With student house hunting season well underway in Liverpool, students will be starting to look for their housing for next year but may not be aware of the support which is available.
Thousands of students up and down the country start university every September and feel pressure from the get-go to ‘find their people’ and sign onto their second-year accommodation within a matter of weeks without any prior knowledge of what they’re signing themselves in for.
Fine art student at LJMU Phoebe Walton was in this boat just two years ago.
Since then, she’s lived in two houses with constant issues such as rats, damp and mould.
Phoebe Walton, 20, said: “We started looking for our second-year house in November 2022 after being in Liverpool for two months and we had signed for our third-year house by November 2023.”
The warning signs of problems such as damp were there when viewing the houses Phoebe said, but they were told all would be sorted before moving in.
Four months into her residency of her third-year house, the downstairs of her house remains damp ridden, and one bedroom still has black mould, despite chasing after their landlord since their initial move in.
The students in her collective were unaware of their choice to sign with an accredited service such as Liverpool Student Homes.
Liverpool Student Homes are a university owned and managed service created more than 32 years ago between LJMU and University of Liverpool to raise standards in private sector accommodation and provide a central point for students to be supported after first year.
LSH have guidelines which landlords must meet to be accredited such as providing copies of current gas safety certificates. Properties must be equipped with carbon monoxide detectors and meet Environmental Health standards for appropriate room sizes to name a few.
Amanda Kerr from LSH said: “We generally have a better relationship with accredited providers and can directly communicate with tenants and landlords to resolve any issues.”
Choice and support
They work with Liverpool City Council to report any potential breaches of legislation which has enabled LSH to impact a change on how landlords/agents operate.
Their team, located on Oxford Street, say: “We have championed choice and best practice in the sector for over three decades and it saddens all our team if a student has a negative experience living in our city because they were not aware of our service.”
LSH are collaborative with the accommodation team at LJMU, which is mainly for first year students to ensure they’re supported during their time in halls.
Ed Naylor, from the accommodation support team, says they are happy to speak with any students over issues surrounding their accommodation and said: “We can pretty much resolve most things in first year accommodation, and we can certainly give advice and remedies to sort students problems out.”
Ed works closely with the team at LSH and says: “If you know your property is accredited with Liverpool Student Homes then you’ve got certain assurance of quality but you also have that backup process of if things do go wrong then there’s a redress process.”
Liverpool, having three universities, is far from short of accommodation, there’s plenty of options available.
Ed said: “A key message from Liverpool Student Homes is don’t panic, don’t rush, asses your options and make an informed decision.”
Halls are always an option to remain in for the full duration of your stay at university especially if you’re alone or a small group who didn’t get/ want a house, you’ll be put with people in a similar situation.
‘Find a housemate’
LJMU and UoL hold annual accommodation fairs where students can receive all the information they might be searching for.
LSH run regular ‘Find a Housemate’ meet ups virtually and in person for students who may wish to find a group of students to live with or need to find a replacement in their tenancy.
Amanda said: “We will always recommend an accredited provider and property over non accredited because we have a greater understanding if a property is achieving some fundamental legal requirements.”
The power of knowledge and decision-making is vital when choosing student accommodation and the team at Accommodation LJMU and LSH are always on hand to give advice and explain all the options of living in this vibrant city.
For more information on Accommodation LJMU click here and LSH click here.
Featured image (c) Melanie Dook
