House Shares at uni year 3

[Carmen866]

Hi , my dd is going into year 3 next year she’s currently in halls , most house shares don’t have locks on the bedroom doors due to fire safety unless HMO.
Im concerned about security she trusts the other 4 friends that she’ll be sharing with but if she’s not there or comes home , the others could have a party or have other people in the house and who knows could enter my DD’s room
I have asked my dd to ask the landlord if she can put some sort of lock on the outside of the door for when she’s out , has anyone else done this ?

Some HMOs have an internal lock - ie you can lock yourself in the bedroom, but not lock the door from outside.

If it’s a real concern, she might be better looking at renting room in a private halls flat as that will have a lock.

Most students in private houses won’t have lockable bedroom doors and it’s not an issue for them…..so it is a rather unusual concern. But some are more safety conscious and worried about other people so for them I’d have thought a private rental is t the way forward.

@ForkOnASausage “Or, they all met in first year sharing a flat in campus halls of residence and they had en-suites. Then they all want a flatshare for years 2 and 3 with an en-suite room and the rooms are identical, all the same size with nice furniture. No sharing a bathroom between 4 people, no tiny room off the kitchen and people drawing straws as to who gets it”

fair enough, neither of mine have gone to unis where there were private halls. However I would still prefer my kids to move into houseshares after year 1.

Most of the student rentals where my DS was seemed to be run as HMOs. He rented a room in a 4 bed house and a friend rented a 2nd room. A 3rd room was already rented to a med student and the 4th room was empty until 2nd week if term when it was let to a 4th student. All bedroom doors had locks with a key needed to open it from outside.

Student houses are often HMOs but let on a whole house basis. These may well not have internal coming doors…..but they might have. Probably newer build properties aimed at students (usually flats not houses) will usually have internal locks. If they have more than 3 bedrooms they usually need HMO licence and local areas sometimes have tighter rules.

And yes, if students have spent a year or 2 in halls with an en-suite and sizeable room, lots about the private rental student sector can be a shock…..not just the bedrooms not having locks, but also that the furniture can be old, carpets and decoration very shabby, heating systems poor and damp not uncommon. Non-purpose built student properties were usually once family homes. Most have a box room or are re-configured to squeeze more students in and don’t have equally sized bedrooms and someone has to take the smaller rooms.

In the end, it’s likely to be for a year, or in reality about 8 months. Most of the downsides worry parents more than kids…and time moves on quickly.

I'd just put a lock on the door. I don't see how the landlord can forbid it. These people are all potential strangers living together with a full single household's worth of valuables in each room.

Hmm now this is something I would never have even thought about during my time at uni. It was usual to live in halls the first year then move into shared houses after that. One had a lock, the other didn't, really didn't think much about it.

However, now with expensive tech that comes with life I would definitely want a lock! An ideal would be a punch in code which everyone in the house knew in case of emergency. It's important to have privacy and peace of mind for safety. The fire risk is an issue but surely with smoke alarms and some sort of heavy object any internal door can be broken into.

It's a different world now and security is more important, I would also like any child of mine to have it. Xx

@elevenpiperspiping my child is at a uni well known for being in the middle of nowhere so most 2nd year accommodation is a bus ride away in a city with another university and it is difficult to travel in to lectures, not impossible but time consuming. So my son is a 10-15 minute walk from the uni campus in a block of private halls. There are also other private halls nearby too.

He met people last year through societies who were in their 2nd/3rd year and all of them talked about what an arse it is to travel for 45 minutes on the bus not including the time to walk to the bus stop or wait for the bus if it even stops because it can be full. All this to attend a compulsory seminar for an hour and then try to go home. They also cannot just pop back to get some lunch either.

I just didn't want my children living in a shitty house, carved up to cram in as many students as possible with crappy furniture and no recourse if it turns out the flatmates like to live in squalor. Dh and I did that ourselves, we can afford for our children to have en-suite accommodation for all 3 years.and they both had/have that. One child has graduated.

@Chinsupmeloves same, I had nothing to steal, maybe my cheap stereo with a single tape deck but that was it. Now Ds has a laptop, tablet, monitor and gaming headphones. Insurance comes with the room as standard provided by the halls.

Most people are posting that a lockable bedroom door is not a thing they have come across – which is fair enough tbh. My DC have lived in 6 different shared houses and flats and no doors locked. Never any issues.

Does your DD want to lock her door? I only ask bc if others don't have a lock, asking for one might make it seem as tho she doesn't trust her housemates? Might be easier all round if she has a lockable safe/cabinet in her room if she is worried. Tho tbh most student will take their laptop and other tech everywhere with them anyway. Well, not out in the evening I guess. DD had a ££ clarinet with her which obvs she left in her room. So I suppose a lockbox would be good for that.

Honestly tho @Carmen866 I wouldn't overthink it. Yes PPs have detailed incidents but tbh I have never heard of any issues myself, and I know a lot of YP who have gone through uni.

@ForkOnASausagei think I know which uni you mean and in that case I probably would encourage them to live closer. Unless they could drive in. However I still think house sharing is another life experience. We too could pay for our kids to have the best accommodation, doesn’t mean they’re going to get it! My kids have had a brilliant time living in (slightly grotty) houses with their friends. Makes coming home for the holidays all the nicer!

I can understand your concern, not sure why so many people are being mean to you.

However, I don't know if this will ease your worries, but of all the uni house shares I was in or parties at which I attended, and with all the mad characters, varied personalities, drug taking, alcohol drinking, partying, arguments, fights, amongst all of that I can't remember a single occasion or anecdote of anyone stealing anything, no one had anything valuable to steal really. And as someone else pointed out 3rd year is a lot more about studying than partying.

Having said that, I did have a lock on my door, it was one of those yale locks so the fear of locking myself out was so great I never used it!

I'm sure she'll be fine, get her safe for any valuables.

Just reading some more replies, I had forgotten about all the expensive tech now, I guess people do have more valuables to steal these days.

@elevenpiperspiping mine like coming home for the comforts of a dishwasher, most meals being made by someone else which removes the mental load of meal planning as well as shopping for the food. Plus stocked cupboards, fridge and freezer

@KarriTreeSullivan it it things like Apple airpods being over £200, as well as all the usual tech. Mine also take their monitor up with them so they have a laptop and a monitor. Ds's laptop was well over £1k because of the course he was doing and it was also a gaming laptop, both my sons played esports for their uni. We also paid for a service plan that meant it was fixed in a very short time. However his laptop actually died the night before he sat online exams! We had to dive in the car and take a spare laptop up to him. Luckily we had one.

I think it is something like 50% of student burglaries are through doors or windows being left unlocked or open. I can tell you my child is a door locker, double checks but when you share a house you can't guarantee that your flatmate does the same when sober or drunk.

Not normal.
If she doesn’t trust the people she’s sharing with why is she going to be living there?
These are her friends. Often ones which become lifelong. If I found out my flatmate didn’t trust me and wanted to lock their bedroom door I’d be quite offended.
Just make sure her stuff is insured if it’s sufficiently valuable and buy her a fireproof lockbox if you want extra security.
Has she expressed concern or is it you?
If it’s you then unclench a little.

I wouldn't worry too much!
My DD didn't tell me of all the things that went on for her, but she did say there were some parties and people were all over the place.
She could put her laptop or any valuables in a lockable cabinet, or just hide them out of sight. Generally I think people are respectful, but maybe I was fortunate with the kind of young adults my DD was spending time with.

Don't forget to put fire safety first. From the inside, a bedroom lock absolutely must open without a key (Yale type - I think they're called thumb locks). So the occupier can get out fast. If a bedroom door's not openable from the outside, a sleeping/unconscious/seriously ill occupant cannot easily be roused/rescued. It's because of the fire safety issue that a landlord may say no to bedroom locks (their insurance policy may even have a clause on this). Think fire first, illness second (meningitis the frightening scenario among students, as it needs housemates to notice and react). Theft is less worrying? Really sorry to make it even trickier for you, OP, as you're obviously pretty concerned.

There are locks on the bedroom doors on my DDs shared house but nobody uses them. People are respectful and they don’t have parties. It doesn’t seem to be an issue that my DD has heard about, though I’m sure quite a bit of bed hopping goes on in some houses! When away my DD has her laptop and valuable stuff with her anyway.