Accommodation for new students in Leeds

Having nearly completed my first year at Leeds University I can honestly say that one of the only things that that has let my student experience down has been the accommodation. I suppose part of the blame could be due to the course I'm doing, as I'm a student nurse- our course requires us to do a longer year of study than the other courses at the University. Therefore the Uni allocated us into Unite accommodation with other students on our course. Having lived in the Tannery for the best part of a year I can honestly say I feel like I don't know anyone who isn't on the same course as myself. The main problem I think is that there are no suitable common room facilities or there hasn't been a local bar near by in which we have been able to meet other students easily.

I feel as though the Unite team haven't fulfilled my expectations. I have personally had problems with my bathroom lights all year. I cannot switch on my bedroom light and my bathroom light at the same time as it trips them both out. I was required to get up at 5am while I was on placement in January and finding I was having to shower in the pitch dark as my bathroom lights would just trip out. I have cut my self in the shower several times because of this ridiculous problem. I have been complaining all year about the lights in my room and nothing at all has been done about it. My lights have been tripped back on for me several times, but the problem never fixed despite complaining downstairs at reception multiple times. I was eventually informed that I needed to fill out a complain form-which I tried to complete but reception never gave me a booking code or code of sorts to send the complaint to.

When we first moved into the flat, it was filthy. I was required to clean my room and kitchen cupboards before I used them. There were still dirty cutlery and pans with caked on food in my cupboard. The microwave hadn't been cleaned. My bathroom was filthy. I scrubbed the toilet and shower the day I moved in because there were hairs on the floor etc.

The hoover hadn't been replaced or cleaned when we moved in. It was impossible to clean our rooms because previous students had hoovered up vomit and it had been left to mature in the hoover over the summer holidays. So everytime we attempted to use the hoover we were overwhelmed with the repulsive stench of ripe sick.

Since September we have had 3 microwaves, each of which has been replaced with an even shoddier version lasting even less time than previous one. Our oven decides to turn itself off for twenty minutes halfway through cooking your chips making you unnecessarily wait about forty to fifty minutes for your dinner to cook. The hob had to be replaced after christmas as it shut down completely.

Over Christmas The Tannery flooded with sewage flooding the flat next door to ours as well as the floor below us. We live on the 1st floor! And weren't informed that flooding was a regular occurrence when we moved in.

As you can tell I haven't had the smoothest ride along the Unite accommodation ladder. However I'm excited to move into new accommodation in my second year. Me and my friends are leaving Unite and moving to IQ. It'll be easier to meet a more diverse range of students. The accommodation is clean and the staff have been incredibly helpful to us over the past couple of months. IQ have offered us an incredible deal for our next student year, if we had decided to stay here we would effectively have been 60 pound more A WEEK- as the price of the Tannery is increasing even more next year. IQ offer us wireless internet, we have double beds, a real shower, on site security and all the fixtures and fittings are still in warranty therefore anything that goes wrong can be sorted out within a matter of days. Appolo Taxi's are over the road and are making offers to students who are living at IQ. It is a ten minute walk to Uni and fifteen minutes walk into town.

I truly have a more positive outlook for next year and this is entirely due our change in choice of accommodation and because of the invaluable help we've had from IQ in making our change a much smoother process.

I hope this helps future students looking for accommodation in Leeds and points them in the right direction when trying to find the most suitable student diggs. I just wish I had read a review like this last year before committing to my current accommodation with Unite.

Good luck for next year.

Having nearly completed my first year at Leeds University I can honestly say that one of the only things that that has let my student experience down has been the accommodation. I suppose part of the blame could be due to the course I'm doing, as I'm a student nurse- our course requires us to do a longer year of study than the other courses at the University. Therefore the Uni allocated us into Unite accommodation with other students on our course. Having lived in the Tannery for the best part of a year I can honestly say I feel like I don't know anyone who isn't on the same course as myself. The main problem I think is that there are no suitable common room facilities or there hasn't been a local bar near by in which we have been able to meet other students easily.

