Heading towards year 2 exams (uni 2017)

[brizzlemint]

Starting uni 2017 continued.
Tales of radiators, errant boilers, tomatoes and potato mashers...oh and university students.

Congratulations Eve, that sounds brilliant.

DD has finished labs but has supervisions (tutorials) and some lectures I think. Her exams are right at the end of May and beginning of June. I also have DD2 doing A levels here, so it's a barrel of laughs - NOT!

DD1has apparently organised DH to go up and move her stuff out towards the end of June so she can go straight to Heathrow with new bf. They planned a week in Italy as "friends" but now they are going as a couple. DH will bring most of her stuff back here. Then DD2 is going to Paris for a few days with her mates in early July. I'll be the only one working!

Is that a 2 semester regime, stop?

DD has lectures - they do some options this term which act partly as tasters for specialisms for the next 2 years I think. She attended most of them in the first week to suss out the lecturers and also who else was doing them (she didn't want to be the one averagely nerdy person amidst a group of Uber nerds).

Then exams I guess similar time to Malbec's DD, followed by "May week' (which is in June) - not sure if she's going to any balls but she's planning on participating in the Cardboard Boat Race this year. And then she's staying till her accommodation contract expires at the end of June to party. Then a couple of weeks at home before returning and living in college for the duration of her placement, after which a few weeks at home and on holiday with us in September.

DD is on 2 semesters and has exams the first 2 weeks of June.

Errol yes, he's at uni in Scotland and started a month earlier than most of his friends in September, then only had a fortnight at Easter.
He's off abroad soon to do a month volunteering on a marine conservation/science project , but hope he's able to get some kind of paid summer job as well....we live in a very popular tourist area so hopefully there will be something available!

Gosh, the end of year 2 is coming fast!
Ds2 submitted his last essay of the year yesterday. He's been revising a bit but will be able to focus fully on exams now.

Hi everyone, I have been a long time lurker on this thread, reluctant to post as dd2 is a mumsnet member so I have to be discreet. However, she is having an issue with her landlord, and I was wondering if any of the wise people on this thread would be able to help / advise.

DD signed up with landlord A for her 2nd year accommodation. It has not been great - many issues for all of the people living there, things like a number of break-in attempts which culminated in the landlord (temporarily) boarding up the door which meant DD couldn't get in when she got home from work late at night (& people wouldn't have been able to get out easily if there was a fire). The laundry facilities don't work because they are providing domestic machines which are not up to the workload they are being put under. They've now closed the laundry facilities altogether and given them a list of laundrettes to use. They have damp and mould problems as well.

In January DD was told that the company was "no longer a part of landlord A company" and that they should make payment to a different account. They weren't given a new contract to sign, nor was I, as guarantor, given a new guarantee to sign.

Their last rent instalment is due and they are very keen to try and negotiate a lower rent - both because of the issues they have encountered and also because new people who have moved in recently are paying £50 per week less than they are.

DD and her flatmates have spoken to the new landlord about giving them a reduction but they have just said that all of the issues started before they took over and therefore it is not their responsibility - pay up or else & take up any grievance with Landlord A.

As guarantor, I cannot have legal action taken against me (I would be sacked) and DD is about to apply for a student visa for the US (leaving for a year in August), so her record needs to be blemish-free. I have had a text today from the new landlord giving me until Monday to pay the rent or legal proceedings will commence.

My personal preference is just to pay and DD to put it down to experience. However, before we do this, I was wondering what rights the new landlord actually has; no contracts have been signed with them. The only notification of the change of landlord was an email with the new payment details.

What do people think (and apologies for the essay)

Hello Emsie
That sounds really unfair for your dd. I'm not legal so really don't know but it does sound from the info on CAB that the landlord can get away without having any written contract for a fixed term tenancy.

I'd probably go the same way as you and pay up if dd definitely wants to stay there. (Then insist on the issues such as laundry and damp resolved). But I would be strongly suggesting she found alternative accommodation instead.

www.citizensadvice.org.uk/housing/renting-a-home/tenancy-agreements/

Thanks Haffdonga, she will be moving out in about 6 weeks, so there's no point in her moving now, and I think they would say we would have to pay anyway, as we agreed to the terms at the beginning of the contract (with Landlord A, but still...).

Her friends who are staying in the city for next year seem to have done a bit more due diligence on the place they will be staying next year - and where she is hoping she will be able to stay when she comes back for her 4th year. My feeling is it's a "put it down to experience / learning experience" kind of thing, but it's frustrating that things are weighted so strongly in the landlord's favour.

Oh I hadn't understood it was only 6 more weeks. Skim reading, sorry. In that case I think she just has to suck it up. It's not worth the hassle of court cases if she's leaving anyway.

Thank you :) I tend to agree. We need to sort it out before it escalates as the stakes are too high for both of us right now.

I am afraid it will be simpler just to pay.
My bigger concern is whether the new landlord really is the landlord - sometimes people tretend to own a property which is empty, let it out, keep the rent and then the true owner turns up either wanting the rent or vacant possession.

It might be worth paying £3 and ging on line to the Land registry website to download who owns that property for a start. Probably the house was bought by a new owner who took it with the tenants in and it is a very simple assignment of the tenancy but even so they should have notified everyone -tenants and guarantors. You could also check with whichever body is holding the deposit to see if there has been a notice filed there that a different person or company now holds the money.

Is this a private landlord who is on the university's approved list? (I rather hope not...).

Actually, whether they are or not, perhaps suggest that your DD highlights with the university accommodation office and the SU the problems she and her fellow tenants are having?

