Room in student house without a window

[Evalina]

DD's in her second year and has moved into what is otherwise a nice student house. However her room has no window. It has 2 doors, one into the hall and the other into a kitchen/lounge. So she has no natural light and no direct ventilation. She does get some light (and reduced privacy) through the frosted glazed door between her and the kitchen, but if she opens it to get air, then she gets cooking fumes and noise too.

We have raised it with local council HMO office who are not being very responsive, although they have spoken to landlord who has put in a brighter lightbulb! Landlord has said to DD's housemates that he knows loads of people at the council, and that if he's told to do anything it won't happen until next summer, so DD is wasting her time complaining about it. He's also said his wife is having a baby and is stressed at the thought they might have to pay to sort it out. As a result DD's housemates, who all have nice rooms with proper windows, are telling her to drop it, even though they have all declined to swap rooms with her.

I believe the problem could be fixed for less than £5k, which given collectively they are paying £38k in rent for the year is not too shocking.

Not sure what else to do really. Anyone got any advice?

The lounge is the kitchen with a couple of sofas in. Not big enough for a bedroom and then absolutely no privacy at all.

I suppose the friends' argument would be 'we only took the house as a group because we understood that you were OK with the windowless room'.
I don't think they sound very nice though.

Hey I'm just stating the requirements under the housing act. Due to non-existent local government budgets landlords have been able to take the piss on accommodation quality for years now. Doesn't change what a good landlord should be striving for.

Again, just ask for door vents to be added

www.screwfix.com/p/map-vent-fixed-louvre-vent-white-76-x-229mm/54272

They will keep room ventilated overnight and whilst doors are closed. When she's in kitchen or living area both off her room she can keep her door wedged open to air out more

Buy a few oxygen releasing plants.

Get decent lamp. It's dark anyway now- March from 6pm so any evening work window light not helpful

The frosted door presumably lets some light in also so it's not completely dark

She can presumably also work in kitchen, dining, living area also during the day or quiet evenings. The others won't be in there 24/7 as also have uni, work, go out, etc

She's at least 18. She signed and chose it. She should have looked more in detail and will in future now. Leave her to sort her tiny problem out a bit alone

I would hate a windowless room so I can see why your DD is pissed off. I'd try and get something in writing from the Environmental Health Housing /HMO team. Perhaps your DD could ask for the head of department. Make them confirm if it is or isn't ok. If it is then it is and if it isn't then you can go from there.

I think the best fix is for your DD to get one of her 'friends' to switch at xmas. It's the most workable outcome.

No, none of them noticed that one of the rooms didn't have a window before they moved in, so there was no proper discussion. The first one to move in let my DD know that it wasn't a door to the outside as they thought.

The race for houses is a bit mad at her uni - and they were panicking that they wouldn't get one I think.

The race for houses is a bit mad at her uni - and they were panicking that they wouldn't get one I think

I remember it well! I don't think I have had so much stress since! We ended up with the worst house imaginable.

Don't suck it up; and she should be angry at her "friends" wanting her to suck it up. I've only seen this in hostels in Vietnam, and was pretty shocked by it there. It's awful, and imo unliveable. I would contact her Student Advice Centre. Also go higher at the council.

They don't really have any excuse then - selfish or what?!

No way is she being previous, and you shouldn't drop it!
That would be a living hell for me living with no fresh air in the dark, her body clock will get screwed and I wouldn't last the term.

I would make an appointment with student welfare or the universities equivalent and go with your daughter, they should be able to help. The landlord can't play "I've got council mates" card with them.

They are not her friends, they do not want her room or go swap, they shafted her by making sure Shen didn't visit/wasn't there for room picking.

Ask university about emergency accommodation / being rehoused and then leave the contract. If he tries to take you for the money then he will have a hard time with an uninhabitable room. Worst case would be the other tennents lose their deposits, but sounds as they deliberately screwed her over seeing her as easy as they wanted the game nice 5 rooms and someone to dump in the 6th they deserve it.

She can make new friends from her course and she won't stay in touch with them even if she last the year.

Please get her moved out now.

No, a bright bulb and a fan will not help.

Plants is a good idea, so I will suggest she get a couple of those. She can't work in the kitchen as there is no table, only a work counter/small breakfast bar, plus it's the evenings and weekends that she needs to work - she has over 22 hours contact time, and a heavy coursework load to do on top of that. Those are the times that her housemates are in the kitchen so she can't concentrate in there. There is nowhere else in the house either.

In the evening, the problem is air not light. It's not possible to put a vent into the door I don't think, as it is a frosted glazed door.

That sounds utterly shit.

Do you have everything in writing or had it all been discussed with the council over the phone?

If not make sure it is in writing and cc'd to everyone you can think of. Who is the ombudsman for this sort of thing?

Lidlington had daylight-spectrum desk lamps when I was in there last week (or the week before, maybe. My memory didn't lodge it well.)

I am surprised to hear that you can rent a room with no ventilation or natural light, though. It's not something I ever had to think about, despite many years of renting in HMOs.

Whatever the legality of it, I sympathise with your daughter. I sleep with the window open all year round and have turned down a job offer partly because there was no natural light in the office.

