Can student houses ever be good houses? (Private accommodation in general)

Member Name: SodaDreamer

Product:	Private accommodation in general
Date:	30/07/02 (409 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Independence, Fun, Companionship

Disadvantages: Dirt, Mould, Illness?

Moving to University is exciting in itself - in Halls of Residence you have a secure home, lots of fun and, most importantly, no parents!!! But come the second year when most students move into rented accommodation elsewhere in their university town problems begin to surface.
I can't complain. Two of my housemates have lived in Reading since they were very young and one had a friend of a friend of a friend that rented out houses to students. Great!!! There was no frantic searching around offering vast amounts of money in rent to any old landlord for us. We have a lovely house and the most wonderful landlord. You hear all these horror stories concerning the squalor that many students have to live in and, frankly, I count myself lucky. Any problems 'chez moi' are always seen to by my landlord within two days. But anyway, on to my experiences:
When I first met my current partner, he was not a student (although after much nagging he has now just finished his first year and spends the majority of his time on my computer), but he lived in a student house with eight other lovely guys. They kept the house itself quite tidy, but the aspects of the property that were the landlord's responsibility were neglected. I still remember the day I was attempting to cook in a fly-infested kitchen and glanced out of the window to see a rat running around in the back yard; then there was the time I was having a shower and got out to discover the humidity had enticed hundreds of flying ants to swarm out of a hole underneath the sink, covering my towel, my clothes and sticking to my damp skin. Then there was the time that the drains blocked and the slime started leaking out from underneath the back gate onto the main road bringing several complaints from the public. Finally, after a visit from Environmental Health, the landlord was threatened with the ultimatum - "Sort it out, or it will be declared unfit for human habitation".

Soon after, the problems were being slowly resolved. My point is, however, that it shouldn't have taken so long. It seems that there is this cliche that students are used to living like squatters, and many landlords turn a blind eye to the often dangerous conditions their properties pose. The landlord of that particular property should have been obliged to take responsibility for any problems the moment that his student lodgers reported them to him.
This, of course, is a very extreme example, but there are common problems that you hear about from fellow students practically every day. So many of my acquaintances seem to suffer from constant cold and flu-like symptoms that they attribute to the abundance of damp that adorns all the walls in their rooms.
Surely students have as much right to safe, secure and comfortable housing as any other person - so why is there not some regulation that requires every landlord to ensure that the properties they rent out are damp/rat/insect free?
However, and yes, it's a big 'however' - the blame cannot be placed entirely on the landlords. Sure, there are certain aspects that students (inexperienced as we are) cannot deal with, such as damp, drain blockages, toilet explosions (it has happened to me!!!) and the like; but the living conditions are our responsibility and ours alone. My house is a gem amongst student accommodation - I do not exaggerate - but ultimately, it is our neglect of duties such as the washing up, hoovering and toilet cleaning that sways my home towards the 'uninhabitable' band. After a recent overnight visit from my sister, I received a frantic phonecall from my mother begging me to move out after she had heard the report of the toilet (fragranced with 'eau de la public lavatory') and the living room laden with dinner plates on which we were cultivating our own form of anti-penicillin - not to mention the nests of flies and larvae in the bin and vegeta
ble rack and the sticky mass on top of the hob, of course.
I love my home, and I love my housemates - don't get me wrong - but sharing the chores equally so that they get done is a difficult organisational skill to master. All four of us being stubborn does not help matters. We've been living here for just over a year now, and I have been the only one ever to clean the toilets and bathroom (which do smell like men's urinals, believe me!!!), but that doesn't make me a Saint. I'm probably messier than the three men I live with.
My advice to anyone about to move into shared accommodation - student or otherwise - is make sure you can trust the people you will be living with to do their fair share and to not be overly untidy. You may not be able to find out much information about your prospective landlord and his capability to look after the property in a structural capacity, but you can certainly ensure that you and your friends are prepared to work hard to retain a clean and healthy atmosphere. Get it right from the beginning, and don't end up where I am - still trying to drag myself out of mostly self-imposed squalor.

Summary: