Legal advice on problems with student accommodation, please?

Hello. I'm a PhD student in Bangor, Wales. I fell into a horrible trap called Bryn Eithin, which they cheerfully advertise as 'quiet accommodation for postgraduate and mature students', but which is in reality a hell hole.





We are supposed to be paying with a room with shared facilities and a launderette on site. The launderette doesn't exist, and they refuse to either put one in place or compensate us for it. Then, there is the fact that there is mould and spiders everywhere, that everything the flat came with is either broken or about to break, and that the walls are paper-thin, so everything anybody does in one of the rooms becomes a distraction for anyone trying to sleep or study. It is a nightmare!


Is there anything we can do, any legal action we can take to either force them to compensate us/fix the facilities or at least let us off the hook, so that we can take our business elsewhere?





Thanks for your advice.











Disclaimer: I must say that the University of Bangor is excellent and I have no problem whatsoever with them; it is the greed of the Halls management that really grates at us!Legal advice on problems with student accommodation, please?
Get documents that say they provide a laundromat. Also, take pictures of the mold. Not so much you can do for the spiders right now, unless you find their nest and take a picture of it. Take pictures and document everything. Tell the headmaster, tell every head of importance that you will go to the police for making you and others live in dangerous and hazardous conditions. The mold could be deadly.Legal advice on problems with student accommodation, please?
Take this up with your local student union representative. They have a responsibility at the very least to make sure everything isn't falling apart or broken! Did you sign an accommodation agreement/contract? If so, and the conditions of this contract have not been met, then legally they wil have to compensate you for anything missing, or provide it. If you don't it gets a bit tricky. As I said, take it up with the union, who will be able to help you.
Have you complained to this department http://www.bangor.ac.uk/studentservices/鈥?/a> Or are they the villains of the piece?





I have taken a look at the agreement which you presumably signed. I wondered at first if the University had any obligations at all -- it is all very heavily weighted in its favour. Eventually one came to the few obligations acknowledged by the University -- and the launderetette was mentioned as being present in some halls of residence, but cunningly the University reserves the right to remove it in the case of abuse. That will be the argument here. However, it seems unreasonable to continue to deprive you of this facility when it was presumably other students who were responsible for any abuse. Are you, by any lucky chance, within 7 days of noting the absence of the launderette? If so, you can complain under the tenancy agreement.


http://www.bangor.ac.uk/accommodation/ha鈥?/a>





There is a further covenant to keep the common parts clean and in good repair. If there is mould, the University would appear to be in breach of this.





If you all move together and approach the authorities with a threat to take the matter further unless they comply with their side of the agreement, perhaps involving the Principal, perhaps something will be done. Complain to every authority going -- the Students' Union, the Registrar's department, the Senior Tutor -- until they are sick and tired of you and agree to take action.





Meanwhile -- as the walls will probably remain thin -- may I recommend ear plugs to shut out the worst of the noise? I used them as an undergraduate to be able to get to sleep and still use them on occasion even now.

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