Talk to me about the condition of student houses

[blueskypink]

DS moved some of his stuff into a student house yesterday ready for 2nd year. As I was in the area I went to have a look....

He was clearly excited and pleased and I had to try really hard to keep a smile, or at least a neutral expression on my face. It's not overly dirty, although skirting boards and corners looked grubby. But it's so shabby! Desperately in need of a lick of paint (letting agents' attitude apparently is 'feel free'). Carpets are threadbare and look in need of a good clean. Furniture is ancient - I had to steel myself to sit on a sofa which has holes in it and stuffing coming out. His 'bed' is an ancient divan base (no legs) and a knackered mattress dumped on top. His desk and wardrobe look like a few bits of plywood tacked together.

The lease (all signed up) is for 12 months so I don't know when they expected to do any cleaning or maintenance.

I'm wondering if I should ring the letting agency and ask if they will replace the beds and hint at the need for some general maintenance work. But I'm worried about causing any problems. I know ds and his housemates are in discussion with the agency over a new oven and one or two other things, and I don't want to embarrass ds by being the one with an interfering mum. But on the other hand we're paying his rent (nearly £400 pcm) and it infuriates me to think they can get away with this!

Does this sound typical of student houses?

Absolutely. Tenants should be given a copy. Worth checking also that there is a carbon monoxide detector, as well as heat and smoke alarms. If not they cost about £30 so it could be the moving in present.

Test the alarms. Students are known for removing batteries.

But on the other hand we're paying his rent (nearly £400 pcm) and it infuriates me to think they can get away with this!

Bubbles - how on earth do you infer from this that I think £400 is a fortune? I included the amount so as not to drip feed. You do make an awful lot of assumptions

Excellent points about gas certificate and alarms. I will definitely be following that up - interfering mum or not!

Yes deffo take loads of photos and email them to themselves so dated

Check gas and electric safety certificates and inspections are up to date

Carbon monoxide and fire alarms etc are very important

Did they get it through the uni accommodation office?

cos DC got their homes from accredited landlords and properties on special scheme

Apart from the above in my previous post - it is all down to DC to make the decisions on where they wanted to live IMHO and IME

Hi OP, I have just moved youngest DC out of her last house, so for the last six years I have done the uni house thing. They have ranged from a mouse infested shit hole with god awful letting agents in Middlesbrough for 70 including bills to a really lovely house, spotlessly cleaned (before they moved in) and regularly decorated where an email was sufficient to get a brand new divan base from wonderful landlords. This was in Leeds where we paid 98 a week plus bills.

What you have seen is not unusual, but it won't kill them and assuming they are second years, then next year they will be a bit more proactive and sign for their final house by November when the best ones get snapped up.

They learn by their own mistakes. Kids rarely see the tatty carpet or the unmatching PVC sofas. It's freedom.

He's a grown up not a child and he has chosen to live there even if you're paying for it. My child lived in an absolute shit hole at Uni. I hated it and voiced my concerns but neither he nor his friends minded. I didn't for one minute consider getting throws etc, he'd have laughed at me. They were too busy enjoying the freedom and having parties.

Sounds about the same as my student house and I paid more than £400 pcm over 10 years ago in a northern city!

I think 400 is actually a fair amount of money...

..posted too soon.400 is quite a lot of money.To some people it may seem a fortune and dosen't mean they should receive shite.

You implied that paying £400 a month was a lot for a house with issues you didn’t like and you were infuriated that landlords get away with this. Clearly that’s a protest about the money and the landlord.

Throws are only bought by helicopter parents to cover up vinyl settees. It was a tongue in cheek suggestion! No humour on these threads allowed though!

Thanks for your helpful comments Bubbles. No need to give me any further advice - especially advice based on your misplaced assumptions

bluesky don't worry. I think renting your first property is quite a big deal. It is a lot of money, and other than choosing University, it is the first major contractural/financial decision they have made.

I see it as a mentoring/coaching opportunity. DD's friends were quite organised about the flat search and the one they found is both well located and cheap. I am not therefore over optimitstic about the state it will be in. DDs exams were after everyone else's, indeed she only just completed course requirements yesterday, and she is the lucky one whose hall contract extends beyond the start of their flat contract, so she is the one to pick up keys.

With exams etc they have clearly not sat down and focussed on the practicalities, so I have been working with DD to look for best utility and broadband deals, often suggesting she "check the contract" for various things. Interesting in that she, and indeed others, clearly had little idea how much things cost. "What is Council tax". All good. I have worked with her this time, but next time she can do it on her own, and will have a better idea of what a contractural relationship involves.

I will also help her with inspecting the flat and checking health and safety stuff like certificates and alarms. Again because it is useful experience/learning. And if something needs repair or replacing I will work with her on a constructive email to the landlord. (The one my son set to get a new mattress started about how much he liked the flat etc but then mentioned that the matress was not fit for purpose, coule with an offer to stay in and take delivery, or indeed order it himself and recharge.) How to get things done is a life skill.

I honestly dont care if the place is a hovel. Her University flat was lovely, yet soon became a tip. If they are not bothered about peeling paint or threadbare carpets, I am not bothered either. I am glasd though that she passed on my advice that they aim for a top floor flat. Living under party animals would be awful.

I may buy her a throw to cover the sofa. But then I am a helicopter parent. (And I love Homesense!)

