Halls of Residence Dilemma

fridge_raider

Well, I can't really speak for other cities, but in Leeds, Unite definitely aren't situated in the less desirable areas. In fact, one of their properties here is the tallest building in the city and situated right in the city centre, in a prime location. It really depends what you want to get from student life, in some respects.

[Deleted User]

fridge_raider wrote: »

Well, I can't really speak for other cities, but in Leeds, Unite definitely aren't situated in the less desirable areas. In fact, one of their properties here is the tallest building in the city and situated right in the city centre, in a prime location. It really depends what you want to get from student life, in some respects.

In my experience this is not the case - and the customer service is awful!!!

Just search this forum for Unite and you are likely find you are the only one who has anything even half way descent to say about them.

City Centre might mean convenient - but many inner city areas are not the best or most secure places to live (eg crime, noise)

melancholly

well i think times have changed - we had mini kitchens with 2 hobs, an oven, a microwave and a kettle and they were deemed to be 'kitchens' for self catering!!

ThinkingOfLinking

I'd also add that I've lived in a Unite property in a great location but the other students were a pain in the !!!; super noisy etc.

saverholic

Domino9 wrote: »

In my experience this is not the case - and the customer service is awful!!!

Just search this forum for Unite and you are likely find you are the only one who has anything even half way descent to say about them.

City Centre might mean convenient - but many inner city areas are not the best or most secure places to live (eg crime, noise)

I agree with Domino, one of my friends was in a UNITE halls of residence in first year and had nothing but trouble. Her room was freezing due to the gaping holes around the window frame. You could literally see out through the gaps between frame and wall :eek:. She complained and complained but nothing ever got done.

Others (in a different UNITE building) had on and off problems with their internet all year. Which, considering the additional cost of the internet, isn't really fair :mad:.

OP, I'd look at taking the uni halls of residence place. Like others have said people often don't turn up/drop out and so there may be the opportunity to move to a different site.

Regarding the bus trip, one of the uni halls at my uni is a bus trip away which put me off it. I wish I'd gone there. Because it was further out it had a real atmosphere to it and people bonded together better.

Good luck to you and your son, would love to know how you get on

pimento

I spoke to the accommodation people today and she was really nice. There's no possibility of changing because they already have a waiting list of people who didn't get any halls offer at all. There's a shortage in Portsmouth.

I asked about the fact that there was no living room in the 'flat' just eight rooms and a kitchenette and asked where he was supposed to eat his dinner. She said there was a huge common area downstairs... There's a launderette on site and she wasn't sure about ironing (not that I imagine there will be much of that going on).

She also saidf I could email the chef for menu samples (which I will do). It's too far to walk to the university on a regular basis (50 mins she said) and my son suggested he get a bike, but where would he store it?

He likies to cook pasta and rice and I think both of these could be done in the microwave. I reckon it's doable but disappointing that he only got his third choice.

If anyne wants to have a look at the virtual tour of the halls and give me feedback they're the QEQM Halls at Portsmouth.

Thanks for all your opinions.

The One Who: Yes, of course it's his decision, but he asked for my input and I'd be remiss in my parenting if I didn't argue the case for the opposition because my 50 years of life experience trumps his mere 18 and although he's technically an adult, he's still my son.

Owain_Moneysaver

We had a 4-ring cooker, an electric kettle, and a 'cooler' which was a big fridge with individual lockable compartments. All that had to be shared between 16 people though!

However most students didn't cook, those that did was usually a quick snack or something easy, So a mini oven and (2-ring?) hob between 8 is probably going to be sufficient given most people will use the dining room for main meals. Someone will probably bring a toastie machine, george foreman, etc and share them.

A slow cooker could be used to produce lots of tagine/biriyani style dishes. If he does take any equipemtn (a) make sure the uni allow it (b) buy the cheapest and assume it will be ditched at the end of the year.

fridge_raider

Domino9 wrote: »

In my experience this is not the case - and the customer service is awful!!!

Just search this forum for Unite and you are likely find you are the only one who has anything even half way descent to say about them.

City Centre might mean convenient - but many inner city areas are not the best or most secure places to live (eg crime, noise)

I'm not saying Unite is perfect, far from it. As I said, it depends what you want to get out of your time there. I found Unite properties to be a lot more relaxed than the university properties in terms of parties, etc, but not everyone wants a non stop party as their student life. I did, and I don't struggle to study with noise etc, so for me it was the right choice.

I'm not saying I didn't run into any problems with Unite, but the positives outweighed the negatives in my case.

Plus (referring to the orginal post here) , no living area? He'll soon find that it gets on his nerves not to have a nice living space to chill out with his mates. Or it would have annoyed me in any case.

Regshoe

pimento wrote: »

It's too far to walk to the university on a regular basis (50 mins she said)

For two years living in the centre of London I used to walk around 45 minutes to and from Uni. There were buses, but they would only know off around 20 mins (as there was still a walk at one end), plus if it was anywhere near rush hour you were quicker walking.

That said my first year in Halls was only a 15 minute walk, based in South Kensington/Chelsea and as I recall cost about £80 odd a week (it was about the cheapest halls going as they desperately needed rennovating).

I have to say I agree to some extent with your son regarding the catering. I definitely would not want to be in catered halls, mostly as I like to eat what I want and when I want, not based on somebody else's schedule.

southoftheriver

I have lived in halls for 5 years out of the past 7, all as a student but some as a sub-warden so I have a good understanding of halls. I'm also on placement in Portsmouth so know the area a little bit.

In my experience as a warden, those in catered halls had the best social life. And I say this as someone who was against catered halls. Yes it can be annoying being told when to eat but for some having a routine actually helps and it is very easy to make friends. I lived in ensuite self catered as a fresher and I wish I hadn't. It was too easy to be isolated depending on what your flat was like, and my subsequent years in university accomodation have confirmed that for me.

That said if he is really against the idea it is usually possible to transfer once people have settled in and they know how many rooms are actually available.

I didn't get a bike until last year but found it handy for getting around, I work long hours so a 50 min walk would make a big difference to the structure of my day.

Good luck whatever he decides.