Asking students why they put up with such shit housing | Extreme Britain

Students have had a bum deal recently. Forced to go to uni on Zoom during the pandemic, being accused of being woke all the time, and now they can barely afford their rent.

Research suggests that after they pay their rent, students are left with just 50p of their maintenance loan a week to live on. That means there’s barely enough for weed or OnlyFans. Since 2019, the student population has gone up by about 400,000. And in the same time period, the number of student properties has gone down by about 19,000.

Ed Campbell has gone to Leeds to meet the students at their flats and see what they're getting for their money.

Reporter: Ed Campbell
Camera: Harry Ainsworth

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[ecknareal]

Go to university for free, Get a house for three years your annual wage, have enough disposable income to have multiple children. Then pull that ladder UP!, £9k+ annual fees for students, unbearable living condition no chance of escaping debt or rent cycle. Well done Boomers you did it.

[nyxnecrodragon]

Those kitchens are triggering me so much. It reminds me of when I was a student and I lived with other students. I came from a very clean house so I would put everything away and my housemates would just expect me to do the cleaning. They'd leave dirty plates, half eaten food and mugs on the table and leave wet laundry to sweat in the washing machine. One had a un neutered chihuahua that like to spray up the wall. Nobody took the bins out. Put me off living with other people forever. My brother went through the same thing.

[JoJoHebadubus]

It's an absolute joke, and it does effect studies. Its interesting to watch the discourse on this, as a lot of the people defending this bullshit are those who haven't been to uni, or went decades ago. It's also not 'foreign students', most internationals live in the Uni accommodation which is often way too expensive for most students regardless. The deposit fees made us cautious, so it's rarely shit tennants, although they do exist in a minority.

I was lucky with mine and it was through the church, a lot of people had crumbling, chipboard furnished, leaking houses, many of which were owned by investors from far out of the area and managed by a property agency that did not care. That's not even hyperbole, anyone who has gone to Uni will be familiar with places like the ones in the video, and they will likely know a few places like that.

It comes down to people buying a three bed terrace, converting it into a four/five bed, letting someone manage it and it's job done. The Unis need to step up as well, most of the accommodation provided by them are exorbitantly expensive in comparison to a student house.

[dwall]

it kinda bothers me how badly the students look after their property too though, full of old food, dirty dishes shit everywhere... no wonder they get mice and mold.

[verzrc]

I’m a student in Manchester right now- I get maximum maintenance loan, almost £11000/year, and live in the cheapest property I could find at just under £130/week. With just my maintenance loan I can just about afford to pay rent, bills and buy food and my repeat prescriptions but anything else is out of the question beyond drinks or a film once a week. Due to the state of nhs dentistry this also meant that I recently had to go into extra debt for emergency private dentistry which I’m still struggling to pay off. I feel luckier than students with lower loans that I can actually afford to survive but I also know I’m going to be in over £60, 000 debt by the end of my degree which I will likely never earn enough to pay off. It sucks to be a student right now basically.

[archi]

What we need is a student rental union where addresses and complaints are logged and tracked for tenants, and warnings placed against property with bad history and issues. The student rental union badge of honour placed on good property's with good landlords.

[nitomurray]

I feel the students could of at least made the effort to clear up the 9 vodka bottles before the interview.

[connorross]

You think they'd have cleaned up before cameras arrived

[IndustrialBonecraft]

"There's something you should probably know before we go too far
My neighbour found a mushroom growing inside of my car
She called me up on tour sounding emotionally scarred
Although it may have scared her more that I wasn't really alarmed..."

[leoneomike]

Not a student let, but a private let I got after uni. Our freshwater pipe burst one day, and I could hear the hiss of water escaping under the floorboards. It took 4 weeks for them to send someone to take a look. After assessing the vast amount of water that had leaked into the foundations, the estate agents moaned that we didn't impress on them how bad it was, so it was somehow our fault.

[WardenOfTerra]

Students should just buy a van, do it out, and sleep in it. Much easier. Buy it with a grant.

[amazinghangover]

Things have improved a lot since I was a student in Leeds in the 80's. Same streets. They don't know they're born this lot.

[JP-oery]

Here in Finland education is free, accommodation is great and cheap. One gets accommodation stipends as well as living allowance. Student loans are cheap and if one graduates in the allocated time, 1/3 is written off!

[Cypher]

To be fair, if they didn't fucking trash the place, landlords would be more inclined to repair them. Why repair them when it's going to be a fucking pigsty by the end of the year?

[InstallaFriend]

I remember visiting my brother's house share in Sheffield where he was studying, and his living room didn't even have a FLOOR.

[mattwest]

I'm a landlord and this blows my mind! The amount of insurance and certificates you need to get to let a property is crazy, this property cannot be legal. Insane that this lettings agent is allowing this to be let out as they're also at legal risk.

[attackman]

When i moved into a terrace apartment last year they hadn’t even finished building it‼️ - by the time they were supposed to have finished 😂

So my kitchen was nonexistent with wet cement on the floor and builders wondering around the apartment at random times of day. They had rushed all our rooms with nails left scattered over the floor which is an actual safety hazard. And the landlord didn’t even offer compensation‼️ - we had to threaten legal action which he initially refused and bragged that he had layers.

The Tories have ruined this country for 12 years its ridiculous

[ths]

I was in warrington campus for a few years prior to covid. my window i saw rats enter the club/pub on the campus. When i went to report it to the correct person, he spoke clearly and firmly, "it's not our problem". Honestly on open days (where potiential students visit and parents) i was tempted to create an image of the rats and the person on campus with that quote at the bottom.

[roody]

Student digs were never pretty. And to be fair a lot of students don’t help themselves out either.

[jim-esqk]

...have you ever watched an episode of the young ones? Todays students practically live in heaven in comparison.