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?

If she doesn't want to stay there find somewhere else. The post doesn't make clear how much we are hearing your disgust and how much your daughter's.
To be brutally honest if those are the only flaws it sounds better than any of the accommodation i had as a student. Students are not committed or experience householders these kinds of flaws are going to be the norm, accommodation will start out at a reasonable standard but once a couple of students have stayed there this is what it is going to be like- the landlord is unlikely to put it right , he/she would be spending thousands every few months.Expect none university accommodation to be much worse.
Or do what rich people do buy your DD a flat and hope it doesn't look worse than the photos in a couple months.

My son was in halls at University of Southampton last year in a mid price range self catered room, and it was spotless. The students were expected to clean up after themselves, and if it was a state when the cleaners went in once a week, all the students in their "flat" were all fined (unless the guilty parties admitted the mess was theirs). That is appalling. I'd go straight to student services at the halls and demand something be done, especially considering the cost of the room!

@Laurmolonlabe its not as easy as ‘find somewhere else’. You normally commit to university accommodation in advance, sign a lease and guarantee payment. I lived in squalor as a young person but standards have improved since then-it was countered by a cheap price. These days, there are no cheap halls so the least you can expect is something clean and functional.

If halls, presumably she's paying quite a bit. I would say some of them are unacceptable: oven and fridge should be spotless, ready for new intake. The burn mark I would let go. It's great that you are there to raise it, it wouldn't have occurred to me at that age tbh.

Op. You say your daughter doesn't really want to go? Why is she going then? There are many better things a woman can do. Has she thought of alternatives? Thinking of plumbing, electrician, software development, crypto security, and so on. What is she good at, what does she enjoy? And what does she intend to study?

As this is Uni halls accommodation then Yes, I would be mad too! Its an absolute basic minimum to expect them to have cleaned after the previous occupant and I would complain vociferously.
That said, I would also make the most of it - as you seem to have done - and try to downplay it so as not to start off on a negative note. It feels major now, but chances are it won't be important to her once she has settled and made friends.
Hate to say it, but wait till you get into Yr 2 and the private rented sector! then you really will get a fright.
Shocking the way some landlords are milking the students with no real prospect of comeback.

Take photos of any damage and send them to manager at her student flats. (Also for proof it was there at start of tenency when she moves out) student accomodation should be of acceptable standards that they would be willing to live in. My daughter had three flats over her four years and everyone had issues from black mould on her mattress, i demanded a new matress for her they said it had been treated and fine to sleep on cracks round windows letting draught, i sealed them myself with silicon, workmen tried to fix the boiler which was her room ended up flooded her flat oer Christmas her room carpet and everything floor level was soaking and took six weeks to sort out. No reduction on rent plus Lost a lot of art supplies that were ruined
the Christmas break and last year a toilet that kept leaking over the floor. Yet when she moved out in her 3rd year they had the cheek to charge her damages of £180 as she had taken a few spots of paint off the wall when she took her photos and pictures down.

Keep a note of everything and photos like a stock take. They will check the room when she's finished the year and you don't want these damages being attribited to her.

This. Uni accommodation is outrageously expensive. And they will have charged previous students for any damage. Any damage. Cosmetic or otherwise, should be repaired before the next student moves in. It certainly should be professionally cleaned, and any mould or repairs like water leaks should also be done. It does not bode well at all for getting issues resolved while renting there.

And to PPs saying the daughter should sort this themselves, I am all for empowering young people, but she’s just had a huge change to deal with in going to uni for the first time and moving out of home and having to deal with life’s problems. Uni is a great way for students to gain some of these skills in a managed and gentle way, when they still have their parents and the uni to provide guidance and support. It’s a way to ease them into adult life, the idea is not the chuck them in at the deep end. Her needing guidance and support from parents at this stage is completely normal. My DS needed support in 1st year but this gradually tailed off as he moved through uni and by the end dealt with all such issues by himself. Which is what I would expect as a young adult is learning new skills and coping with big changes.

18 year olds have only just hit adulthood and moving out of home for the first time, going away, to university... there is NOTHING wrong with a parent supporting an 18 year old. Do you all not remember being 18? My 18th was a long long time ago, and I can remember ringing my parents for advice and leaning on them for all sorts of support well into my 20s.

Yeah, I wouldn’t be paying 8k for that sack of shit. I do agree that she needs to be attempting to sort it herself with your support.

When you say she wasn’t fussed about going anyway, do you mean to University? If so, why has she gone?

Thank you for this.

Im happy to say my grandsons room was pristine when he moved in yesterday. It looks lovely and only needed a wipe down and going over with the hoover just because. My daughter and grandson settled him and his things in, he’s going to be really comfy and from lunch time today he’ll be on his own. Where do the years go?

After that my girl has a bit of drive to where my granddaughter is and will settle her in for her second year.

Here’s to happy days ahead for all youngsters taking this huge step. ❤️

Visiting unis today and really surprised at how grotty accommodation is. The new blocks are not much better: we saw one where the corridor barely accommodated one person at a time. Really unimpressed actually. Good luck to you, OP!

DD was in Nottingham Trent halls in first year. Wasn’t completely perfect but at least it was clean and tidy. I wouldn’t put up with the state of your DD’s accommodation, especially given the cost of it.

DD has moved into a shared house with friends for years two and three and both houses have been immaculate when moving in - the state of the one in year two on moving out was a different matter! 😁

If that’s in a hall of residence, it’s completely unacceptable. The room should be clean, appropriately furnished, functional etc. leaks, toilet seat should be repaired, mould cleared and cause addressed. Did she have to sign an inventory etc?

I don't think giving advice to someone who's never done it before is unreasonable

The poster you quoted had given advice

Halls should not be in this condition. I stayed in halls in the seventies, and my son ditto about twenty years ago. They should be clean and well maintained. I think part of the problem now is that rooms are let out through the whole summer, often to tourists, and both private companies and universities leave themselves no time for proper maintenance. But I'm honestly amazed by the people on here saying 'let them get on with it'. You don't need to be a helicopter parent to understand that young people leaving home for the first time need a bit of help! There's a huge amount to cope with academically and socially, without having to complain about faulty accommodation. 'Calm resilience'? You must be joking! I'd love to know what would happen if you arrived at a B&B in this state and somebody said 'well, it won't kill you. And look, your door locks.' This is paid accommodation! And it's often the parents doing most of the paying. In Scotland our kids often go to university at seventeen. My son was resolutely independent even then and has remained so, but I've always stepped in with a certain amount of support when asked. For example, the shitty landlord who was syphoning off the water, in one private flat, and charging them for it, was a lot more responsive to a forthright letter from me than he was to the young guys trying to deal with it. No wonder kids have mental health problems if this is the prevailing attitude.

There is a big difference in student accommodation standards. The problem is the accommodation that's isn't newish or recently upgraded isn't reflected in the rent/licence fee. It is reasonable to expect the accommodation to be clean and I. Reasonable repair even if the fittings furnishings and decor is dated. The students need to rally around themselves to get the issues sorted. Report to student welfare and accommodation officer in the first instance.

I dropped my DS off at the weekend. He is in a hall that was built in the early 1900s. It was immaculate. The desk was old and a bit worn but there was a new sink and the carpet was clean as were the walls, windows and other furnishings.