Absolutely needmoresleep. Major learning curve, DD is paying for herself so has had to make hard decisions which I have supported her with - no doubt this year will be hard in many ways but this time next year she will be making the same decisions with a lot more confidence. I may buy a throw

It doesn’t sound out of the ordinary, neither do divan beds. But they should def take photos, ask for repairs and make sure the boiler is safe as others have suggested.
When I was a student 10 years ago my house was grim, but I had to pay the rent out of my maintenance loan so had to choose something within the price range. This could well be the case for his housemates, not everyone has parents paying. And I don’t think the average student really cares about how newly-decorated the house is

I've had DC in various student houses. DD currently in a lovely house in York, well furnished and with large garden for £350 a month including bills. DS on the other hand rented some horrors, though he was perfectly happy with them.

We supplied a throw - cheaper than paying for something to be cleaned later. Call it "helicopter parenting" if you like, I call it financial sense. We were quite pleased the first property wasnt too fancy, less chance of deposit deductions, However you always need masses of photos to prove the condition when you move in.

If the bed is poor buy a thick mattress topper, easier to take that when you move than an entire mattress.

Couple more tips! Order visitor parking permits in advance if the property is in a CPZ. It saves having to move the car every couple of hours. Then if it looks as if a property is prone to condersation, get your DC to research. There is lots on the internet. Small things like drying clothes in the largest room, and keep room doors (especially small bedrooms and bathrooms) open during the day will make a lot of difference. My helicoptering is continuing apace. I sent DD a link detailing bin collection days.

Her flat is fine. The carpets are old and stained and the paint is peeling, but no way can a charge be made from their deposit unless they really go all out to damage it further. She says you have a choice: good location; cheap; good condition. She could afford more than her flatmates, but the decision was to prioritise the first two. It is great for the price, the landlord has already been in to sort out a couple of initial problems, and I bought her a rug to cover the worst of the carpet. Its a bit Withnail and I, but isnt that part of the student experience?

Daughter has secured a student house with 3 others, each with individual contracts. (I am guarantor)
When we visited my daughters house this weekend it was filthy and still had a lot of the previous tenants property still there. She had started to pay full rent at the start of July, but the house isn't habitable yet. There are also safety issues in her room eg: broken socket,a Wardrobe with three legs, a broken bed.

Is my daughter being unreasonable to expect the property to be ready as she is paying full rent? She has written the landlord a letter asking if he can rectify these things but has yet to get a reply.
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There are several student houses in my street. The students don't look after them. Most of them can't even be arsed to put the rubbish out on the right day, just leave their overflowing wheelie bins and heaps of black bags festering. God knows what they're like inside, because the quantity of black bin bags that come out at the end of the summer term each year when the agent or ll goes in to clear out is mind boggling. In one of them, the downstairs front room window was brown on the inside, where someone had obviously been smoking heavily.

If the ll has previously had tenants like that, it's not surprising s/he doesn't feel like doing largely cosmetic work on the house.

Did the ladlord provide a 'How to Rent' checklist. If not download it from gov.uk. There are further links.

Then put everything in writing. I suspect you cant do much about cleanliness expect note it and not feel obliged to leave the property on a better state. However you should be able to insist things listed on the inventory are in working order and safe.

So go through each room carefully and detail differences from the inventory. Check showers, washing machines etc. Pull out drawers.

Then list what needs to be done for safety. And list things where your DC should not be expectef to return the property in better condition than they found it. Bag up previous tenants stuff and ask for it to be collected. (Dont dispose of it, at least for a couple of months, as this can bizarrely be considered to be theft.)

Actually already, I did make the original comment about getting a throw in good faith but on these threads the criticism of normal solutions is so fierce it leads to all sorts of silly comments being thrown around. However as I’m so out of date with the rental market, apparently, (DD2 gaveup renting in May) as opposed to other posters who have never, ever, entered it, it’s not really worth the effort of trying to make reasonable suggestions because it’s thrown back in my face by the professional landlord and the newbies who, of course, know everything.

DS is in Sheffield, he’s going to be sharing a very nice 6 bed new build apartment this year, rent is £5300 for the year. That’s 1300 more than his first year, but his flat wasn’t great last year.

I’m really pleased with it, and he’s an only child so it’s manageable. It’s very secure and I’m glad he’s not in a damp old terraced house.

The letting agents seem very nice, to be fair last years were too, no problem getting the deposit back, in spite of his flatmates living like utter pigs, to the extent that he came home early as he was so fed up.

I would definitely try and get at least a new bed if I were you.

BlueskyIf the mattress is crappy, honestly rather than argue with the landlord, I'd just get down to Ikea and buy one. Much easier to debate repairs and safety measures than beds. Also, if you check ebay/charity shops you can usually pick up basic furniture for very little.
DS is going into his final year and staying in a small private hall. For £100 / week inc bills he has a decent room and shared kitchen and bathroom. The landlord is really responsive to repairs and does regular upkeep maintenance. He ended up there because some of the houses he looked at were shit heaps for the same money.

Mateysmum - I think that's what I'll do. They have a spare locked room in the house and one of his flatmates has discovered her key fits it. So he can put his existing mattress in there rather than throw it away, just in case the landlord objects.

Anyway, my standards have dropped now! This week we've been to ds2's graduation and I had only ever seen this year's house on video. So I wangled a look around (for research purposes ) and it was quite an eye opener. Some of the mess they blamed on their attempts to catch a mouse which had been spotted in the kitchen . But also lots of shabby paintwork, shabby carpets and very basic furniture. (£520 pcm)

I also keep reminding myself of the unheated attic I lived in in my 3rd year at uni, half of which was full of the owner's junk, and which could only be accessed by a pull down ladder.