Huge thanks to all of you who have been so helpful and sympathetic. It is a relief to know that IANBU.
For the full story:
My ds is at a Imperial Uni in london studying Chemistry. He lived in halls last year and the uni provides only one year in hall (this is normal for most UK unis). He was looking forward to living in a place with his friends free of the university rules.
He, being a typical 19 year old, thought it would be an easy thing to find somewhere and (again being a typical 19 year old) decided to spend the summer at festivals and on a road trip around the US (he funded it all himself from savings and odd jobs).
So off he went leaving his future housemates to find somewhere. I was pretty cross with him because I thought he had his priorities wrong and should have been looking for somewhere to live rather than at Glastonbury or in Wisconsin, but he thought he knew better.
His fellow housemates stayed here and found the place in New Cross. None of the parents had viewed (and in hindsight we should have gone to see it) and we all agreed that it would be better to pay rent upfront than be guarantors- our options were be guarantors for the whole lease or pay 6months rent (these appear to be the only options for students these days).
So this place was found and the paperwork was done, we parents paid 6 months rent (@£1560 pm for the whole place plus a deposit of £2100 and a lease fee of £350), so a total of more than £12K for the three boys to move in. Two of the three boys moved in last week and found it to be awful, it was dirty, filthy and damp- they called the agent who sent cleaners round who bleached the place and made it clean but still damp. They called the agent about the damp and the response was to send some builders in yesterday. As far as I can see the place has no Damp Proof Course and no amount of treating floors or walls wills sort this out and that it needs significant remedial works doing to it to make it habitable, none of which will make it safe- but this is a seperate matter.
The place is a basement flat in New Cross on a busy road, it has three "bedrooms", two of these rooms open onto the main road meaning that the windows cannot be open because they are both a security risk and pollution risk. The third bedroom has a window into a tiny yard.
There is a kitchen at the back with a sitting area and a table and chairs. The furniture is all quite new, IKEA standard stuff but the drawers and wardrobes were wet inside when they moved in.
I was the first "adult" (ie parent) to see the place when I drove my son up yesterday. I was told that a builder had been round that morning and had done "something" in the room in the picture but I could not tell if what had been done and what was to be done. All I could see was damp and smell damp and could barely breathe because the place was so full of humitidy.
I looked round and could see rising damp in all the rooms, there is a tide mark of 8 inches above all the skirting boards and mould on all the windows. There are no curtains or blinds for modesty or warmth or any kind of security locks on these windows or doors and they all open onto easily accessible areas on the street and the "garden". The only saving grace is that there are doors at the front and back and so fire egress is probably ok.
It would be grossly unfair of any of us to blame the one boy left here who did all the footwork to find the place. Of course with hindsight it is clear that I should have checked the place out before paying out. But I live in Bristol and the place is a 4 hour journey for me to get to. I work long hours and I could not get up there to look at it first.
So here we are, you have all been incredibly helpful and just what I needed after driving there and back yesterday. Today I have:
Talked to the other parents and a strong email has gone off to the landlord and agent. (same people as far as we can see).
Sent an email to Lewisham EHO to request they visit the place to assess if it habitable or not.
Taken solace from friends who have started to say "but we all lived in shitholes at uni... " who then saw the pictures and changed their tune to "this is appalling- what kind of bastard would expect anyone to live in that". Believe me, I have lived in hovels, squats and benders in my day but this for £12K takes the F***g biscuit.
The deposit- we have been told will go into one of the deposit schemes. They have 30 days to notify us of the scheme.
The agent is:
SE Developers of 4 Blandfield Road | Clapham South | London | SW12 8BG
And the landlord's address appears to be the same.
Whatever the reason for anyone to have moved into this place, it cannot be right that a landlord can take money for this. I know that we should have, could have done it all differently but we didn't, for this, as parents we were stupid. Howver this does not negate the requirement for a place to be habitable and for a landlord to take responsibility. Or does it?
Thanks again all of you for your suggestions and support- I can't tell you how much it has meant to me to know that in this case IABR and the landlord and agents are not.
Will keep you all posted.