The money grubbing Scrooge McDucks I stayed with during my first year in Scotland go by the name of Unite Students (they've adopted this name more recently). Not an entirely mislabeled organization, since anyone who has lived in their houses have united in protest over their experience of not experiencing a proper tenant-landlord relationship. The building I stayed in myself had been in service for 2-3 years, yet you could not tell by looking at it. The interior of the building resembled a barracks constructed with the work ethic of the Red Army (the Red Army of 1939, not the later incarnations that actually did some damage). Never mind the nightly sex noises, you could feel people walking on the floor above you. Insulation was a thing of fantasy, which was especially bad since the winter I stayed there was one when temperatures dropped to -10 in December. The only heating unit was an electric radiator which switched itself off automatically after 10 minutes. You would think this would be a massive issue when sleeping, yet with the constant 4am fire alarms you were awake half the night anyway.
Figure 12. The Heart of Darkness if you ask me... (Source: biznet.org.uk)
We had frequent flat inspections due to the overabundance of 17 year olds living on their own for the first time. However, this did not mean we had staff available to us when we actually needed them. Take for example the time the fuse blew out in my room. For normal houses you would not even consider this an issue. Neither did I in Unite housing, until I discovered the fusebox was behind a locked wall panel. No biggie, I just called the office (4pm on a Friday). They did not pick up so I walked to the reception in our building, which turned out to be closed (still 4pm on a Friday). I went to their website and learned that minor issues like this had to be reported online anyway. I filled out the online form and further learned that repairs were not done over the weekend. I waited 3 days without power or lights before a repair man came the following Monday. A repair man for a job that I could have done 72 hours earlier if only my flat was not baby proofed.
The bureaucratic side of Unite Students was one big exhibit for why the human race is doomed to extinction this century. After I had checked out and started looking for a new flat in town, Unite announced they wished to garnish my deposit for repainting my room; a job they valued at £70. First of all, there was nothing to repaint in the first place. Secondly, I hope it was one hell of a paint job, because me and my three flatmates were charged £15 each for repainting our communal areas which actually needed repainting. Raging, I went online again (I had long given up on their phone and reception services at this point) to find out which way I could complain the loudest. Turns out there was only one way to complain about deposit refunds: via snail mail to their head office. Probably not surprising since they seemed to have a hard time picking up the phone anyway. Nevertheless, if there is a better way of discouraging Millenials from getting in touch with a private company, I have yet to run into it.
N.B. Upon trying to find evidence of this system on their website, I've learned that the company has begun/been forced to work with Mydeposits Scotland. This is a company that holds the deposits of all people who rent their domicile in Scotland to prevent fraud like the one I have just described. And yes, you stay in touch with them online, not with pen and paper.
For many of you, the initial reaction might be to dismiss this rant, as it has the characteristics of a reactionary adolescent outburst. Still, when the rent is £127 per week, you move in expecting the standard stuff like repair services and heating to be in working order. A large part of this misallocation of rental funds was a result of misinformation or unavailable info. A case I have found to be true in Lund too. However, Lund student accommodation has all the redeeming qualities to make up for this discrepancy. A discrepancy I want Lund(on) Times to help patch up; I will elaborate on this in Part 2 of this introduction...
