Unite Student Halls

Nevis

Unite are one of the biggest private suppliers of student halls, my daughter stayed in their Bristol / Marketgate hall last year.

My one piece of advice to all next years student tenants ( and their parents who are probably paying the deposit ) is;

PHOTOGRAPH EVERYTHING when you move in.

A year later you will be charged for every mark, scratch and minor damage that they can pin on you, and without evidence to prove that it was there when you moved in, its hard to prove otherwise.

I was charged £130 to paint a wall which was "marked by Blu-Tac", despite my daughter never having used it.

As well as the room, photograph communal areas - kitchen appliances, sofas.

Please heed my warning - these halls are expensive enough as it is, losing most of your deposit is the final straw !

TheEffect

I stayed in unite during my first year of university. While we had some charges which we weren't happy about (general common room walls were destroyed, drinks machine smashed) as they weren't to do with us, however no one owned up, so they distributed the charges between everyone.

When I left, I found them to generally be quite good. I got all my deposit back apart from £10 for the kitchen bin which needed replacing. They could have charged us a lot more, as we did mark a few of the walls, the carpet and smashed the kitchen light (freshers party!).

They get a lot of stick, but when dealing with hundred of 18 year olds who have just been let loose, I can understand why.

When I moved in, I was given a list of everything and any current damages. Make sure you complete this, add anything unlisted and you'll be fine. Take some pictures.

devildog

Nevis wrote: »

Unite are one of the biggest private suppliers of student halls, my daughter stayed in their Bristol / Marketgate hall last year.

My one piece of advice to all next years student tenants ( and their parents who are probably paying the deposit ) is;

PHOTOGRAPH EVERYTHING when you move in.

A year later you will be charged for every mark, scratch and minor damage that they can pin on you, and without evidence to prove that it was there when you moved in, its hard to prove otherwise.

I was charged £130 to paint a wall which was "marked by Blu-Tac", despite my daughter never having used it.

As well as the room, photograph communal areas - kitchen appliances, sofas.

Please heed my warning - these halls are expensive enough as it is, losing most of your deposit is the final straw !

Although photographic evidence is good you do not have to have it. An inventory should be issued and CHECKED, it is on this document that you can note blu tack marks. damage to paint work, chips on furniture, stains on carpet etc.

I think the issue is that students (and quite often their parents) don't check thoroughly enough on occupation of premises. or they don't actually really 'see' anything wrong (my OH would be one of these ) or they just assume that the inventory is correct (huge mistake)

Time needs to be taken to go through the house/room/flat properly and not a five minute cursory glance. never had any charges levied against my student children yet, and the last one only has one year to go.

Darren.B_2

I think it probably depends on each different place. As a rule of thumb though I'd expect they charge you as much as they possibly can.

bouncydog1

Totally agree. We are currently disputing a bill for £350 to clean the house. After spending several hours cleaning to be told its not satisfactory, I wish I hadn't bothered. Aso end gas and electric bills noted by letting agent are higher than the readings we took, which to me indicates that others e.g. Contractors have been in the property eating lunch etc, before the finl inspection.. As we live several hundred mies away I can't go back to check. Livid and stressed is an understatement.

If anyone can offer constructive advice that would be appreciated.