Say “No!” to Student Squalor

So you’re out in the real world now. You’ve chosen to live in one of Coventry or Leamington Spa’s student areas, surrounded by countless other Warwick scholars. There were many expectations of leaving the sanctity of ‘the bubble’. Spending the summer flicking through the IKEA catalogue, you had it all planned out for the year ahead. You’d picked out that perfect BOBBY bookcase for your room, maybe a ALFHILD FÅGEL or a TRÅDTÅG or two.

The days before you picked up your keys were full of excitement, with little trepidation. For you were going to be in charge of your own kingdom, and everything would be rosy. Then you move in.

The first few days are spent coming to terms with how overblown your dreams were. You realise that IKEA is an hour away by bus and you don’t really need cushions to be happy. After you’d spent five minutes looking round your future house back in December or so, now, instead of planning the wild underground parties for it, you start to wonder what that persistent smell of feet is coming from the cellar.
You notice that your freezer is warmer than most parts of your house and that it would be quite nice to have hot water for more than an hour a day. But maybe you’re just moaning and being fussy.

You still have rights as a tenant that you shouldn’t ignore. Neither should your landlord.

Whilst student accommodation is never going to compare to the houses you were imagining whilst daydreaming to Location, Location, Location, you still have rights as a tenant that you shouldn’t ignore. Neither should your landlord.

Just because you are a student, doesn’t mean you should spend a year living in squalor and misery. If you discover your property is damp, tell someone. If your freezer stops working and the landlord says it’s fine, it’s not. Speak to your letting agent. When you sign your contract, there are obligations not only upon yourself and your housemates, but on your landlord to provide you with somewhere that is safe and fit to live in.

It is too easy to shrug off problems as being part of the student experience. But living in a damp house with no hot water is not what you are paying £X,XXX pounds a year for. Don’t just put up with it. If your landlord is uncooperative then speak to your letting agent if you have one. The Students’ Union and the University also have services that can help you if your living situation is not what you expected.
Don’t suffer in silence, speak up for yourself.