The Dark Side of Worcester's Housing Market - Part 1

A reoccurring trait of UK media is to depict student communities as anti-social, scumbags, and menaces to society. It can be considered that no other cities news outlets exasperates these ill-conceived stereotypes to such an extend as those of the historic city of Worcester. A particular local newspaper of the city, The Worcester News is rife with one-sided criticism of the 'student menace'. Whether it be bringing attention to the 'fact' that students are showing 'no respect at all' to Worcester locals or reporting on the police restrain of 'one student' during freshers week, The Worcester News seems all to eager to show the minute negative side of the student population at Worcester in contrast to the unanimous body of hard working, conscientious, and polite student population who are arguably more moral than a considerable number of Worcester locals. The people I am referring to in that controversial statement are the many villainous landlords and landladies of Worcester who take extortionate measures to burn a hole in the pocket of the innocent and often naive student. As aforementioned, I am inclined to believe that no media outlet in Worcester will represent the student position (The Voice does not count) and so it falls on me, Stephen Dodd to report on the dark trade of the Worcester housing market and expose its injustices.

What better place to start my article than with exploration of deposits and retainer fees? Please note, I wrote deposits AND retainer fees, as many landlords/landladies expect both these payments. By definition a deposit is a down payment, 'somthing as a pledge for a contract, the balance being payable later' and thus it should act as a retainer in itself. Why then do many Worcester landlords/landladies demand substantial fees for both deposits and retainers? 

Many students, including some of my good friends have payed up to, £300 deposit and in addition a £300 retainer fee to secure a home for second or third years of study. Few homes in the UK request retainers alongside deposits, many that do are in highly sought after locations such as intercity London. This of course begs the question, do Worcester landlords/landladies see rationality and reason in charging both fees? This question of course excludes the landlord/landladies desire to satisfy their lust which comes at the expense and exploitation of the student who is willing to lose a mass of money in return for residential security.

Okay, so maybe paying a retainer along side a deposit is not so bad as long as you receive a good quality, comfortable house to spend the academic year in right? Well actually, this is often not the case. From interviews with other students I have been exposed to stories of some of the worst, most appalling living conditions this side of the developed world.

The main essential element to a home in my opinion after a water system and electricity is heating, heating however is often a scarce luxury for Worcester students who often struggle to get hold of landlord/landlady assistance when their system malfunctions.  

Alexandra Keyworth-Wright a recently graduated student from Worcester University has dark memories  of a cold and dreary winter in her accommodation stating, 'My heater was broken over the whole winter period (they eventually came and fixed it in March!).

Sadly, stories like this are not isolated cases. Current student, Sarah KImberly experienced deplorable damp conditions in her rented house which after months of complaining to her landlord, nothing was done to make the house a habitual environment. The problem of dampness was so  serious, Sarah explains, it led her to getting the flu!

So you may be wondering what explanation if any the landlord had for this catastrophe, and what his advice was to Kimberly. Well his reasoning was, as Kimberly states, 'the room just had to be lived in as we were the first people to live in the house for a while'.

After constant complaining Kimberly brought a dehumidifier which did little to address the problem and collected so much fluid it had to be emptied weekly! Kimberly's health continued to deteriorate and eventually she resorted in sleeping downstairs. And what became of the room? Well the wallpaper started to drop of revealing an under layer of thick mould. Sounds cosy right?

In between making ridiculous excuses for the living standards of student houses, avoiding students pleas for basic maintenance and charging totally unreasonable deposits and retainer fees it is not the student that should be represented as the demons of Worcester, but the many landlord/landladies greedy for cash and unwilling to do anything to justify this income. These people are the embodiment of immorality against their fellow man. Cases such as those aforementioned lead me to believe that the student is seen as an easy target for exploitation and viewed as a group of people who have low standards which can easily be catered for. This of course sickness me, I can think of no other group of people in which landlords/landladies would get away with exploiting to such an extent and this is why I call on students to never accept such conditions and always fight against the tyrannical rule of the landlord/landlady.

In my second part to this article I will explore case in which students have taken on landlord/landladies and won. I will also discuss nonsensical  hidden costs of student houses and ridiculous tasks students must complete in order to regain their retainer. In the meantime thanks for reading and keep it real!

Stephen Dodd

aka The Count of Monte Cristo