@Xenia, the landlord changed mid tenancy (in January), so I don't think it's someone pretending to be the landlord as the building wasn't empty when they took over. The only notification we got was an email sent to the tenants (not the guarantors) saying

"Dear Tenants,

We just want to confirm that everyone received the previous email ( I have never seen the previous email - not sure if DD did ) with the new payment details on as we are no longer apart of Landlord A limited and don't have access to their bank account so from now on please put rent payments into the following account:

Account Name - Landlord B ltd
Account number - xxxxxx
Sort code - xxxxx

Can you please reply to this email acknowledging you have received the email. if any one has sent money to Landlord B ltd in the past two days please let us know.

Also the new owner and myself are thinking of creating a new Building name WhatsApp group where you will get promos sent out and he would also like to take everyone out for a drink soon to meet everyone. If you would like to email back with your number we will get this group started tomorrow afternoon.

P.S - we would like to let students know, we have a new owner of the building who is lovely, we are a new company called Landlord B Student Accommodation and the only changed happening at the moment is our new bank details."

All the communication I've seen from them has been in the same tone - casual and badly written... I'm not sure where the deposit (which is a £100 "room bond") is being held - it doesn't say in the paperwork I have from the original landlord (which looks to be a standard assured shorthold tenancy agreement to my inexperienced eyes).

@MarchingFrogs this is a private landlord, I think they might have been on the approved list from the uni, but DD and her friends are very determined that they won't be from now on. I've told her to talk to student support at the uni, not sure she has. One of her flatmates has a grandfather who is a very experienced landlord and seems to be advising them not to pay, but as I've said, the stakes are high for both me and DD and we can't afford to have anything "dodgy" on our records.

Thank you both by the way!

Just a thought, but has anyone checked with Landlord A that this is all legit?

Also, okay, universities are not meant to discuss students' affairs with parents, but as a guarantor and therefore an interested party (if it is / was, if it has changed, an approved landlord) you would be justified in contacting student services or whoever to inform them of potential problems (even if only expecting it to be a one-way process).

I don't know that anyone has checked with Landlord A, that is a good point. And certainly, I guess there would be no harm in me contacting student services / accommodation services to let them know about this shower...

If it is a university approved landlord, they certainly are happy to speak to parents, Surrey university lettings were very helpful with our dodgy landlord problems.

Yes I would check with Landlord A in case there has not been a change and he is sitting in Australia thinking he still owns and is getting rent from the property under the valud contracts of which you don't seem to have any formal "notice of assignment". In fact check if the tenancy can be assigned (moved into a new name). It probably can but may not.

Meanwhile one of mine probably has mumps despite the MMR at age 1 and 4 but perhaps it is less severe because of that. There is only a 10% chance of getting it if you have the MMR. he has seen the doctor twice this week and they are doing a blood test next week to be sure. he has come home today with another student - they both have mumps. He was able to get an extension on his 2 essays of a week today so that's helpful.

I suppose I am now Florence Nightingale... although I am not sure I want the responsibility of someone else's child! I suspec tthey both caught it as at Easter from here they drove their friend who may have had it to our GP, then to two hospitals' A&E one night so loads of time in a car just with that person. At least my scanning of my old diaries is coming into its own. I could search "mumps" and find I didn't get it as a child. i got it with child 1 in 1989 in my 20s. Children 2 and 3 had had MMR by then so were okay. Child 1 had just had measles -vacc all they did in her day. I probably can't catch it now but I will keep a little clear of the "patients".

Hope they are ok Xenia.

I read there's been outbreaks at a few universities recently.

Ooh nasty, Xenia. I hope your mumps sufferer only gets it mildly. There's an outbreak of mumps in ds's uni and a friend of his had it. I've heard there's also a big outbreak in Nottingham at the moment.

DS has 2 (long all-encompassing) exams mid May and then his holiday starts until he goes back to hospital placement mid June. It means his holiday starts and finishes almost entirely before his non medic friends have started their post exam party and holiday season which is a bit rubbish for him. It only helps to perpetuate the myth that medical students only mix with other medics. (This is ds1's constant moan at ds2.)

Meanwhile I'm mid text argument with ds1 about his graduation. He's due to finish his masters in June and I feel after all the support we've given (financial, emotional etc etc etc) that the least we deserve is to attend a grad ceremony and get to clap a million students for hours to celebrate. Ds1 says it will be boring and he doesn't want to go. Apparently I'm ridiculous to want to attend. AIBU?

No way are you bu haffdonga! Tell ds if he doesn’t attend you will pick up his degree yourself as you’ve earned it as much as him!!

And horrid about the mumps, hope not too bad.

Right then, I never did come back and say how my talk with DS1 went. I've had a busy week (whose idea was it to take a course of study?!).

Anyway, I raised the issues we had already discussed a bit over the holidays ie speak to his tutor and really think about what he wants to do. He agreed he would (and indeed has done so, and been forwarded up a level higher).

We then moved onto whether his low mood was solely down to study worries or whether there were other things going on. He agreed that yes there was; he just felt different. I didn't push it but said that it was OK, but also that I was concerned and that he should see his GP if he feels it something they could help with. He didn't seem keen on that, but said he'd maybe see a student counsellor.

Then (poor boy!) we talked about the drugs. He was pretty honest with me I feel, telling me for how long he's been smoking dope, how often, who with and what other stuff he's tried (not much thankfully). I said there was little I could do since he's an adult. He's not daft, he knows that while it might seem to get him off to sleep, it's not a good sleep. I said of course I'd rather he didn't but I wasn't judging him.

Then it all got a bit awkward so we put some REM on and thankfully Fleet Services arrived and we stopped for a break.

Before I drove home we walked to Sainsbury's (with all the other returning students and parents it seems!) and I got him some supplies, and it was lovely and sunny and good to have a little walk.

I've heard quite a bit from him this last week, not all just in response to me txt'ing first - just little chatty things.

So all told I think it went as well as I could have hoped.

Oh, that was long.