Thousands of young people from all over the world have descended on Greater Manchester to embark on their journey into higher education and join the city’s population of almost 350,000 students.
But a Mancunian Matters survey suggests that the students will go through their uni days in wildly varying accommodation, with some undergraduates complaining about collapsing ceilings and missing locks – including in university-accredited accommodation.
Max, 19, from Manchester Metropolitan University, described his accommodation in Monty Halls as ‘literally the worst place I’ve ever been in my life’.
And Jamie, 18, who also lives in the accommodation, said there was no lock on the external door.
“You could literally just stroll in,” he said.
“And my room definitely wasn’t cleaned since the last person left.”
He said a shower of dust had fallen on him when he tried to take a bag down from the top of his wardrobe, and his drawers were ‘full of hair’.
Max said he was allocated the accommodation, at the last minute after finding out eight days before he was due to start at the university that they didn’t have the place he’d been promised.
He said: “My first choice was on campus but I was forced to live two miles from the university.
“There was no TV port in my room although I was promised it by accommodation management, the Internet port doesn’t work, and the Wi-Fi is slow.”
He said he was on the waiting list for better accommodation.
Monty Halls is currently accredited on Manchester Student Homes, a housing advice website run by Manchester Metropolitan, the University of Manchester, Manchester College, the University of Salford and the Royal Northern College for Music.
A spokesperson said: “We offer private, student accommodation to suit all tastes and budgets and take great care to ensure information about accredited properties is accurate.
“Monty Halls is an accredited residence at the budget end of the residences we have available.
“Any student unhappy with accommodation we accredit, for whatever reason, can contact us directly and we will do our best to remedy the situation.”
Jessica, 21, also from Manchester Metropolitan, said that she lived in Manchester Student Village in her first year, but that ‘the room was like a hole’.
She said there was a leak in her flat from the bathroom upstairs which the building management didn’t fix despite two months of complaints and it eventually led to the ceiling falling down.
A spokesperson from MCR Manchester, who owned Manchester Student Village at the time but have since sold it, said: “I can’t comment on an individual matter on a property that we no longer own.”
However it’s not all doom and gloom in the uni rooms as other students had more positive experiences.
Jack, 19, from the University of Manchester, said: “I’m quite pleased with my [Owens Park] accommodation. The room’s bigger than my room at home.”
Josh, 18, who lives in Hulme Hall, said: “I like it. The food’s good.”
But he said another girl in his block had peeling paint in her room and mould on the ceiling.
Image courtesy of University of Exeter, with thanks.
