The Student Room Group

Accommodation horror stories?

Hi everyone, I'm creating a series of comics related to student's experience of accommodation this year for one of my modules (I'm looking at how comics/ humor can be used to give advice, and how it is often better than more stuffy 'official'advice outlets).

Whilst I have quite a few of my own, it'd be great to get a wider scope (plus it's just fun to have a good moan) - I'd love to hear about any of your experiences relating to housing (landlords, agencies, living conditions, housemates, bills etc. ) and feel free to share positive stories of unexpected pluses too c:

Thank you!
(edited 8 years ago)

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Ah, have I got this in the wrong forum or something?
Original post by SquareBubble
Ah, have I got this in the wrong forum or something?


:beard: No I think this is the right place :h: I'm not really sure why there aren't any replies, this is something everyone's got experience of...!
In my 3rd year at uni we had some building work going on in our back 'garden' (in quotation because in central Brighton there are no gardens, only dingy and damp concrete spaces)...

Anyway, it was hell for a few days until we realised that we essentially had been given a free climbing wall and then spent the following weeks doing Gladiator style races up and down it, and created a fort out of it when the builders left for the day.

Ahhh...memories :moon:
I fear that these won't be too useful for a campaign as they are really specific, but I have heard some great ones about housemates from friends (my housemates were always fantastic!).
One of my friends had a housemate who hated everyone else so much that on the last day before he moved out he took a **** on the carpet of the living room so they wouldn't get their deposit back. Fortunately, the landlord believed it, so everyone got their deposit back apart from him.
A girl I know spent a while in Ireland, where she had the creepiest housemate on the planet. The toilet had a ceiling window, and he'd make a point of opening it in the winter because he liked being snowed on while sitting on the toilet. He also had a habit of sitting in the completely dark living room at night, as he had seen "figures" coming out of the socket and was waiting for them to come back.
My other friend had a housemate who would steal enormous amounts of toilet paper (nobody knows for what) and regularly emptied everyone's shampoo into the shower.

I LOVE terrible housemate stories hahaah
I had a constant invasion of silverfish in my uni room at halls in first year.

Silverfish are those small insects that run around so fast and scare you with their running speed :zomg: they actually are terrifying.
Does seeing your flatmates make chicken tikka with chicken nuggets or try to eat the mince they d defrosted days a go count as a horror story.

Apart from generally being messy and noisey they only thing they ever did was knick a bit of my milk here and there.

Original post by Marwin123
I fear that these won't be too useful for a campaign as they are really specific, but I have heard some great ones about housemates from friends (my housemates were always fantastic!).
One of my friends had a housemate who hated everyone else so much that on the last day before he moved out he took a **** on the carpet of the living room so they wouldn't get their deposit back. Fortunately, the landlord believed it, so everyone got their deposit back apart from him.
A girl I know spent a while in Ireland, where she had the creepiest housemate on the planet. The toilet had a ceiling window, and he'd make a point of opening it in the winter because he liked being snowed on while sitting on the toilet. He also had a habit of sitting in the completely dark living room at night, as he had seen "figures" coming out of the socket and was waiting for them to come back.
My other friend had a housemate who would steal enormous amounts of toilet paper (nobody knows for what) and regularly emptied everyone's shampoo into the shower.

I LOVE terrible housemate stories hahaah
First year in corridor with 17 other males, one of them thought it was wise to ride on his bike down the corridor. Upon braking, the bike left a rubber mark which was a few feet long. After many unsuccessful attempts to remove the rubber mark, the University ended up having to re-do the entire carpet for the length of the corridor.

Resulting cost of damage? £1885.30

:facepalm:
I went to uni in Hull which is so damp it's basically like Atlantis in the winter :biggrin: A huge chunk of the ceiling in the living room fell down one night when we were all hanging out. We also had a major slug infestation because the houses are so moist inside, you'd come downstairs in the morning and the living room would be all glittery covered in slug slime. Kind of magical it its own way.:moon:

Our house was an old two up/two down and there was no light switch by the front door. It was spooky coming home at night because you'd have to walk across the living room in the dark to get the light switch on. Not long after the ceiling fell down my housemate came back in the dark. When he opened the door, something moved in the living room. He thought he'd just imagined it, so he went inside but then it started moving again. Totally freaked out he legged it to the kitchen, grabbed a broom and turned the lights on.

There was a little "mew" noise and somehow a tiny abandoned kitten had made its way into our house. :love: I still have her.
Reply 9
Original post by Puddles the Monkey
I went to uni in Hull which is so damp it's basically like Atlantis in the winter :biggrin: A huge chunk of the ceiling in the living room fell down one night when we were all hanging out. We also had a major slug infestation because the houses are so moist inside, you'd come downstairs in the morning and the living room would be all glittery covered in slug slime. Kind of magical it its own way.:moon:

Our house was an old two up/two down and there was no light switch by the front door. It was spooky coming home at night because you'd have to walk across the living room in the dark to get the light switch on. Not long after the ceiling fell down my housemate came back in the dark. When he opened the door, something moved in the living room. He thought he'd just imagined it, so he went inside but then it started moving again. Totally freaked out he legged it to the kitchen, grabbed a broom and turned the lights on.

