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

[DumpedByText]

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?

Quite.
And of course a parent dropping their child off four hours away would want to help them get it sorted. Jeez.

OP, make sure you photograph everything. After my son’s first year in halls, they tried to say that he’d stained the mattress etc. He hadn’t because it was like it when we got there. The second year, we took photos of everything. They tried the same thing again but this time we had evidence.

I hope your daughter settles soon.

I have done in the past - I wasn’t exactly happy about it, but I cracked on and made it nice. Quicker and easier than complaining and expecting someone else to sort it out for me.

And the mould? The rotten food in the fridge? The caked on grease in the oven?

It's not normal or acceptable and shouldn't be brushed off as such. I agree the burn marks aren't a huge issue but let's stop pretending it's okay for accommodation to be rented out in these conditions. It wasn't okay 20 years ago and certainly isn't okay now.

Yes this is a really good way of making friends and bonding - your daughter will find who are the most like-minded of the students sharing her flat.

And OP's daughter is paying a small fortune to her university so that THEY can deal with all this for her. She shouldn't have to throw out rotten food, clean mould and de-grease the oven from the previous students.

Jesus, why are so many people convinced this is acceptable?

OP, whatever the views expressed on here, you aren't the only one in this situation.

Last weekend, we went to an open day at a south coast uni. We saw a halls of residence. It was a basic, functional, older building but much better than I had years ago.

This was their 'show flat'. They'd scrubbed the fridge, aired it properly and given it a basic clean. It was grimy, tatty and I would plan to arrive with a full cleaning kit and scrub it from top to bottom while ds moved in. Probably give it a coat of emulsion on the second weekend. Wash the curtains and the carpet. But it was perfectly habitable. Warm, dry and safe. The electrics had PAT labels. Trust me, it was far better than some of the rented houses I have seen.

I overheard a mum & dad outside saying "We'll have to find her a studio flat, she won't live here, she'd never eat anything in that kitchen." A modern studio flat in that city is about £12,000 a year plus bills.

Student accommodation is part of the wider housing supply, and costs & conditions reflect that.

From recent experience- to avoid unexpected bills /charges for this damage at the end of year 1 - document it all now, in writing and email. I hope your daughter can settle in ok.

Had this with one of my girls, what I thought was a tiny closet was in fact her en-suite. Yes it was premium!
was thoroughly disgusted at how we were being fleeced, our smallest bedroom is huge in comparison.

You should report and complain regardless because they need to know the state of the room at arrival because she might otherwise be held responsible and fined for the damage when she leaves.

That said it should really be her who does the complaining not you.

That is not acceptable and I'd closely support her in raising the issues. It's a horrible way to start but also an opportunity for her to learn how to be appropriately assertive with a landlord. Universities are very clear that they treat students as autonomous adults, though sometimes needing some guidance. They probably won't deal directly with you as she is their tenant. She and her flatmates may also be offered solutions that require decisions in response e.g. whether to move rooms / what fixes are/aren't acceptable. Can you help her work out who to contact and offer to look over any written messages she decides to send or offer to draft part of a message she feels stuck with? I did this with both of mine who are now young adults who don't take no shit, but know how to be civil about it.

I’m not saying it’s acceptable. My uni accommodation was much the same. I’m just making the observation that it’s quicker and easier to sort it out yourself rather than emailing, calling, complaining and waiting for someone else to sort it out for you. Less stress, get it done and move on.

It’s the reality. If there have been foreign students using it all summer or the previous few weeks and it will look exactly the same in a week what do you expect the uni to do? They will have had it cleaned after the previous students moved out. New students will have moved in on various time scales.

I would take photos though so you’re not liable for anything. My son and friends had to after cleaning the kitchen and leaving because students were still there and leaving at different times.After they move in there is nothing to enforce it being kept immaculate which is why communal kitchens are so grim.

Brace yourself for tales of overflowing sinks full of unwashed pans with your dc’s pans being taken and used etc. 🤷‍♀️

The kitchen absolutely should have been dealt with and isn't acceptable though.

Also remember, universities have up to 10,000 students all moving in over one weekend. They have thousands of halls rooms. They are working on negative budgets at the moment, trying to keep the cost of halls rooms down so they aren't prohibitively expensive.

They pay other students to clean the rooms as a holiday job.

This. Great advice.

To me that's just what student houses are like. But I haven't been involved in such things since the late 90s.

The mould and the leak need fixing definitely. If the toilet seat is broken I'd probably buy a new one. The pan marks and inadequate wardrobe don't seem a massive issue as they don't render the house unsafe or unusable.

It's absolutely not the reality.

Like I say, my halls were immaculate when I moved in, and the same applied to all my friends halls. We didn't have to put up with mould, grease and rotting food anywhere and OP's daughter shouldn't have to either.

And yes, once you move in it's different, but that doesn't mean you should be expected to deal with the previous' students mould and filth.

It’s funny because I had same but eldest two moved into what I thought were grim rooms, I offered to help clean but they were happy to go off and meet people and sort it later. Youngest could probably have done but decided early on that university life was not for him (maybe saw elder siblings rentals over the years 😂) and stayed at home doing a degree apprenticeship - which, incidentally, I highly recommend.

My oldest daughter’s pots and pans were stolen on her second day at uni -apparently cleaners who barely cleaned but had time to steal things.
She stupidly left her door open a few days later as the students had a party she left the door open and some local lads took off with her mobile, laptop, money and even sunglasses.

I do agree it's easier to get it sorted but she should still complain and make sure she takes photos of what she was expected to deal with.

I was at a huge university (Nottingham) and never dealt with anything like this. Everything was immaculately clean.

The mouldy sealant isn't an issue. It's what happens to sealant and is purely a cosmetic issue. A paste of bicarb mixed with bleach, spread on and and left overnight would sort it out, if she can be bothered. It's certainly nothing to get worked up about. Same goes for the burn marks.

She needs to ask for the leak under the sink to be fixed and she needs to find some resilience, as others have said.

You were lucky and what evidence is there to say said grease isn’t current paying students?

It isn't that it's acceptable, but she can spend six weeks complaining, phoning, emailing, getting nowhere, or she can sort it herself (apart from the leaks), and help her dd to have a good start.

Student services will have maybe 2,000 complaints to work through. They'll only send someone on day 1 if a front door is missing or the electrics have fused.

Not all Halls are like this OP. My Foster son is moving to University of Worcester today. He got the key yesterday and it's immaculate. The kitchen is huge and looks quite new with 2 cookers and 2 hobs. Everyone has 1 shelf in large Fridge and 1 shelf in large freezer. One kettle and toaster provided. He is in a disabled room but has his own kitchenette with sink, microwave, mini fridge and mini freezer. He's got a large flat screen TV and huge study desk, a wardrobe, under bed storage and drawers. No mould. His bathroom is also lovely with a walk in shower. He is paying £8320 for a 40 week contract and that includes a gym membership pass and a cleaner for communal areas like kitchen and sitting area once a week. Your DD needs to complain, especially as you say she is paying for their best room. Also take photos with date stamp of all issues so she is not charged for damage.

Good for you. But not every young person is the same/has the same constitution.

OP’s DD was crying and the move to Uni/4 hours away is clearly a big deal to her. A supportive parent who helps her learn how to deal with issues is much better than a parent who just abandons their child purely because “they are at Uni now”. There’s a huge difference between support and mollycoddling.

@DumpedByText - that’s great you are coming up with solutions and putting a positive spin. It sounds like your DD is struggling a little with the transition but I hope it works out for her.