Student Housing Contract

artyclarty

I will be honest: sounds like every student let ever to me! I lived in a one in which there was a nightclub and railway line in front and a builders yard (for the student letting agents, which was quite advantageous actually - shout out window to one of the maintenance men, bribe with homemade cake and generally stuff got sorted) to the side/behind.

It wasn't the greatest and had mice, which we dealt with. But it had 4 walls, doors and windows. Spent very little time in my room - more was spent in ours or someone else's kitchen/living room or on campus, basically going home at about 2am most nights for a few hours kip after a late night drinking session or more often than not just sleeping where I fell rather than heading home.

If there are issues that are dangerous - report to the relevant authorities and see what they come back with. If they give the a-ok I would cautiously urge your daughter to tidy it up and live with it for the year and learn from this. I had a shock when I moved into my first student let, but by the end of the year I had gotten used to it and stayed for my final year as I liked the location and my housemates.

As an aside - was your daughter's deposit protected in one of the deposit protection schemes? Does the property have gas - as it will need to have an annual gas safety check. These both have to be done by law. I ask merely ask as these are always good leverage should she choose not to stay.

dimbo61

Well you need to start writing some letters !
Write to the Letting agents asking for the name and address of the Landlord ( they have to supply by law)
Spend £3 to check on the Land registry who owned the property.
Ask the Letting agents which redress scheme they belong to as you are going to report them for misrepresentation! And complain.
Ask for a copy of the EPC, the GSC ( gas safety certificate) the Electrical safety certificate!
Inform them you will be taking photos of the property you are now renting and sending letters to the council, university and health and safety.
When you move in ask for a visit from the police and fire service, Invite the council housing officer along to the party.
This must be done by your daughter as she is the tenant.
Post photos on the university internet about how bad the property is and how rubbish the Letting agents are !
Write, write, write and complain to everyone you can.

beecher2

Surely the daughter needs to write the letters?

Part of university life is about learning to grow up and I really think the OP should back off and let the daughter deal with it.

dimbo61

" This must be done by the daughter as she is the tenant "
HMO properties have much higher standards re Fire safety, building regs etc than a normal BTL

Elfbert

A group of us lived in a terrible house in my 2nd yr of Uni. The house looked fine (as far as a student house goes) when we visited, but it quickly became apparent that they'd just given it a fresh coat of paint to hide many problems (not fresh enough that you could still smell it, sadly!)

It meant a year-long battle with landlords and letting agents for us, but I learnt so much about renting during that year, and it stood me in good stead for the next few places I rented - all of which were lovely and with perfectly decent landlords (once they'd realised we weren't naive!). Whilst our parents never got involved in it all - even when the police did - they knew about our battles and were supportive.

Make sure your daughter has a similarly educational experience, it'll be good for her in the long run. Uni isn't just about going to lectures.

Good luck to her.

Louisc

Thank you all for your comments.Yes she is sorting it herself and this has been a very big learning experience.I was posting for advice for her to know where to start and what her rights are. Also living as a student doesn't mean paying good money for substandard accommodation or being taken advantage of by unscrupulous agents !!

[Deleted User]

No but it can be about learning how to avoid that situation and how to cope with difficulties.

Person_one

Louisc wrote: »

Also living as a student doesn't mean paying good money for substandard accommodation or being taken advantage of by unscrupulous agents !!

Well that's the theory, but very often it's exactly what it means! It's a steep learning curve but it's character building.

Peter333

G_M wrote: »

Ask you daughter how she punctuates her esseys.

Irony overload. :cool:

deannatrois wrote: »

What is dirty can be cleaned, you can screw plug sockets back into the wall, you can loan her a bed if needs be. She's a student and I'm sorry, smart isn't part of the deal when renting unless you are prepared to pay over the odds for a studio student place. I seem to remember when I first lived alone, I slept on a borrowed mattress placed on an old wardrobe because I couldn't afford a bed. And I survived. And was proud I'd figured out a way around the problem. Living 'soft' doesn't develop your thinking skills.

Like I said, first take a deep breath.., your daughter will survive this and perhaps learn a much needed lesson as to what's important in life (having a bed to sleep on and somewhere cold to store food, somewhere to cook and wash). This won't do her any harm. Unless you keep stressing about it. Many people have lived in worse and survived and learned from it.

Agree. Aside from the dangerous things like electrics, she won't necessarily do much better. And not looking at her room beforehand? Well it's kind of her own fault...

beecher2 wrote: »

Surely the daughter needs to write the letters?

Part of university life is about learning to grow up and I really think the OP should back off and let the daughter deal with it.

Yep exactly. She needs to deal with this herself.

dimbo61

Sub standard student properties are a health and safety nightmare for the students living there and parents worrying about them.
Taking rogue Landlord's to court and big fines/jail is the only way to raise standards