Student rented houses have changed SO SO much ....

[Ta1kinPeece]

I moved DD into her 2nd year rented house today.

Landlords had put in new kettle, toaster, mattress covers, vacuum cleaner, hard floor cleaner
washing machine, fridge and mattresses are less than two years old
outside smoking area and bike locks are provided

its all so CLEAN and CIVILISED

I was a student in the 80's
when did it change from the Young Ones to Friends ?

Yes - although range is wide. One daughter ended up in a room so damp,there were slugs. Two at university at moment have very nice shared houses with double ensuite rooms, a huge kitchen with dishwasher, washing machine and drier, a bike store, big sitting room and nice garden. It comes at a price though.

I don't like it! I was at uni from 2003 - 7 and it's already changed loads since then. Now it seems to be really common (in Leeds anyway) for the rental contract to be "all inclusive" so you just pay one (massive) lump sum to the landlord and they take care of paying utilities, internet etc. Plus they're all set up with huge wall mounted flat screens and leather sofas and the like. It was much more basic when I was a student!

When they started charging £££ for a university education. I think going to uni is seen as a luxury now. You're paying £9k a year, you want and expect more for that money.

Lol! I remember being in Scotland with no heating. We thought that a toaster was a 'mod con'.

I don't think it's changed every where. It was a dump in some of the places I looked at and stayed in (think damp and mice) as a student not so long ago and then some places I looked at were lovely. Also where I work we take on a placement student every year and hear very very mixed reviews about their accommodation.

I'm so glad your DD is staying somewhere nice though, It can make such a big difference.

I was at uni in the 90's and lived in a variety of dodgy terraced houses. It was all part of growing up and learning to.cope. I don't really like the whole modern flat set up.

My DS is just moving out of his second year let. It's a good, solid, 1950s ex council house, but very much like a 1980s student let. Shower cubicle in one of the bedrooms, tiny kitchen and original wall paper peeling off the walls! He liked the location though. I hope the next place is better.

when did it change from the Young Ones to Friends ?

haha that line made me LOL IRL :)

Definitely doesn't sound like dd1's second and third year houses, which are reassuringly familiar in their rundown-ness Dd2's second year house looks nice in photos though, looking forward to seeing it next week. No huge leather sofas or flat screen TVs in either!

pixie
her house has "a story" - the landlords were working there till 8am today !!!!!!

but when I was a student, the outside toilets on the victorian terraces were still in use
and yesterdays newspaper on a skewer was bog roll
and central heating was unheard of

now they stress over wifi and TRVs and microwaves

then again, checking out the hall this morning I kicked into not binning that mode so both DD and I have some new kitchenware

The Young Ones was filmed in Bristol, not far from my school. I don't live there now but guess where DS is at university?

Visit in a few months. I'm sure it'll be a lot more like you remember!

meow
Thing is that I've been a student landlord

The ones I rented to were a mixed bunch
but no way was I expected to provide ( mid 1990's) what they get now

let alone what I had a student 10 years before that

An ex council house doesn't sound like a typical Bristol university house! My DD had a flat in Clifton and the landlord put in nearly everything the OP said plus a resident caretaker.

The fact that students are paying tuition fees, via a loan in most cases, appears to deter only a few from wanting decent living conditions and being prepared to pay for them! Also looking early enough to get a good house/flat is important. Leaving it late means choice has evaporated. Dds flat had loads of viewings lined up because the students get to know where decent properties are!

I used to live in, and own a house, in a student town

When I moved in with my then-boyfriend, I thought the easiest thing would be to rent my house to students.

Oh boy did I underestimate their standards! It was only 6 or 7 years after I had left uni but things had changed!
At viewings, they were turning it down on the basis of there not being a dishwasher, there only being 1 bathroom and 2 loos between 4 bedrooms, and no off street parking (the council only allowed 2 residents parking permits per house)

It was a far cry from us having 1 downstairs bathroom for 6 bedrooms, broken and mismatched furniture, and only occasional heating.

I ended up renting it to professional sharers who had no problem with the state of the house

My dd is in a dump. Horrific. Shares with 3 girls.. .2 couldn't afford any more rent.

Bubbles I guess it depends on whether your DC is at Bristol Uni or UWE .

Yes! You just said Bristol! Clifton isn't known for its ex council houses.

The level of rent will determine the quality of the house/flat. If a student really wants decent accommodation then having like minded friends with sufficient funds is imperative! DD found in 4th year that one girl limited choices, although the flat was ok, they could have had better if she had been willing to sacrifice 2 cappuccinos a week!

This year DS has done rather well through a bit of nepotism, in terms of accommodation. He was trying to be fiercely independent last year but has now realised extended family can be a major bonus.

I graduated in 2014 and lived in shitholes, nice places to rent in Brighton were expensive.

Halls have changed too. We had one bathroom per corridor (12 students) and now it's all ensuite. Weirdly I can't remember ever having to queue.

I think it depends where they are at university.
DS1 had two student houses and both were absolutely awful and not even cheap.
DS2 has a house share for year two at a different uni and the contrast couldn't be greater. Still not exactly cheap (and rent 3 monthly in advance ) , but clean, recently decorated and quite well equipped. No dishwasher though!

I think they can vary a lot. There are a few rooms in student houses here in Manchester in the £55 a week ish range- they are much more like the student houses I remember than the purpose built private halls and the more upmarket student houses going for a lot more.

In 2000/01 I paid £35 a week and remember being really annoyed when it went up to £39 a week the next year.

My old hall has changed masses since I lived there

• the number of sockets needed if nothing else!

My stident rent in Manchester between 89-93 varied from 32 to 45 per week! For that we had one bathroom and 2 loos between 6.
Swirly carpets.
And slugs on the kitchen carpet (yes carpet in a kitchen) each morning as they entered under the badly fitting back door.

Our house was considered upmarket in Fallowfield at it was a semi and not a terrace!