I feel as though the Unite team haven't fulfilled my expectations. I have personally had problems with my bathroom lights all year. I cannot switch on my bedroom light and my bathroom light at the same time as it trips them both out. I was required to get up at 5am while I was on placement in January and finding I was having to shower in the pitch dark as my bathroom lights would just trip out. I have cut my self in the shower several times because of this ridiculous problem. I have been complaining all year about the lights in my room and nothing at all has been done about it. My lights have been tripped back on for me several times, but the problem never fixed despite complaining downstairs at reception multiple times. I was eventually informed that I needed to fill out a complain form-which I tried to complete but reception never gave me a booking code or code of sorts to send the complaint to.

When we first moved into the flat, it was filthy. I was required to clean my room and kitchen cupboards before I used them. There were still dirty cutlery and pans with caked on food in my cupboard. The microwave hadn't been cleaned. My bathroom was filthy. I scrubbed the toilet and shower the day I moved in because there were hairs on the floor etc.

The hoover hadn't been replaced or cleaned when we moved in. It was impossible to clean our rooms because previous students had hoovered up vomit and it had been left to mature in the hoover over the summer holidays. So everytime we attempted to use the hoover we were overwhelmed with the repulsive stench of ripe sick.

Since September we have had 3 microwaves, each of which has been replaced with an even shoddier version lasting even less time than previous one. Our oven decides to turn itself off for twenty minutes halfway through cooking your chips making you unnecessarily wait about forty to fifty minutes for your dinner to cook. The hob had to be replaced after christmas as it shut down completely.

Over Christmas The Tannery flooded with sewage flooding the flat next door to ours as well as the floor below us. We live on the 1st floor! And weren't informed that flooding was a regular occurrence when we moved in.

As you can tell I haven't had the smoothest ride along the Unite accommodation ladder. However I'm excited to move into new accommodation in my second year. Me and my friends are leaving Unite and moving to IQ. It'll be easier to meet a more diverse range of students. The accommodation is clean and the staff have been incredibly helpful to us over the past couple of months. IQ have offered us an incredible deal for our next student year, if we had decided to stay here we would effectively have been 60 pound more A WEEK- as the price of the Tannery is increasing even more next year. IQ offer us wireless internet, we have double beds, a real shower, on site security and all the fixtures and fittings are still in warranty therefore anything that goes wrong can be sorted out within a matter of days. Appolo Taxi's are over the road and are making offers to students who are living at IQ. It is a ten minute walk to Uni and fifteen minutes walk into town.

I truly have a more positive outlook for next year and this is entirely due our change in choice of accommodation and because of the invaluable help we've had from IQ in making our change a much smoother process.

I hope this helps future students looking for accommodation in Leeds and points them in the right direction when trying to find the most suitable student diggs. I just wish I had read a review like this last year before committing to my current accommodation with Unite.

Good luck for next year.

Having nearly completed my first year at Leeds University I can honestly say that one of the only things that that has let my student experience down has been the accommodation. I suppose part of the blame could be due to the course I'm doing, as I'm a student nurse- our course requires us to do a longer year of study than the other courses at the University. Therefore the Uni allocated us into Unite accommodation with other students on our course. Having lived in the Tannery for the best part of a year I can honestly say I feel like I don't know anyone who isn't on the same course as myself. The main problem I think is that there are no suitable common room facilities or there hasn't been a local bar near by in which we have been able to meet other students easily.

I feel as though the Unite team haven't fulfilled my expectations. I have personally had problems with my bathroom lights all year. I cannot switch on my bedroom light and my bathroom light at the same time as it trips them both out. I was required to get up at 5am while I was on placement in January and finding I was having to shower in the pitch dark as my bathroom lights would just trip out. I have cut my self in the shower several times because of this ridiculous problem. I have been complaining all year about the lights in my room and nothing at all has been done about it. My lights have been tripped back on for me several times, but the problem never fixed despite complaining downstairs at reception multiple times. I was eventually informed that I needed to fill out a complain form-which I tried to complete but reception never gave me a booking code or code of sorts to send the complaint to.

When we first moved into the flat, it was filthy. I was required to clean my room and kitchen cupboards before I used them. There were still dirty cutlery and pans with caked on food in my cupboard. The microwave hadn't been cleaned. My bathroom was filthy. I scrubbed the toilet and shower the day I moved in because there were hairs on the floor etc.

The hoover hadn't been replaced or cleaned when we moved in. It was impossible to clean our rooms because previous students had hoovered up vomit and it had been left to mature in the hoover over the summer holidays. So everytime we attempted to use the hoover we were overwhelmed with the repulsive stench of ripe sick.

