beleive we lived with that boiler. The estate agents simply gave us our money back, if that could be, in their words, the 'end of the matter'. When they put the flat back up for rent, less than a week later, my friend went to view it for us and said the estate agent had made a big deal of pointing out the 'brand new boiler'.

    I was so annoyed, they ripped us off, and didn't care we had no hot water for 6 months, withholding our rent was literally the last option, before that we had even sat in the estate agent's office until someone actually followed us to our flat, which when they got their they simply said it would need 'testing' and he wasn't an 'expert' so they would arrange for someone to come the following day - who never did. We just felt so alone and let down by people who we thought could help, the uni was no help at all, the council said they dont deal with these issues (?) and obviously our parents couldn't help as they have no money to come up to where we currently live.
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