University 2019/20 intake: Gearing up to graduation (for some but not all)

[NewModelArmyMayhem18]

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DD’s parchment/certificate arrived today, bent and creased! It was in a board backed environment marked ‘Please do not bend’ but was handed to her by the post man who. held it bent in his hand! It’s £35 for a replacement certificate.😡

Envelope not environment

On a positive note, she felt her Zoom interview went well. 🤞🏻

Congratulations to your DS @blametheparents . Some stellar finals results on here.

@Benjispruce4 how annoying for your DD. You could try to claim for the cost of the new degree certificate from the Post Office (bending it is essentially damage)? Fingers crossed for her job interview.

My DS is quite secretive about everything, and asking direct questions doesn't necessarily meet with a satisfactory reply!

@Benjispruce4 can you iron it? Stick some baking paper between the certificate and the iron, then iron on a low setting?
Dd has just won award (and money!) and the university sent the certificate by pdf. Luckily I had some fancy paper left from years ago and printed it out on that.

@Benjispruce4 he sent me the message. So I sent 🤷‍♀️ back. I meant it as in throwing my hands up in the air to say I don't know why you didn't finish that message. He took it as a shoulder shrug and I don't care. I told him what I meant. I said you will probably make me till morning now. As it was 11pm here (6pm in Miami) he said that's not a bad idea. So I waited and waited...nothing. He's not even reading my messages. Ds2 said send a Snapchat. He said he will open that. He did open it. But still hasn't told me. I'm worried it's bad now.

Icanbewhatiwant.
That sounds like my Ds.
I am presuming he hasn't got his results yet as I haven't heard anything. I don't want to keep nagging either...

Oh god the misconstrued texts and emojis! It’s a minefield and I can see how so many teenagers have fall-outs from social media etc.
Imgoing to try to iron the certificate much to DD’s horror. I looked up Post Office 🕸 and it’s all a big pain. She doesn’t seem that bothered so I’m not giving myself another job. I am soooo tired 😴

He did tell me his plans though, either work or do some volunteering somewhere around the world....

Oh the irony!

DD is trying to claim from post office but web form has a glitch, conveniently.

Well done to all the new results!

DD's certificate arrived yesterday. She said last night that she better check it as one of her friends received the wrong certificate! (correct surname, wrong first name!)

Ds's landlord is asking him to pay for a new mattress. It had a stain on. About the size of a fist. Presumably sweat. Weird because Ds had bought a 4" thick topper. But I have no proof whether it was there already. Anyone successfully removed a sweat stain?

@icanbewhatiwant thats a bit rich! Surely a cleaning charge would be more appropriate. Haven’t heard from DD’s landlord yet but last year he deducted £20 from each housemate for professional cleaning and I think that’s fair.

Do you have a handheld steamer? Perhaps that would work.

I have spoken to the landlord via text. He says he turned the mattress over and a massive stain was on the other side. He's chucked it out. So no proof anyway. He sent a photo of one of the other mattresses and it was massively stained, so was the carpet of that lads room. The father is taking it to court as doesn't think he should pay. So the landlord has been advised not to speak to any of us. Never mind. £500 deposit gone 😞 I had already spent that in my head as I was hoping to get most of it back.

@icanbewhatiwant you could dispute it though through the organisation that holds the deposit? How convenient that he's thrown the mattress away. I bet loads of students end up moving into properties with stained mattresses in situ.

I think most landlords really take the 'P' massively with students, and £500 for a new mattress (which may need to be replaced again next year if the same thing happens with new tenants) is OTT. Just done a quick 'Google' search and plenty of double ones for under £200 (which is really about the right price point in a student house, surely)?

The landlord is probably riled now because of your DS1's flatmate's dad taking him to court. Mind you, I don't blame him!

I think there’s a good case here. No proof your son did this and the fact he has thrown the evidence.

We have told DD that any deposit withheld is payable to us by her. I don’t see why we should pay for damage done by her and her housemates.Watch this space…

I made my kids pay their own deposits (they all had some money given to them by grandparents for uni so could pay out of that and not just spend it!) which I hoped focused their minds. But just shows how important a really detailed inventory is. Although £500 for a mattress is completely taking the piss, as if the landlord is spending that!

I expect that I will be doing the same as last year next week, and cleaning up after the students who didn't clean, because I want most of the deposit back.

Last year each student had £70 witheld from the deposit, which I didn't think was unreasonable. The landlord had high standards though, and the house they rented was lovely, spotlessly clean and in good nick.

@RampantIvy DD’s was awful. No amount of cleaning would make it look good! Kitchen not fitted so gaps between gathering crud. Peeling linoleum….. etc

DS paid his own deposit. He never thought to ask us!

I get that if you've got students in a very well-maintained rental property, they need to upkeep it in the same condition (and would deserve to lose deposit if they don't). However, if they're living in a 'hole' which has clearly seen much better days and isn't being well looked after by the landlord, it's really not on to be charging the students the going market rent and expect to use their deposits to rectify issues that should be part of general maintenance.

We took video of all the damp. Landlord said it didn’t exist. It did but dehumidifiers and radiators kept it at bay. It’s back with a vengeance in exactly the same places now radiators aren’t on. We took pictures of everything. I know there’s going to be problems though. You can just tell.

No idea what is happening with DSs deposit. He moved into a brand new flat and they did a decent job cleaning it - he was last to leave and it looked fine to me. You’d think they would factor in paying professional cleaners for a spotless finish.
We had a bit of an issue with DDs last rental (short-term to finish her diss) but DD was not going to let the landlady get away with fleecing her! At her graduation we met a Spanish boy who had been living there too and he had only just got his back, a year later!!!