Hundreds of university students have been left desperately scrambling for last-minute accommodation as the halls they were due to move into remain unfinished.
People who applied for housing at Bowline on Benson Street received the news from Fresh Student Living on Tuesday, just four days before the September 17 move-in date.
The housing company, which acquired the Liverpool city centre property from former managers Prestige Student Living just last week, wrote in an email shared with the ECHO: "Due to circumstances out of our control, the developer has informed us that we are unable to allow residents to move in. Unfortunately, this means that your room at Bowline will not be available for occupation on Saturday, September 17. Whilst we are yet to receive clarity on a completion date at this stage, we anticipate an occupation date of January 7 2023."
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This is the second time students who applied for accommodation at Bowline have been let down at the last minute. Last year, residents who had paid £99 deposits for their new homes were told just one month ahead of moving in that their rooms would not be ready in September due to ongoing building works - and that they too could expect to move in by January.
Malcolm Browning, 51, whose 21-year-old son was due to move into Bowline on Saturday ahead of Fresher's Week, said: "All we have ever received was reassurances throughout that everything was in place and would be OK - right up until when we received this email on Tuesday saying everything had been pulled, and they wouldn't be opening until January.
"We have made every effort to put plans in place for my son to move in, and now we're left in real uncertainty about whether he'll be able to go at all.
"He spent all day and half the night trying to find places to live, but rooms are disappearing fast, and with demand being so high this year it's going to be really hard to find somewhere."
His son is one of approximately 200 students affected by the last-minute announcement.
Another student, Emily Kennedy, said: "They have taken first instalment payments exceeding £2,100 whilst being fully aware that the accommodation would not be ready, and have informed us that the amount will be refunded, yet I do not understand how they expect students to be able to apply and find other accommodation, which understandably expect payment immediately, when we have no received refunds and may not receive them for potentially up to a week from now.
"They have estimated that the building should be ready for move in on January 7 2023, whilst leaving us with no support in finding alternative accommodation due to ‘high occupancy rates and high demand’, thus leaving us to completely fend for ourselves with little or no time to get anything booked, which I am completely appalled at."
Seyi Dawodu said: "I'm horrified that this far down the line is when an establishment decides to tell us that they are no longer able to continue my tenancy four days before move in! That should tell you everything you need to know about this place, and it seems they've done this the year before too. Absolutely horrible."
According to the email sent by Fresh, students who have had their tenancy agreements cancelled will receive refunds 'as soon as possible', with compensation available to make up for the disruption caused.
It read: "We understand that you will be frustrated and disappointed with this news. Our number one priority is the welfare, safety and comfort of our customers so we hope you understand."
Malcolm said: "What we would expect is alternative accommodation options. But what they have said is due to the high level of demand this year, they are unable to do that. So we have very much been left in the lurch.
"I feel incredibly angry because it feels very much like big business is taking priority over young people's lives, which is just wrong. It would surely have been clear significantly earlier that the building was not going to progress, and these young people should have been given the opportunity well in advance to find somewhere else.
"I feel really let down and lied to, as we were reassured that everything was OK when clearly that wasn't the case. Disappointed would be an understatement."
Last year, the delay at the Bowline development was blamed on "unforeseen issues... further impacted by Covid-19".
This year, it was blamed on 'circumstances out of (Fresh's) control' - as the company said it too had been assured that the property would be ready on time.
A Fresh spokesman said: "Students who were due to come to Bowline are absolutely right to be angry and frustrated about this situation. We became the operator of Bowline on Saturday, September 10, taking over from a previous operator, which had been responsible for marketing the scheme and taken deposits. In the lead up to this, we had been assured by the contractors and owner that the building would be complete by Monday, September 12. By Tuesday morning it became clear this had not happened.
"Throughout Tuesday, September 13, we worked to assess what the situation was and what we could do. This included our teams trying to find alternative accommodation for all students. Sadly, we weren’t able to find accommodation in that timeframe due to the severe and ongoing shortage of student housing schemes in Liverpool and Manchester, and the only option was to inform students their tenancy agreements were cancelled.
“Our focuses now are recovering the students’ deposits so that we can refund them and continuing to try find new accommodation. Since Tuesday we have found new accommodation for a number of students, and this is increasing all the time. We are also making sure that students receive the compensation that they are due.”
A spokesman for Prestige Student Living, which oversaw the Bowline development until it was transferred to Fresh, said: “Prestige Student Living is a managing agent, and the owner of Bowline recently decided to transfer management of the property to another managing agent. At the time of this planned transfer last week, we had been advised by the owner that the completion of construction was on schedule for the arrival of students on September 17. We are not able to speculate on the circumstances surrounding its subsequent late delivery.
“Prestige Student Living deeply sympathise with the situation faced by students due to arrive in the city this weekend. We recommend students contact their new managing agent for further updates.”
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