There was a little "mew" noise and somehow a tiny abandoned kitten had made its way into our house. :love: I still have her.


Haha aw thats adorable! At least living there had a nice outcome.
Reply 10
My flatmate in first year went out on sports night (wednesday) and got rather drunk. he jumped down some concrete stairs and ended up dislocating his leg in 2 places and ended up taking the rest of the year off :erm:

Another incident in first year was a rather dramatic pre drinks which resulted in campus security coming as one person was threatening to jump off the walkway, the same person who nearly threw a glass bowl over a flatmates head and also believed the flat was conspiring against him :frown:

by the end of the year there was a divide in my flat between the 4 Bsc students and rest BA students (who didn't have many exams/ if at all) so it became 'our flat' and 'their flat'

I was glad to move out!
Original post by wordnerd
Haha aw thats adorable! At least living there had a nice outcome.


Living there as a student was great :smile: Everything is super cheap. Strange quirky city :biggrin:
Someone keeps putting ISIS promotional stuff under my door, it's pretty weird....and I don't know who it is, and it's only me in my flat getting it?
Original post by AdorableDrip
Someone keeps putting ISIS promotional stuff under my door, it's pretty weird....and I don't know who it is, and it's only me in my flat getting it?


Whee are they getting it from? :lolwut: Is someone messing with you?
Original post by Puddles the Monkey
Whee are they getting it from? :lolwut: Is someone messing with you?


I wish I knew. I don't know, None of my flatmates talk to each other... they all keep themselves to themselves..
I have a family friend that left for uni a couple of years ago. Her parents drove her up to uni and helped her unpack etc. She was a bit upset to see them leave, naturally, so her dad suggested 'once we leave go make tea and toast'. So she did, she plugged in her kettle in her room, went to make toast in the kitchen, put the bread down. She went back to her kettle to make the tea, and brought it to the kitchen to butter the toast...

When she got to the kitchen she was welcomed by a bit of a fire. Well the fire was eventually put out and things went back to normal. It transpired that one of her flat mates had set up the toaster, read the instructions, and then but the instructions in the crumb tray 'to keep them safe'. My friend had spent her first few weeks known as 'the girl who set the flat on fire' which is always great when you're trying to make friends 😂
Original post by AsphodelMist
I have a family friend that left for uni a couple of years ago. Her parents drove her up to uni and helped her unpack etc. She was a bit upset to see them leave, naturally, so her dad suggested 'once we leave go make tea and toast'. So she did, she plugged in her kettle in her room, went to make toast in the kitchen, put the bread down. She went back to her kettle to make the tea, and brought it to the kitchen to butter the toast...

When she got to the kitchen she was welcomed by a bit of a fire. Well the fire was eventually put out and things went back to normal. It transpired that one of her flat mates had set up the toaster, read the instructions, and then but the instructions in the crumb tray 'to keep them safe'. My friend had spent her first few weeks known as 'the girl who set the flat on fire' which is always great when you're trying to make friends 😂


This has made my day :rofl:

Edit: Glad no-one was hurt :')
(edited 8 years ago)
Reply 17
Does accommodation on year abroad count?

I lived in a French accommodation for 9 months.. It was torture! I had a neighbour and thudding noises would be constantly coming from his room, it even woke me up some days. The room was 9m squared so smaller than some UK halls. The mattress was infested with bedbugs when I got there and I couldn't do anything about it, I couldn't throw it away and buy a new one as I'd lose my deposit.. I'd find bedbugs in my slippers and laundry draw, plus on my bed of course. :frown: The heating wasn't switched on until October, but wasn't a problem for me though as the room was like a sauna constantly. The kitchen was shared with 29 other people so I would use my trusty kettle to make hot food rather than go in the rancid kitchen. One girl would come out into the corridor at 6 in the morning and giggle manically or sing.. Plus to top it all off, a few days after I got there, a spider made itself a home on my window which resulted in me being too scared to open it for the duration of my living there.

Oh yeah.. and I still haven't got my 250€ deposit back, despite me moving back to England at the end of May!
Hopefully you can make a good comic out of that lot :P
Reply 18
Original post by James A
I had a constant invasion of silverfish in my uni room at halls in first year.

Silverfish are those small insects that run around so fast and scare you with their running speed :zomg: they actually are terrifying.


I just googled it...

Having to live in a shared room with a bigoted, homophobic, racist, bad person who has a bad taste in music(club music is trash guys, get over it) who is a terrible human being

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