At the beginning of July, thousands of students across Leeds moved into their new homes for the year. It is often a chaotic process, with so many people moving in one day.
Headingley, Hyde Park, Burley and Kirkstall are seen filled with moving vans, cars, people with bags of clothes and lots of excited faces. Not everyone has the best experiences however.
Kyle Turley and his housemates were due to move into their home on Langdale Terrace on July 6, but when they arrived they found it to be in a barely livable state. The house was filled with mould, broken furniture, dirty mattresses and the toilet bowl was completely black.
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Kyle, 24, a student at Leeds Beckett University, spoke to LeedsLive about his house and what they have been doing to try and solve a long list of issues. It all began on moving day, the group collected their keys and when they got to the house they couldn't believe the state of it.
He said: “We got to the house and it was just appalling, we walked in the carpet was basically all pulled up, in the living room underneath the sofas there was rotten food and rubbish.
“The floor was all scuffed and dirty, there was a stain in the living room that won’t come off, it was like red and rusty.
“In the kitchen, there was a piece of wallpaper stuck to the ceiling and that fell off which just revealed a hole in the ceiling directly below the bathroom.”
That's not it, there was a laundry list of issues that Kyle and his friends claim were not sorted before the move. They also say there was mouldy food in the cupboards, a socket with exposed wiring, a wobbly bannister and more.
We've listed the issues Kyle and his housemates say were present in their new home.
- Bathroom covered in mould
- Mould all over the bedrooms
- Deplorable mattresses
- Dirty underwear and sanitary products left in rooms
- A hole in the ceiling that led to the roof
- Crumbling plaster
- A basement blocked by a fridge freezer
- Rat droppings
Initially, the housemates went to their letting agents, Haus, the non-student branch in Headingley, and spoke to a manager, explaining that the house was "unliveable" and that they would not be staying there. Haus accordingly got back to Kyle saying they only let the house and any issues with the property would need to be reported to Leeds property manager RNL.
What followed was weeks of emails back and forth. A member of staff at RNL was shown a video of the property and when the tenants explained that they wanted their deposit and first month's rent payment back, which they claim was agreed upon at the time.
Kyle said: “After the video had stopped he asked what do you want to happen, so we said we want our money back from our deposit and first month’s rent.”
“He agreed, he said it was understandable and got onto Haus to check their inventory of houses.
“At first they were sending us emails of properties.
“They were very agreeable at the start, they said it was unacceptable and they said we would be able to get out of the tenancy.”
On July 7, RNL informed the tenants that the landlord wasn't happy to release them from the tenancy, leaving them scratching their heads not knowing what options they had.
A cleaning team was brought in to sort out the mess but despite this, Kyle and his friends still wanted to leave the agreement. Kyle is a Sport and Exercise student and therefore found Headingley the only practical living area so they asked their letting agents to help them find another property.
Following more emails, Kyle claims that Haus and RNL agreed they could leave the tenancy. However, they say they then received an email from RNL on Friday, July 8, saying that all of the issues would be resolved by the end of the following week (July 15).
“I phoned Steph, manager at Haus, about 10 to five in the afternoon and basically just reiterated that we weren’t happy with the situation.”
“I spoke to my uncle who is a landlord and what he said was that the letting agents had a duty of care to make sure the house was in a liveable state when we moved in," Kyle added.
By this point, the group were supposed to be moved in and settled in their new home and they took to social media to air their complaints and ask for help. With very little option left, and after weeks of sofa surfing, Unipol reached out to Kyle because Haus are under the umbrella of that housing branch.
A Unipol rep named Matt got in touch and offered to do an inspection. When the inspection took place it was agreed that the house was not in a fit state.
Kyle said: "We went into the Unipol office and Matt was there and we explained and organised an inspection
“He’s said not many cases are seen as unliveable.
“He said our house was probably the worst one they had had for a long time and if anyone had a chance of getting out of the tenancy agreement through court, we would have that chance.
“So that’s how bad it was, it was terrible.”
The works on the house were not due to be finished until July 25 and no refunds would be issued until all the issues had been sorted. They were however offered one week's rent in compensation, totalling £72.
On July 18, an email came through from R&L claiming that because of the work being done, Kyle and his friends couldn't live in the house.
