By Beds SU
Thursday, 19 September 2024
It was great to meet so many of you over ‘Moving In Weekend’ at our Halls of Residence in Luton and Bedford. Thanks to all of you (and your family and friends) who stopped to talk to our team!
Unfortunately, we know that some of you in Luton did not have the warmest welcome, finding your bedrooms and communal areas uncleaned from the previous residents.
Whilst there was a known issue this year with checking out and checking in happening in a much shorter timeframe, we were given reassurances that students would not be affected. We understand that your halls provider faced some unforeseen circumstances over the weekend, but the fact remains that you have paid for a service that you have not received.
As we write this – a full 3 days after contracts commenced – we understand that some of you still have not had your kitchens cleaned.
It is unacceptable that this was the welcome that you received at the start of your student journey at the University of Bedfordshire, and we have been working with the University to address this with the accommodation provider (Campus Living Villages) in a timely manner. We are of course asking that all affected residents be compensated for this period during which you could not make use of your communal spaces, and when most of you ended up incurring additional costs such as buying takeaway food.
We have been told that all affected students have been spoken to, face-to-face about the situation. If you have not, please do speak to your flatmates to see if you missed a visit.
If none of your flat have been spoken to or your room/kitchen is still unclean, please get in touch so that we can try to chase this up for you – email help@bedssu.co.uk, with details of your flat and what has or hasn’t happened. And send us your pictures – we want to show those in charge you’re facing!
We also believe students should be receiving reimbursement of rent relating to this period, unexpected food costs like takeaways due to lack of kitchen facilities, and items damaged/lost in the cleaning, as well as for the emotional distress that you faced during this time. When the time comes, should you like support discussing this with CLV, please do be in touch.
What if I’ve had a different problem?
Whether in Halls, purpose-built accommodation elsewhere, or renting privately from a landlord, it’s really important that you report issues through the correct method to give your landlord the best chance of correcting it, and to give you the best chance of recompense in the event that they fail to handle this in a timely manner.
We will be uploading help articles in the coming days detailing the procedures for Fitzroy Court in Luton and Polhill Park in Bedford: watch this space for updates – we’ll add links in here.
For any other accommodation related advice, please reach out to our free, confidential Advice Service: visit www.bedssu.co.uk/advice or email help@bedssu.co.uk – if we can’t help you, we’ll put you in touch with someone who can.