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.

Errol, he is very determined! He has been translating Jehovah Witness magazines that the lady in the local Chinese takeaway saved for him . Let's hope it doesn't convert him!

Hope it's ok to check in and join you all again.,
DS made a flying visit home a couple of weekends ago before going off on a uni research trip which was amazing by all accounts. Finally coming home this weekend but it seems so late compared to most of his friends who are already home. I suppose it's right that he's growing away from us more and more but it's taking some getting used to.
Exam results not out until 12 July.

The 12th July seems incredibly late - DS got his on Friday and the rest of the uni (Durham) will have theirs by tomorrow latest. But even among his older siblings I don't remember anyone as late as the 12th. The only other one in the family waiting for results this year has gone to Columbia and will still be there for results.

I think it was about the same time last year but I forget things from one minute to the next these days. We'll be away when they come out so he'll have to find somewhere with an internet connection to get them.
Not sure whether his friends on different courses have theirs yet or not. The exam period was very wide though and he only finished his about two weeks ago so I suppose they need time to mark them all and then collate an overall mark and classification from the different components.

I think one of mine has had his which were 2/1s. I don't know if the other has his yet. I will ask them later. I had a chat wth one today about careers which seems promising. I have asked them each to have a 20 minute chat with me on it each week of the holidays so that by September they have chosen something.

And then this morning the second one also set up his yar 3 house rent standing order. So all is going well. We have one of their university friends currently as a guest possibly for 2 months! Then one is cooking for a dinner party here for about 6 tomorrow and I paid for my twins to join their local gym again for 3 months as two of their old school friends are members and they will be going a lot.
Mind you one fell off his bike in Italy last week and can't use his right arm much so the first tennis session didn't go that well as their other friend also badly hurt his ankle and has been told not to put pressure on it for 8 weeks - so one can't use his arm ( no tennis) and the other his foot. I suppose they can probably swim and also work out in the gym avoiding use of the damaged parts. I ended up doing the heavy lifting today when one with damaged arm moved bedrooms at home.

DD Only had last exam just over a week ago so results on our after 12th would not be unreasonable would want the lecturers to spend long enough marking everything. Then the board has to meet.

Still no word from DD on her results - she is away travelling, so I'm not asking, though we have a ballpark idea!

Blimey, Xenia, what with that and the mumps it sounds like you're running a student convalescent home.

DDs booked herself an MMR booster for next week when she's home. DH mentioned the idea, she jumped at it - turns out one of her pals had to take a gap year because of mumps complications.

The booster sounds a good idea. The ones having a dinner partry here last night who stayed have been very good and quiet and washed up etc I think two are asleep in the living room and my other son's friend left at 6.30am as I was getting up - he always leaves early as he lives near us and likes to get home so I think I have 5 students here now including my 2.

I like the idea of a house full of considerate students.

The trip to France to watch the world cup was fun. We saw England Cameroon (which put paid to any ideas that women play "nicer" than men) and USA Spain. The Spanish were agile and athletic and were great to watch. Then two days of helping DD clean and move from one top floor flat to another. If she does not get her deposit back after the efforts of two mums and daughters, I will be furious. The very nice thing about Bristol is that there are some lovely coffee shops and restaurants as a reward for the hard work.

DD is now with a friend from Devon hoping for surf, but then plans a few days back in Bristol in her new flat. She starts next year with a full time placement, so wants time now to settle in. Beyond that none of us have any great summer plans. Her brother is coming over from the US so she will join him in Paris. She has a bit of one-off work with a friend, and, given this is her last long summer holiday, will take time to visit grandparents.

Unless some extra world cup tickets come up....

DS home for a couple of days but packing again today as he leaves tomorrow to start his placement Monday.

In case you don't know placement students still need to apply for Uni finance ( I just happened to ask him does he need to let them know so he doesn't get loan paid and we logged on to check it out).

The uni will charge a fee for keeping an eye on them and they can also get a small loan to help with living expenses.

Eve, my dd started her placement this week. She ummed and rrred over taking the loan, but decided to take it, just so she doesn't have to scrimp, and can enjoy herself for a year. In the grand scheme of things it's a drop in the ocean compared to what they will end up borrowing.
Good luck to your ds on Monday.

That sounds wise Dingit, my DS is notoriously tight so choose not to take the loan, but as hes in a cheap area ( North West) and his accommodation is in a very cheap area he wont be too badly of.

Now waiting to see if we get deposit back for last year, he got a letter from the Uni telling them what to expect back, the law the landlords have to follow and how the uni will step in if necessary. Sounds like the Uni wont tolerate them being taken advantage of.