Kyle said: “We were paying rent for a house we didn’t live in and didn’t want anyway.
“When they started doing the works for the house, we started doing an update video and basically it looked like a work site, there was no way we could have lived in the house.
“The works they were doing would have required us to have alternative accommodation”
According to the Unipol code, if any of the bedrooms, bathrooms or kitchens are not fit for purpose, the house would be classed as unliveable. With no end in sight, Kyle and his friend Tom visited the house on the day the works were expected to be finished to find it still looked like a work site.
“Me and Tom went down to see the house, about 5ish on Monday because that was the day the house was supposed to be finished.
“The works were still going, me and Mikey went on the following day
“The room they tore out is finished - we went down into the basement and the large mould patch seemed to have been just wiped away.
“So when we were looking at what they had done to the place, they had left pillows on the bed, stuff in the showers and food in the fridge, not our stuff, it was like the contractors had been using the house.
By this point, the group had very little advice on what to do, they sought out a solicitor who told them that unless the house is still unliveable there is basically nothing they can do.
Kyle added finally: “We are pretty much going to have to move into the house, we don’t have the money or the time to do much else, and I am quite fed up of being homeless.”
RNL Property Management issued the following statement: "The tenants viewed the property on the 15th June 2022 and were happy to sign to rent it in the general condition that was presented at this time. During the process of the tenants signing to secure the property they do have the opportunity to discuss and negotiate any required agreed works to be completed prior to move in. No issues were raised or agreed works requested in the period from signing to the tenancy commencing.
"We inspected the house prior to keys being collected, the clean was then completed on the 6th July 2022, tenant’s were present at this point. The tenants are given full instructions on how to inspect and report maintenance to RNL, using this online portal if there is anything that is required it can be resolved immediately.
"A day later the tenants reported various issues with the property including additional cleaning to uninhabited areas which were attended to immediately and some further minor issues. The most pressing issue being ceilings in the kitchen and one of the bedrooms which had seriously deteriorated within the time between the cleaners leaving the property on the 6th July and the tenants reporting video.
"Helpfully, Unipol also carried out their own inspection at the property to confirm any other work that was required to meet their high standard and code. We explained to the tenants what we were doing to assist them, although this was difficult due to the fact that the tenants were understandably unhappy with the property condition and were unsure of their position regarding the tenancy.
"When Unipol visited they reported that all but one room could have been habitable, the uninhabitable room was the top floor rear bedroom which the owner taking the opportunity to replace the ceiling and insulation rather than carrying out a patch repair. The ceiling being replaced also included further insulation to help with energy efficiency and save the tenants money on utilities.
"The owner obviously had agreed not to charge the tenant rent whilst this work was taking place, although the landlord was entitled to charge rent on the habitable rooms they are happy to refund this rent as a gesture of goodwill.
"The tenants have now been informed that the majority of work has taken place with a few aspects which are underway such as a handrail into the property which are waiting for external contractors to complete. During this whole time we have been in constant contact with the tenants to provide updates on progress, also on hearing that the tenants were sofa surfing offering to move the house around so it could be habitable for all tenants, this offer was not taken up."
A spokesperson for Unipol said: "I can confirm that Unipol has received a complaint about this property under the Unipol Code complaints process, after reaching out to the tenant when we saw a post on Facebook. The managing agent (Haus (managed by RNL)) are accredited under the Unipol Code, which means that if tenants think those standards have been breached they can formally complain.
"To give more detail, a complaint was received on the 13th July, and an inspection took place the following day. The managing agent was sent an inspection report on the 15th July and since then has been working through the required remedial work. Unipol is in contact with both the agent and tenants to get updates on progress.
"Ultimately if the Unipol Code has been breached and issues not resolved to the tenant’s satisfaction, there is the option of the matter being referred to the independent Code complaints tribunal for it to determine the matter, which can result in disciplinary action if a complaint is upheld.
"The Unipol Code is an accreditation scheme operated by Unipol Student Homes. Any students can check if their property is with an accredited landlord or managing agent on our website at www.unipol.org.uk/the-code/property-lookup. If a student has any concerns or issues, the best thing to do is raise a complaint via the website, and if the property is accredited we can investigate or provide support and guidance if it’s not."
LeedsLive has reached out to Haus for comment.
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