£92 curtains… taking the piss

[kindereggxo]

Hi all,

My sister has returned home from her student accommodation halls recently. She handed in her keys and received the email this morning confirming her departure and about her deposit…

She was charged £92 for bloody replacement CURTAINS

That is almost her entire deposit gone. Before coming home she spent nearly two full days deep cleaning her room and the kitchen. She’s pissed off and upset to say the least and has to ‘top up’ the deposit since she’s staying in the same accommodation next year.

AIBU to think this takes the piss? She’s a clean and respectful students and i fully believe her when she said she left everything in perfect order. Seems so unfair and grabby from these accommodation companies!! Also £92? What the hell are these curtains made of?

Modern university halls are "designed" and are required to have high quality fire retardant furnishings. The curtains will be a specific design and specification, fire retardant, heat insulating etc etc and will have to match all the others in the block. The cost seems entirely reasonable. Your issue is therefore only the description of the damage, and how it may have been caused. Contact the university halls management company,

You can get a decent set of eyelet blackout curtains 228w x 229d in Next for £95.

What size was the window that needed the replacement curtains?

I would contact the college and ask that either students are requested to provide their own curtains going forwards (advised on which type to purchase - eyelet/pencil pleat/tab top) or that the curtains are standard throughout the college dorms and they can only be charged a maximum amount of say £30 per student staying in the dorm towards the replacement (as they will be standard so should be easier to replace).

Also, if there were 8 students sharing the kitchen, what is to say that one of them didn't cause the damage to the curtains in question? Were they in a communal area or specifically in your DD's bedroom area @kindereggxo ? If they were in the living room, then all of the occupants should contribute from their deposit.

I never rented out student accommodation so the deposit matter may have different rules. Some info here www.tenancydepositscheme.com/student-tips-is-it-a-holding-deposit-or-tenancy-deposit/ and you can call TDS for advice, I’ve always found them helpful.
It might also be worth questioning the inspection of the property. If they allege damage could anyone else have caused damage if the property wasn’t inspected promptly. And check the inspection report does relate to the actual property, if they were inspecting 20 student flats that day there could have been a mix up.
Hopefully your sister took photos as she left.

advice from shelter

Even if carpets, furniture or appliances cannot be cleaned or repaired, your landlord cannot usually charge the full cost of replacement unless:

you have not lived there long

the items were new at the start of the tenancy

They must also take into account the quality of the items.

@Turangawaewae what qualifies as not living there long? Because I'd say if it's student accommodation she hasn't lived there long. 10 months at most.