University 2019/20 intake: vacations, vaccinations, va-va-voom restored and virtually into their third year

[NewModelArmyMayhem18]

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Ds's student property has a gardener. They don't have to pay. They have a cleaner too...the landlord pays half towards the cleaner. But when I visited she hadn't moved chairs to vacuum or anything. I could see thick dust underneath. So not sure what she does. She doesn't go in ds's room. Yes Norwich here too...£600 week with 6. That property on its own for a family wouldn't achieve that, but there's probably more agro with students than a family.

I'm shocked at the landlord expecting students to get rid of garden rubbish cut down at his behest! That's outrageous. Supposing none of them had access to a car?

I reckon all these demands on students are to ensure that there is no pause in tenancy (so the LLs can maximise income).

I find it quite disingenuous with the lockdowns over the past 18 months and the fact that many student houses haven't been fully lived-in that LLs couldn't have authorised gardening to be done sooner. It seems to have been specifically arranged to minimise his own costs by getting the students to dispose of the 'trimmings' (sounds as if they were considerable!) rather than the gardener(s) doing so (which is surely more usual?).

I think there is something to be said for building in utilities costs into the rent, although agree it doesn't help with building a credit record.

Someone on here had DC having issues with Glide? DS and his flatmates managed to sort their issue out so the amount owed was downgraded from £1.8K to £200. A considerable difference.

I do think there's a lot more 'grown-up' life admin to deal with these days. DS seems to have a lot of things to sort out over the past month or so (probably not helped by leaving it until the 11th hour to find their third year rental property). He recently discovered that he wasn't registered with the campus medical centre even though I recall sitting with him and watching him register nearly two years ago - not sure what happened there???

I suspect that now the students have had most of their deposits back there will be some damning reviews about him online.

In some towns and cities there is more rental availability than in others, so would imagine to some extent the landlords will chance their arm (re 12th hour deposit deductions/demands on student tenants) accordingly. It doesn't make it right though!

@Decorhateicanbewhatiwant that sounds to be as it should be. A good landlord will maintain a property (and garden!) well rather than fleece the students to fund upkeep!

I would have thought a lot of student houses will have got a helluva lot less wear and tear over the past 18 months than ever before, particularly with many only part-occupied for months on end.

DS due to move out of his today or tomorrow so will report back on what they lose in deposit (if indeed they do - hopefully not though).

@NewModelArmyMayhem18, same for my DS re his uni doctor- caused a bit of a problem at Christmas, when he had to get back to ours at home - he’s just going to stick with them now. Should be able to be dual registered surely

DD is registered in Durham with GP but she has seen our GP when at home as you can get a visitor appointment.

Also now lots of GPs do video calls anyway.

Dual registration wouldn’t work as doctors are funded per patient - if we could all be on the books at various places just in case that screws it up.

No, duel registration is not possible but DS thought he'd moved his 'status' over to the campus medical practice (and as I said upthread I sat with him as he completed the application!). We only knew it hadn't happened when our home practice got in touch not so long ago to ask if he wanted to stay on their books (he probably hadn't been to the doctor's in a matter of a decade!).

I would have thought that GPs like low/no contact patients but there again don't they get paid for 'extras' such as health checks, smear tests etc?

Epic fail with 'duel' instead of 'dual' - sorry.

Don’t mean dual registration. When Dd was ill when home, I rang Go and they said that you can see a gp anywhere as a visitor. Just had to complete a form with address and term time gp etc.

I'd be very surprised if DS would get a 'guest' appointment with our GP in a hurry. I tried to make an appt for DD a few weeks ago. Went round in circles for a week and still came away without one! I don't think ours is fit for purpose unless you really are in a very bad way indeed.

www.nhs.uk/common-health-questions/nhs-services-and-treatments/how-can-i-see-a-gp-if-i-am-away-from-home/

Same @NewModelArmyMayhem18 - DS thought he was registered with the uni GP, but when he needed to see one quite urgently before Christmas, they said he wasn’t. And then when he came home, they said he wasn’t registered here either. So it took about 2 weeks to jump through their hoops as they couldn’t do it as a visitor.

I am sure that, given everybody has a unique NHS number, there could be a better system for students.

We have been receiving regular texts from our GP practice advising us that they are very short staffed due to covid, and not to look to them unless desperately urgent. DS never registered with a GP at uni, and hasn't seen one here for over a decade, so I hope he is still registered.

I don’t think they can deregister you without telling you.

DS got a letter from our home GP practice to say they'd be taking him off their books if he didn't say otherwise within a given timeframe. DD got one too which I thought was a bit rich given that she's still a minor! That's when we knew that his registration with the campus medical centre hadn't happened. I left it to him to sort out (which clearly he hasn't).

Does anyone else have DC who are not on the ball or just slack about their 'to dos'? DS is terrible really and doesn't seem to have improved even with being at university!

"Does anyone else have DC who are not on the ball or just slack about their 'to dos'?"
That's an understatement .
I know I should let him get on with it....or not..., but it irritiates me so much he is so lacks about it

@Notagardener glad I'm not the only one but I'm with you. It drives me mad though. Things that aren't even onerous to do ... DP handed over ownership (payment) of DS's contract to him once the initial 24 month period had expired. DS just needed to text a number to get a PAC (is that the word?) - surely no more than a five-second job? It took him three months to do it. Just why?

And on the subject of getting deposits back, DS seemed to be the last person standing (or there) in his second-year house share. It was left to him to sort out cleaning the oven properly (too late to book a professional in to do it) so pretty sure it won't have met exacting landlord standards as he's never done one before, mending the broken settee leg (which they'd all had months to sort out) and assorted other domestic chores. Instead of seeking our advice on all the above (I'd even offered to go up and help), he just muddled on himself. I came off the phone thinking it's unlikely they'll see much of their deposit returned at all! Watch this space.

@NewModelArmyMayhem18 I think we must share a DS! Sounds so like mine!

We possibly do @simbobs. I look at how on the ball and super motivated some young people seem to be (as reported on here) and just wonder where I went wrong! It is very frustrating! I even told DS to send us a photo of the settee broken leg so we could best advise how to mend it but no that was clearly too much hassle!

Re staying on the books at local GP - when Ds was booking his first vaccination the app could not find him when he put in our home address. So I am assuming he was deregistered locally when he registered with a GP at uni. He was eventually able to sort it out using his Year 1 Halls address!

Ds had resigned himself to going into 3rd year after no luck sorting out a placement- did all the admin with student finance etc. Then got contacted today by a company he had an interview with nearly 6 weeks ago to offer him a place! Hopefully he can take it up.

After 6 years it will be odd to have no uni students this coming year (but will be back to 2 the following year!)

That's good news for your DS @Decorhate. Fingers crossed it all works out for him.

@Decorhate That is good news. I wish mine had got as far as actually looking for a place. I think that they had been misled into thinking that the uni would be talking to them about it and offering help, but nothing happened due to the lack of f2f, and then it seemed too late. I still think he should look now, though it would have to be in his uni city.

In other news, they have had the pest controller in...

@simbobs I was surprised this came through tbh. I have quite a few contacts in the industry who were pessimistic about opportunities being available for the coming year. Ds committed to a shared house eventually so then was only applying to places in uni city or nearby (which ruled out some last minute leads we got from friends...) It will probably be up to an hour door-to-door.

He also needs quite a bit of —nagging—encouraging to follow up/apply in a timely fashion!