Since September we have had 3 microwaves, each of which has been replaced with an even shoddier version lasting even less time than previous one. Our oven decides to turn itself off for twenty minutes halfway through cooking your chips making you unnecessarily wait about forty to fifty minutes for your dinner to cook. The hob had to be replaced after christmas as it shut down completely.

Over Christmas The Tannery flooded with sewage flooding the flat next door to ours as well as the floor below us. We live on the 1st floor! And weren't informed that flooding was a regular occurrence when we moved in.

As you can tell I haven't had the smoothest ride along the Unite accommodation ladder. However I'm excited to move into new accommodation in my second year. Me and my friends are leaving Unite and moving to IQ. It'll be easier to meet a more diverse range of students. The accommodation is clean and the staff have been incredibly helpful to us over the past couple of months. IQ have offered us an incredible deal for our next student year, if we had decided to stay here we would effectively have been 60 pound more A WEEK- as the price of the Tannery is increasing even more next year. IQ offer us wireless internet, we have double beds, a real shower, on site security and all the fixtures and fittings are still in warranty therefore anything that goes wrong can be sorted out within a matter of days. Appolo Taxi's are over the road and are making offers to students who are living at IQ. It is a ten minute walk to Uni and fifteen minutes walk into town.

I truly have a more positive outlook for next year and this is entirely due our change in choice of accommodation and because of the invaluable help we've had from IQ in making our change a much smoother process.

I hope this helps future students looking for accommodation in Leeds and points them in the right direction when trying to find the most suitable student diggs. I just wish I had read a review like this last year before committing to my current accommodation with Unite.

Good luck for next year.

I was going to apply to stay in The Tannery from September, Is it really that bad?

I live in the same flat as Toria, and its just such a joke, honestly we would recommend going anywhere but the tannery. there always seems to be something wrong, which always takes forever to repair.

we literally cant wait to move to IQ. and give halls another go, while also living in amazing conditions. simple really!

Dear Olly,

Thank you for your email and for sending us the link to Toria's post.

I think that her complaints mainly fall into 2 areas - the state of the flat when she moved in and the sewage leak.

The Tannery had a change of manager last year just before students were due to move in and I think there is no doubt that the previous manager had let standards slip. This meant that some flats frankly were not ready for students to move into - the students complained, we, as the University complained, and their Regional Manager got involved and things improved. I am confident that they won't let this situation happen again and that everything will be clean and ready for when students move in.

Regarding the sewage leak - yes, there was a leak last year, it was dealt with as soon as it was discovered, cleaners were brought in, some items like carpets were replaced as were the belongings of a couple of the students who had left things on the floor. All the people in the affected flat were offered temporary accommodation while it was sorted out. Obviously it was a horrible thing to have happened but it was dealt with as quickly and efficiently as possible and unfortunately, in any accommodation, that sort of thing may happen from time to time - services fail, things break and it's not always possible to predict what and where even with the most rigorous maintenance problem.

However, there were no other leaks so I think the statement that the flats "regularly" flood, is a bit of an urban myth - I'm not aware of any problems from previous years either.

So, whilst those comments were largely true, I don't think that any of the problems she described will be a problem for this year's students. And moonbeam1991/Mrxninja didn't actually live at The Tannery so, whilst he is entitled to express views on all our accommodation, he doesn't do so from the point of someone who lived there. I'm not aware of any other comments from last years residents, other than one of Toria's flatmates.

I'm sorry we have not been able to offer you the accommodation you put as your preference; unfortunately, Leodis, Henry Price, Devonshire self-catered and particularly James Baillie Park were massively oversubscribed this year and obviously, it wasn't possible to offer everyone who applied a place there.

The Tannery is en suite, close to campus and to the city centre and in an area where there are around 3000 students living in halls. Almost all the students we have placed there are first years; there is a nice common room there; the Warden is very keen to get a good social life established and our Halls Development Coordinator is geared up to do lots of work to support the residents committee.

If you wanted to change accommodation, we could only offer you non ensuite accommodation such as Bodington or one of our smaller properties at this stage. However, if you accepted the Tannery, moved in and then decided you still didn't like it, you could apply for a room swap of transfer 2 weeks after the start of term.

Hope this has helped.