Bagina that fact that you went all the way to Vietnam to see a windowless room doesn't mean they don't happen in the UK....

I'm afraid the fact that the DD signed up for it means she hasn't really got a leg to stand on. She can't legitimately leave with the other five having to pay additional rent. If the lounge window is opened then a current of air will flow into her room. The point about the onset of autumn and winter is a good one - makes a big difference.

This room is unfit as defined under the Housing Act. it needs natural ventilation - ventaxia on the wall. its bullshit about knowing someone at the council who wont serve a notice to get it remedied.

www.nihe.gov.uk/index/advice/renting_privately/advice_landlords/standards_of_fitness.htm
....All habitable rooms should be ventilated directly to the open air by an opening window.....

If nothing else your DD needs to start the ball rolling so that no one else has to put up with this room in future.

as for what to do now, I would sit down with house mates and see if people would agree to a rota for the room. if no one will then a rent reduction. if no luck with that then I really would be moving out. the Housing act standards are there for a reason.

when complaining to EH put it in writing to the HMO team and copy in council's chief exec and head of Environmental services plus the local councillor for the area.

Aren't there two doors though?

A window can also be put above both doors if space

She isn't lacking air and sunlight. As you say, she will be at uni and working, so it's mainly only evenings she would be in room anyway. She can work in kitchen or living area if she chooses, she will mainly be using laptop and books. That can be done from sofa. Housemates won't be spending all evening in kitchen and living area as they will be working and studying too presumably?

What council is it?

Exactly the situation my kids would end up in. They don't want to rock the boat etc. DS has just moved into his 3rd years house and he's got the duff room ( but with a window). He's a bit fed up but has rationalised that actually, if he's socialising he'll be in the lounge/kitchen and if he's head down working it doesn't matter. He's also thinking he will work more in the dept library as this a good environment.

It's annoying but it's a year only and she'll learn from it. She can probably find a friendly on campus location to work can't she?

She needs to have her eyes and ears open though. She's been screwed over re rooms she needs to be very aware re bills /deposits etc ( though again me, DS /DD and DH have done most of the work to get everyone's deposits back over the years too, cleaning, replacing door handles/sorting taps etc because we are too nice and don't want the kids to suffer because other people are careless in a rented house)

I would think in a house of 6 there would be someone in the lounge/kitchen most of the time.

Bagina that fact that you went all the way to Vietnam to see a windowless room doesn't mean they don't happen in the UK

Oh please!

We're waiting to see if it's legal. We expect certain standards in our rich developed country. Of course she has no natural light or ventilation: she's in a large cupboard!

The landlord isn't doing a homeless person a favour; he's ripping her off by being a greedy cunt, trying to shoehorn in as many students as possible for his profit.

Firstly, better if she does all this herself, as she is a grown up and the person responsible and affected. She'll get better responses. But I understand your concern and that perhaps you have more time.

Talk to the university accommodation office - they're experts.

Talk to the council housing manager (not the officer you've dealt with) then, if not effective, the councillor about the HMO non-compliance and imminent deadline. Councillors can be good at peering over shoulders and nudging staff - they can gain higher priority for your case, they cannot change council policy or practice overnight.

But, consider the consequences of the HMO license being revoked - or would it be renewed with conditions? You need to know what might happen.

If I were your dd I'd do more work in the library. This may alienate her from housemates if she ends up barely at home, missing out on socialising.

I'd definitely ask to pay less for that room.

It's nuts that the person with the heaviest workload is the one with a door opening onto the social space in the house. Really bad planning on her housemates' part. Either not thinking it through, or being selfish and treating her as a doormat.

I fear that, whatever happens, she will lose friendships here. Because her housemates have, in a small way, victimised her from the outset. She's in a 'put up or shut up' situation with them, unless they collectively recognise their selfishness and change their tune fast. Young people, however nice otherwise, are often very self-absorbed - they just won't have thought through the relationship-destroying consequences of an apparently small injustice.

This is why IME the university friends who stay friends are often not the ones you lived with.

How much is the situation about the room distressing her Evalina? And how much would a major fall out with friends upset her? Won't everyone else be sorted for accommodation now with term having started? Really, be careful before your intervention causes things to implode. Why not go all out to pretty the room up and try to manage the situation - I honestly thing the people saying going in with all guns blazing aren't thinking through the repercussions. As I say, it wasn't great for DS1 but he made it work and the layout sounds identical - it's usually caused by a cowboy extension slapped on to an old semi or terraced house, creating one shitty room.

This is illegal! What if there was a fire? Your dd would have no chance.

artandco there is. Huge difference between a window opening onto a hall with no windows/fresh air And worse a window opeinjng to noise and kitchen smells.

If the hall does have a window and she gets a window added to the hallway and leaves the hallway window open all the time to get some air, I'm sure her flat mates will complain, refuse to keep it open or charge her more for the heating bill.

I worked in an office with no air conditioning or air movement, which opened to a hall with a window at the end. The window in the hall made fuck all difference and we would spend our lunchtime in the winter even outside just to feel like we could breathe fresh air.

Bagina I'm not sure what you mean by 'Oh please!'. Obviously I don't know where the DD is at uni but the room of DS1's was in Oxford so these things very definitely do happen far closer to home than Vietnam.