Flat inspection, messy housemates

So I have a flat inspection in a few days but all but one of my flatmates has returned home for the Christmas holidays and in the process decided it was fitting to leave their piles upon piles of dirty plates, pots and pans, some of which I might add have left over food on them that has been there for many weeks now. They never clean up after themselves and just make a huge pile of mess. The kitchen is also full of bottles from pre-drinks the previous night and everything.

None of this **** is my mess and i don't want to clean up after them but I have a flat inspection in a few days and if the flat is deemed to be in an unsanitary condition they will charge all the occupants of the flat. Should i clean the place up or stick by my guns and declare that it's not my mess and therefore i shouldn't have to clean it up? :angry:

My personal room is perfectly clean and tidy for the inspection.

Reply 1

Origami Bullets

Is this in halls or a shared house? That affects the legal position quite a lot.

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Reply 2

Genocidal

It's likely you will be considered responsible as well. I think the idea is everyone works as a team to keep the flat tidy.

Reply 3

MattDrane

I would move all the **** into their rooms if it was me but then clean all common areas as well as your own.

Reply 4

Ripper-Roo

Don't clear their mess up. Even if you are charged, you don't pay the charge, make the others for not tidying up after themselves before they went home leaving you in a messy kitchen.

I don't agree with flat inspections anyway, it's not their business if people want to keep their kitchen messy

Reply 5

Ruffiio

Original post by Origami Bullets

Is this in halls or a shared house? That affects the legal position quite a lot.

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University halls

Reply 6

Ruffiio

Original post by MattDrane

I would move all the **** into their rooms if it was me but then clean all common areas as well as your own.

Kind of hard considering their doors are locked.

Reply 7

Origami Bullets

Original post by Ruffiio

University halls

That's unfortunate, as it makes it a lot harder to fight. If it was a private landlord it would have been relatively easy to tell them to go away.

I would suggest getting in contact with the accommodation office, and telling them that your flatmates have left their washing up and mess, despite your best efforts to encourage them to clear up before going home. Whilst all of your items are clean and in your cupboards, they have left their mess behind. Therefore, you do not accept any responsibility for the mess. See what the response is to that - it may work, it may not.

However, I would suggest that you do something- the mess from pre drinks will be pretty quick and easy to clean up - just bin the bottles, tip out any cups and leave them with the washing up, and give the table a quick wipe down. It's much harder to prove that that mess isn't anything to do with you, and pre-drinks mess makes a place look disproportionately worse, and therefore them more likely to fine you.

Reply 8

theronkinator

If it was me I'd just do my room and leave the rest, it will be pretty clear who is responsible providing their rooms are a tip.

I wouldn't do it anyway or they'll end up leaving it for you everytime.

Reply 9

MissDavies

Throw all their dirty stuff away. That would teach them.

Reply 10

Origami Bullets

Original post by MissDavies

Throw all their dirty stuff away. That would teach them.

Very tempting, but it gets a lot harder to justify that unless you've both threatened it, and then given them time to rectify the situation after that threat has been issued.

Reply 11

username1044510

Rather silly to be doing flat inspections after the last day of term.

Your flatmates sound immature and inconsiderate. And therefore you sticking to your guns will not work entirely in your favour.

How much is the fine?

I am leaning more towards cleaning up. The stuff has been there for weeks. This should have been mentioned then!

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Reply 12

Ruffiio

Original post by Newtothis83

Yeah they never clean up they just have stacks upon stacks of plates in the cupboard so they just end up using them all and piling dirty plates on top of each other. Whereas myself I only have 2 plates which essentially forces me to clean them after I have used them up.

I gave in yesterday though admittedly and cleaned all the plates, pots, pans, cutlery since i'm going to be staying in halls a bit closer towards Christmas than everyone else so I wanted a nice cleaning environment if i'm going to be the only one in it. I'm not exaggerating when i say this i spent about 3 hours in the kitchen because there was that many dishes to clean up. That isn't even the whole kitchen either, the floor is a mess and have half a dozen rubbish bags to take out it's going to take forever. I know that when i'm finished cleaning though I will have the feeling of having accomplished a lot and feel happy about living in a clean environment. I don't even know how much the fine would of cost either so god knows how much I would have had to pay if they took it as me being responsible.

That said, I don't suppose anyone knows how to get food out of the sink that is blocking the sink hole? :frown:

Reply 13

Origami Bullets

Original post by Ruffiio

That said, I don't suppose anyone knows how to get food out of the sink that is blocking the sink hole? :frown:

If it's just sat on top of the strainer, then find a pair of washing up gloves and pick it out.

If you've already done that and the sink is blocked because of food that is in the pipes, you'll need a sink plunger.

Reply 14

GottaLovePhysics! :)

Original post by Newtothis83

Rather silly to be doing flat inspections after the last day of term.

I think on the contrary this is exactly why they do flat inspections on the last day of term. All that rotting food attracts wildlife.

Reply 15

MattDrane

Original post by Ruffiio

Kind of hard considering their doors are locked.

Fair enough, for me then it would come down to how reasonable you think they are. If you think they will change after speaking to them I would do that. If not I would leave it and if you get a charge make them pay for it.

Reply 16

kumori

Go speak to accommodation lodge/whatever they call it, they may be able to charge who made the mess and not you if you explain it all. Also they should be able to set up a cleaning rota where you can get told off if you don't clean on your turn

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(edited 10 years ago)