Accomodation nightmare

[Acacia123]

After the disaster that was results day, DD secured a place through clearing. It was the most stressful week I have ever had, and we were so relieved when it seemed to all fall into place.

Went on to the uni website to look at accomodation options, made a shortlist and phoned the accomodation office to book something only to be told there were no halls left.

So we had to go on a Facebook group for other freshers also looking for accomodation, and simply in the basis of a name and picture form a group of 5 and then rent a house through a letting agent. This was the second most stressful week of my life, but were again relieved to pay a holding fee and naively start planning moving day (time off work, car rental, packing etc).

Completed our paperwork, got references in order, signed guarantor forms - due to pay deposit and first months rent tomorrow (nearly £900 in total, massive but no surprise as we knew this from the start).

So in the group chat it has become apparent this evening that one of the girls cant pay tomorrow, she wont have the money till student finance comes through. I am hugely sympathetic as it is a massive amount of money, but she has known the deadline since.the beginning.

So the agent is threatening to put the house back on the market tomorrow and we loose our holding fee. And we have no accomodation.

This just sucks, we have to become hugely financially dependent on 4 other 18 year old girls that we know nothing about, no nothing about their ability or reliability to pay, complete strangers. And of course even though we are only the guarantors for DDs portion of the rent, the rental agreement says that each tenant is jointly and severely responsible for the rent, so in effect we could end up paying if any of the other girls dint meet their rent. We chose the cheapest reasonable house we could find but it is still over £2k per month for all 5 of them. It is terrifying.

It has just been such a massive roller coaster since results day and DD was finally starting to look forward to things again, and is now shattered.

Just want to get DD settled at Uni and for all the uncertainty to be over.

Just praying the other girl manages to get the money together in the meantime. I am not going to sleep tonight.

It's not flakey to rely on student loans to pay for accommodation costs, but it's flakey not to mention that to your friends/the other tenants until the eleventh hour and cause a big panic and risk the tenancy.

Maybe she's one of those kids whose parents weren't advising her because they think you should fend for yourself from your 18th birthday, like some on here.

OP, I hope this is all sorted now.

Fgs they are 18 years old!! University is not an extension of school!*

Except that it is the parents who are usually the guarantors and therefore responsible if the 18y - who mostly have never dealt with contracts and finances to such an extent before - can't or won't pay.

I have to admit it is why we tried our best to find a private halls type accommodation as then we are only liable for the costs of DD's room and not the flat (of 4 rooms) and we have already written off the deposit - which is dependent on the whole flat - just so we aren't disappointed if it doesn't come back.

I suspect anyone not needing a guarantor are in student halls provided by the university.

It is usually very different to privately owned student accommodation. All of the privately owned accommodation that Dd and her friends have taken ask for a guarantor, and all want a deposit AND the first terms rental paid before student finance comes through. We had to pay DD's deposit of £300 on 31 August and the the full term's rent is due next week.

How many 18y have actually really had to deal with and have full understanding of it all at this point? Heck, many grown adults haven't dealt with rental systems like these before!

Unfortunately many universities cannot provided halls accommodation for all first years unless they had them as their first choice and had booked the halls by a certain fate. If you read the small print for 'guaranteed halls' small print it's often in there.

As others have said, she could have opened a student bank account and used the automatic overdraft. This kind of thing is exactly what it is for!

But at 18y she probably wouldn't have even known that was possible. Lots of adults wouldn't have. She's a young woman, barely more than a girl, who is straight from school and it's the first time she will be embarking on dealing with contracts and large amounts of finance. Of course it is normal to need guidance and support with this.

Fortunately in real life most young adults do get this kind of support from their parents and carers.

Mumsnet is often another world when it comes to this kind of thing.

It can be a nightmare to sort these things out and your typical 18 year old has no experience.

When DS came to sign his contact for his Year 2 house they discovered that one of the students had advanced a year so was still 17 and couldn't enter into a legal contract, so needed an adult guarantor. His family also lived abroad and he had nobody in the UK who could do this. He also only had an overseas bank account which the letting agent wouldn't accept?

All of this only came out the day before they were meant to sign the contract! In the end, just four of them signed the contract, paid 25% more for 2 months, and he paid them directly to informally sublet his room for the 3 months until he was 18. We weren't happy about it as DS (i.e. us!) could have been left with a big bill if this student had suddenly left his course or decided not to live there.
Thankfully it passed without incident.

Has the government savings scheme matured for this cohort of students?

For most first time students this year they weren't eligible. Dd was born in April and wasn't eligible for it.

Think it is next years first year student cohort.