County Houses 75-77

“It would be great to have the chance to meet your roommates ahead of time, or at least have a say in who you end up staying with. Also, the fresher activities need to be better organized, because that week we were honestly left pretty confused.”

“A space that’s free of any mold.”

“The shower in the bathroom heats up way too fast and the temperature jumps around randomly sometimes.”

“Every time I take a shower, the bathroom ends up flooding, which is really frustrating.”

“I think the shower area could be a bit lower so the water doesn’t splash out as easily.”

“Honestly, the biggest problem isn’t the place itself. It’s the rent. The rent is ridiculously high, like astronomically high, for a flat that’s really just average. The kitchen is not worth what they charge, and while the bedrooms are okay, they still don’t justify the money. For the amount we’re paying, I’d expect a much better standard. I don’t think it’s fair to put most young people, not everyone but most, in a situation like this. I’m 24, and even for me it can be a real struggle, because you still have to pay for food and you need money to actually live. When they set rent so high, it makes it impossible to get by, and that’s not right. It’s a ridiculous amount of money. People also need some kind of quality of life. Sure, you’re there for education, but you still need a social life and some balance outside of studying. How can you do that if all your money is gone just from paying rent? That’s not fair. For example, I personally had nearly £700 in my account, maybe a little more than that. The minute I paid my rent, I was down to around £200. So it didn’t just take the money I received from student finance, it took my own money too. So yeah, I think the prices for rent are absolutely astronomical. The issue isn’t the flat. It’s mediocre at best, but the real problem is the cost of being there.”

“We have seating in the kitchen, like a couch, not only a dining table and chairs. I feel like that would help me and my flatmates hang out together more often.”

“Kitchen cleaning is great, but I get that it can be hard to keep up when everything gets really messy because of the other flatmates.”

“The noise is pretty noticeable. Even just cracking the window open bumps up the ambient sound a lot, mostly because of the nearby roads. I get that the university can’t really fix it, but if I could change one thing, it would be that.”

“Definitely a nicer shared area. Right now, the communal space only has a kitchen table, so it feels a bit limited. If there were some couches or benches, it would be much easier for people to actually run into each other. It would also make it more comfortable to spend time outside the rooms.”