DD going to Liverpool but no accomodation!What to do?!

[cobhamhall]

Liverpool was accepted via Clearing and accomodation offered was 'dire'(as reviewed by previous students).Does anyone have any experience of UNITE accommodation?One of their drawbacks is that accommodation starts on the 1st Sept until 25th August!!Any advice would be grateful.

Title should read 'accommodation'!!!!

What accom was offered? Remember lots of students vary.

I am amazed you can’t find accommodation because there is so much student accommodation in Liverpool! Congratulations to your DD. She will love Liverpool.

Have you looked at the accommodation yourself yet? That sounds pretty standard for accommodation (the rental period) and a lot of private places will have filled up by the end of last term tbh.

My daughter lived in one of the Unite flats and it was fine.

Well I suppose other students don’t want the dire accommodation so that’s why it is available. It’s akways a worry that clearing students don’t get accommodation at all.

I think the Unite costs will be very high. Clearly paying for 7-8 weeks more than normal will be expensive and they are usually near the top end of pricing anyway.

Is there really no other accommodation available from the university accommodations office? I would look at the dire accommodation if you can. A few very demanding students might have skewed the comments. There may have been hundreds who were happy with it. Are the complaints a bit petty or justified? If it’s rock bottom pricing then shared facilities might be the problem. If you have plenty of money then Unite may be fine (may be full of international students too). If you can go and look, I would.

My sin got in the same way 2 years ago ie all the good accommodation was gone and stayed here.

www.iqstudentaccommodation.com/student-accommodation/liverpool/great-newton-house

Pm me if you want more detail

Also maybe worth considering being a lodger, I had a friend who used to live in Liverpool (less than 1 mile from the main campus) who had 2 spare rooms in her house, she interviewed them and took up references and probationary contract to give a bit of an out if needed after 3 months, for both sides. The students did own cooking, washing etc and contribution to bills.

She did this for over 25 years around her own career. Just throwing out the idea, to look for something like that as was good from both angles the student who may miss home had a home from home, they also had their independence too.

Sadly I can't recommend her in the Liverpool area anymore as she moved away to South Africa about 7 years ago. But plenty more doing the same for lower costs than halls. Still plenty of time to socialise and equally for study.

I would really try and avoid being a lodger. Students miss out totally on events in the halls of residence and it’s lonely! There is no opportunity to make friends in the Hall, only on your course. Seriously, don’t do this if you are a fresher. Check out how dire the hall really is!

I stayed in two different unite properties whilst at uni in Liverpool. grand central (which is litterally right next to lime street station) and capital gate (which is very close to Liverpool university and has a lidl right next to it- very handy!). Both of the same good standard.

Writing that has just brought back all the feelings of student halls

There's lots of private halls these days, most won't be full so just hit google however a full year contract is normal if not part of university (who rent their halls during summer). Halls are sometimes basic, but I suspect the "dire" ones are simply the ones around when I went many moons ago, kids today are fussy.

My friend had a unite flat in Manchester. It was expensive for what it was but he missed out on allocated accommodation. It was decent and much more modern than normal accommodation and he liked being there for summer as he got a job

which accomodation was offered? The carnatic and mossley hill sites are not like the super duper modern accomodation that kids expect now but the advantage of being with a load of others outweighs that i think.

If it's University of Liverpool halls, I'd go with those over Unite. Which halls was it? Unite is more expensive and lacking the atmosphere of the traditional halls in my opinion.

@anniehm I wouldn't say kids today are fussy if there are better options available it makes sense to take them. I was at uni 3 years ago and had the most basic accommodation offered (all I could afford). Still £99 a week. Between 8 mixed gender we had two shared toilets, one of which didn't work all year, the working one had cracked tiles so you had to be sure to wear shoes or you'd cut your feet. One shared shower which was constantly full of mould, silverfish etc no matter how many times we bleached it and put that anti-silverfish stuff in. Kitchen was disgusting and the recycling boxes stank from whoever had had them last year with all sorts of dried food on them (who doesn't wash before they recycle) and the oven and microwave were so filthy and needed a deep clean that took until May (and 10 complaints) to get. Had sinks in our rooms that dripped all night and a couple of them leaked so the wall by it was damp. Windows were double glazed but still full of condensation. Roof tiles missing so when people walked in the flat above dust would fall down into our kitchen. They were also serviced apartments and the cleaner came once every 2 weeks at most and did FA. I could go on but to me paying £400 a month for a tiny single bedroom in a shared flat you should be getting something at a reasonable standard of living.

For £10 more a week I could have got something much better - en-suite, built this millennium, secure entry (our building didn't lock). Wish I'd been able to find the money.

We complained and they did update them this year finally.

The halls at Carnatic are fairly basic but clean and very sociable
McNair Salisbury and Rankin are the better ones
The food is again basic but perfectly fine and there is a bar on site
The main bonus is the sociable side which is fantastic and my DC quoted as best year of life
Met housemates early on and still living together
Remember Halls only one year and hotel like ensuite can be a bit of a poor compromise if you are not with people from your year or Uni
DC found it a great bonding experience and the trips on the bus were no bother and great fun at night
Unless ur child is precious don't discount uni halls even if off campus alternative is to accept room and go on waiting list for different accommodation as it does come up
In second year most live off smith down road which is off campus anyway

If it's Greenbank that's been offered, DD has several friends who were there and had a great time. Also, they can apply to transfer after a couple of weeks (people drop out or move accommodation all the time)

I have no knowledge of Liverpool, but it might be worth a look on student.spareroom.co.uk