By Annie McNamee, Co-Editor-in-Chief
Sign our petition in favour of better quality homes for students here.
What’s your least favourite month? It’s probably January. And if it isn’t, then it’s definitely February.
We’ve made it to the bum-end of the year. No more shiny lights to distract you from the dark – this is all the worst parts of winter without the saving graces of the holiday season, and these days it’s frowned upon to drink your way through. Whilst coming back to uni was exciting, there was something particularly grim about returning from my warm family home, complete with waggy-tailed dog and homemade soups, to a damp, damp student house.
Student properties are almost universally rubbish. I can’t count the number of times I’ve bonded with course-mates over our subpar living standards; rats under fridges, absent landlords, and, always, mould. Mould behind the sofa, mould in the shower, mould on the ceiling and mould crawling up the walls. Mould in your shoes, your handbags, your lungs. It’s everywhere, and it’s growing.
'Students are expected to put up with a lot – excuse my language – of bullshit.'
The National Union of Students found that somewhere around 50% of students have mould or damp in their homes, which, frustratingly, does not shock me at all. They also note that the number is only getting larger, so it could be well over half within a few years if nothing is done.
Students are expected to put up with a lot – excuse my language – of bullshit. Our tuition fees are rising but we’re not even getting good jobs out of them anymore, that is if we’re lucky enough to get jobs at all. We have to study full time and work part time because god knows our loans don’t cover any of our basic living expenses, loans which only about a third of us will ever actually repay. Anything we complain about is seen by many as the tantrums of a few privileged teenagers, and now we can’t even expect our homes, which we pay as much as anyone else for (there’s no student discount for rent), to be liveable.
To paint damp as a uniquely student issue would be wrong; that is not the point I intend to make. No one should be shelling out hundreds of pounds to live in a place which is making them sick, but there are unique challenges that come with being a student renter, and that’s why we’re launching ‘Break the Mould’.
Break the Mould is an Epigram campaign, aiming to reduce the amount of student houses with damp or mould. The idea was born one day in my cold little house, as we doused my wardrobe in mould spray for the third time that month, and my flatmate, disgruntled, said ‘this was not brought up when we signed the contract’.
Something clicked. Landlords have the choice of dozens of people vying for their homes. They can turn down large groups they think will be rowdy, people with pets, anyone that they don’t deem a good fit for their property, and all we get is a quick look around before we commit to a year long lease. How is that fair?
Half of students live in mouldy homes, found the NUS.
We deserve better. As renters, and as students. Landlords and letting agencies who take our money, whilst refusing to properly maintain our homes, should be held to account, and we have the right to know who is and isn’t reliable.
We are suggesting a web page where students can anonymously upload ‘reviews’ of their landlords or letting agencies, warding off anyone else from signing with them, or, alternatively recommending them. We are asking the SU to support us in creating a system where those with positive reviews will become ‘verified’, and those with negative ones will be held to account.
We are also setting up a dedicated page on Epigram’s website with all the info about mould and damp you could possibly need. We’ve got everything from horror stories to advice on what to do if you find the fungus lurking in your house. You can access that here.
'Landlords and letting agencies who take our money, whilst refusing to properly maintain our homes, should be held to account'
Students deserve the basic dignity of homes which keep them safe, not infect their bodies. If you agree with us, and believe that the mould epidemic in student housing needs to stop, please sign our change.org petition, accessible here, to show the SU that we have the support of the student body in this campaign.
Together, let’s Break the Mould, and create safer homes for students.
Have you signed the petition?
