To be disgusted with my DD uni accommodation, pics included?

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My DD has moved four hours away to her uni accommodation today.

We got in her room and it was filthy, there is a huge burn mark in the middle of the carpet where someone has put a hot pan down. The desk has a burnt circle so has the windowsill. There is mould all around the window that won't come off.

The toilet seat is falling off, there was a leak under the bathroom sink. Cobwebs everywhere and she has no wardrobe. It's a cupboard with a hanging rail on wheels.

The kitchen had rotten food in the fridge and freezer. The oven had thick grease as did all the cupboards. One mum had already scrubbed that by the time we got there. I've scrubbed the rest of the kitchen. Water from the sink drainer pours into the cupboard underneath to.

So am I expecting too much? What can be done, if anything about the burn marks and mould.

I've had to buy more storage as there were no shelves due to no wardrobe, the other rooms have half hanging and shelves and this is supposed to be a premium plus room!

There is no room for a wardrobe either and she doesn't want to move flats.

She's cried and cried as she wasn't fussed on going anyway so this has made it worse and she doesn't want to stay.

Can I insist they sort it, and what would you do?

@BakedG00dsi saw a few of these yesterday. One was ranting at reception because she hadn’t read any of the information and kitted her darling out with fridge for her room, air fryers you name it.

Your post is just hyperbolic, obviously trying to make some point or other. Can you quote which posts you refer to? I haven't seen any remotely suggesting that 'mummy should jump up and down and flap and hysterically decry her accomodation'.

Elbow grease and resilience does not get rid of mould or a sink that empties into the cupboard beneath it or a lack of storage that should be present for the rent paid. Seriously, tenants are not subhuman. Is this all you think tenants deserve?

What’s wrong with buying your child an air fryer?

And what’s ’you name it’

@Weepixie I was about to ask the same thing. This thread is mad.

Make sure your daughter reports all of this to the accommodation team at her university, I used to work in student accommodation and often students wouldn't bother to report this and would be charged at the end of their tenancies! Hopefully you get the issues sorted. Also, from my experience, when students weren't happy with their accommodation, if they let us know about it there was sometimes scope to move them, subject to space and sometimes, extra rent if it was a more expensive accommodation. We found within the first month or so, students would decide university wasn't for them and there would be additional rooms becoming available.

Good luck!

If your daughter did not want to go to this university, if she doesn’t feel ready, why does she have to do this? It is a huge commitment, a huge expense, and a challenging environment for even the keenest students to adapt to. Most people will only be able to afford to do this once, and it should be a careful decision with consideration given to what she wants to gain from this course in the long run. There is no shame or failure in turning down a place on a course you are not excited about. Let her come home, get a job, take a year to breathe and think about what she does want to do next?
My younger sister took an offer through Clearing for a course she was interested in but a location she wasn’t keen on, and she just struggled the whole way through. Never settled in the university town and ended up doing a stupidly long commute rather than stay there, had to have an extension on all her exams and dissertation, ended up depressed and in debt and fell out of love with the subject altogether. If any of that sounds like your daughter’s circumstances please be open to letting her drop this. She is young and can try again another time when she is ready.

I thought all uni accommodation was like this. Charatcter-building, all part of the 'student experience' etc. Admittedly my experience of halls was early-00s but I recall my friend Lewis had a pet mushroom in his shower.

Some students have fridges for medical needs eg epilepsy medication or food allergies.
Mine had an airfryer - 2 of them had them in their 12 person flat (they all shared them) My dc has a physical disability so finds it easier and safer but judge away.
My dc chose cheapest halls at a uni that wasn’t particularly expensive. Was still £2000 more than her loan. But some unis operate random allocation or if through clearing get no choice, my dc’s friend (or rather her parents) paid £9900 for bog standard uni halls after clearing.
For amounts paying the accommodation should at least be clean and maintained.

What's character-building about mould, rotten food and caked on grease?

I lived at home when I was at Uni and I'm so glad I did.

When I used to go my friend's rooms who were in Uni accommodation I was nearly heaving at the state of some of the rooms and the shared bathrooms and kitchens they were expected to live in and use. I know I couldn't have done it.

I'm really glad you have managed to make some small improvements already OP and I hope that once it's looking cleaner and more homely your daughter will feel happier about being there and embrace the Uni experience.

It teaches our young people how to deal with adversity?

I agree. 🙈

No it doesn't 🤣 it teaches them that some people are dirty sods with no standards.

Photograph everything. Our experience is that they will deduct from deposit for any small thing on move out.

I attended university back in the 1980s and halls were clean, no mould, no leaks…furniture may have been a bit worn but standard was acceptable.

Does it? How?

From the reference to not having read the information , I would guess that her halls were like DS's - no kitchen appliances allowed.

@BakedG00ds would you mind explaining the following please?

Re the kitchen what has probably happened is foreign students have been living in halls over the summer or arrived earlier. It will have been cleaned originally but is being used

Hopefully it’s a clumsily worded reference to summer school and enrichment course residents @Weepixie . You definitely do not need to be ‘foreign’ , whatever the heck that means in this context.

DC’s friends trying for Oxbridge went on £8k a week enrichment residentials. DC’s of friends who live and work overseas have also arrived early for uni/settling in.

This 100%

I agree with the modeling of calm resilience. She is there to work and these aren’t glamorous but it can be easily masked.

I would want her to check for mold regularly and ultimately some extra sealing is needed but it is way too little to kick a fuss. You shouldn’t do anything at all tbh. If she wants to kick a fuss…well I’d try to discourage her.

Good luck!

make sure she takes pictures of absolutely everything before people start cleaning and scrubbing, as most likely the landlord will either try to claim they made this mess, or try to charge them for an end of tenancy clean (even though the property wasn't in a good state before!)

Actually the mould is extremely unhealthy - and what you see isn’t the worst bit it’s the spores. Universities are creaming off profits from substandard accommodation and it’s a racket, frankly. Spartan & basic is fine; unhealthy/broken/filthy is absolutely not fine.

When my Dd moved into private student halls ( she missed out on 1st choice so no accomodation) her bathroom sink leaked and her shower didn't work properly,we had to hold her hand at first, telling her who to contact but she soon started doing it herself, even asking for a key to a spare room to use the shower. The key is to keep on at Student Services to get things fixed, it doesn't look like the room has been inspected at all because it's not acceptable just because they are 'student digs'