DD and her 2 house mates had £30 deducted for cleaning. £10'each. DH and I cleaned, so they probably won't do any cleaning, but I wasn't going to argue over £30, when there are a couple of new nails in the wall and a small stain on the wooden floor.

Something similar happened to DDs friend. She was charged £40 for a 'wipe down' of her room. Multiply that by several hundred students and someone is making some money.

Unusually DD has allowed me to deal directly with the agency. I politely asked for a check out time as I wanted to be there. As a landlord myself I would ensure she left the property in good condition, so that their whole deposit could be returned. I reminded them that it was filthy when they moved in. I got an equally polite reply back, oddly copied to all the staff in the agency, welcoming this commitment to leaving the property in good order, which should allow them to return the full deposit.

If they do try to grab £40 from each of them, I foresee a problem. If DD did raise a dispute she would win, but it would take months to get any money back. Because they looked after the flat, the landlord is getting next year is about 40% higher than what DD and her friends paid. It would be wrong for them to be penalised but equally her flatmates probably can't wait six months for their money back.

I think my email was enough. If not, when she raises a dispute she will inform them that she also intends to issue a complaint to ARLA, the University, the Council, and just about anyone she can think of. It wont be worth them dealing with the fall out. I wrote a similar letter for an overseas mum who was having problems with a high end London lettings agency (I think they assumed she was moving abroad so would just give up) and it worked like a dream.

Why does my daughter say I can be embarrassing?

We did think of leaving some Cilit Bang black mould remover for the incoming tenants with a note suggesting they would need it. A contrast to DD finding the previous tenants' drug stash when she moved some furniture to vacuum.

The new flat is much nicer, rented directly from an apparently good landlord, though it costs more. Perhaps one day the old flat will be seen through rose coloured glasses. It was a happy year.

One of mine sent me his deposit back last night. I think it is just a bit less than he paid so I am not even going to bother to check. His house did their own cleaning. His twin's house paid for cleaners to do it and I don't know if he's had his deposit back yet. One is going back to Bristol on Monday to move his stuff from a friend's to his new year 3 flat as that is their moving in day.

I need to check whether DS's deposit has been returned; can't even remember who paid it - DH, me or DS! He had no charges raised so it should be returned soon I'd have thought...

I must remind DH to check for DDs deposit, though maybe not till next week as the official move out date is tomorrow, although the landlady is letting them leave their stuff till Mon as the move in date for the next place is 1st July.

I don't really care about the money, though a couple of DDs flatmates were far less well off than she is, so I do care for them. It's more the principle. As a landlord I reward good tenants by not being too fussy about wear and tear. One classic moment was when the ancient sheet of plywood supporting the sofa crumbled, and the letting agency told them it was their responsibility to replace it. And when the landlord gave their wifi code to the tenant in the flat below. They only discovered when he came up to complain it was not working. But ... it was really cheap and a trip to IKEA for a rug to cover the smelly carpet plus lightproof curtains meant DDs room was fine.

Got DS2 home on Tuesday and he's spent the last few days sorting his washing and unpacking.
We're having an Open House here next Saturday as a bon voyage before he goes away on the 18th. I feel as though you should all be here too!
No sign of a returned deposit yet, but his contract doesn't finish until tomorrow so not fretting yet.

Needs, we are like you. When I was a landlord in the 90s we never deducted anything and nor does my daughter. I think my son had about £100 taken off about £450 which we can live with . The other has had to pay their cleaner today as no one else has the money in their account - he has paid it on the basis his housemates will pay him back today. I did suggest as two of them already owe him money he should not pay anything for the cleaner and set it off the debt they owe him but he didn't agree. He is not moving in until September but my other son is doing his move to the year 3 house on Monday and then coming back home again.

All well here. It is very hot however. I just had to come in from the garden. We have one guest and he was out last night at a party./ My son drove 15 miles x 2 to collect him at 2 - 3am which is very kind of him.

Oh, latedecember it's a proper milestone when they set off for their year abroad, isn't it? Like them going off to uni again but multiplied by time zones and distance. Wishing your ds the very best. DS1 came back a changed person (mainly for the better!)

DS2 is back at uni starting his new summer term and then a hospital placement. He couldn't get into his new flat when we drove him down so has had to do all his moving of all his belongings (including all household clobber, bonsai nursery and copious music equipment) on foot up and down a very steep hill. It also meant he and the other medic he shared with were left to do the flat cleaning and key hand over. He assures me it was clean enough ....

My sister is a student landlord. She returned their full deposits, even though she spent 2 days cleaning up their muck.

DD home; 3rd lot of washing on the go, walks being planned, and the inflatable canoe which hasn't been used for 2 or 3 years is sitting inflated on the lawn to check it's not sprung a leak.

Aaah, enjoy Errol 🙂