Langstone Student village- East building Review (By current student)

I thought It would be helpful to provide a review for my halls accommodation at the University of Portsmouth, especially as on the whole it hasn't been a great experience. I am in the East block in Langstone student village, i have my own bathroom and pay £104 per week.

From my experience the management of Langstone and their communication with maintenance is terrible. For instance, when we moved in there were cupboards in the kitchen that didn't have doors, or doors that were falling off so some people had to keep their food in their room. Our radiators in the kitchen didn't work and didn't not get fixed until after christmas, by which time it was obviously freezing. Our microwave didn't have a microwave plate so it couldn't be used, and our fridges have just stopped working about three times. We have one crappy gas oven and the door doesn't shut properly. For one month my flat of 8 had cold showers. It took them nearly a month to do anything about it, and in the end (only due to me sending loads of emails) they refunded us a weeks rent. Mould builds up in the bathroom, by christmas some friends in my building had to get their whole ceiling treated, but by January it was covered again. There is mould around my window, and the heating in my room only stays on for a short amount of time- by morning its freezing as I don't keep getting up to turn it on obviously! The door to my wardrobe nearly fell off the first time I opened it. In the flat next door to ours they noticed water leaking through a hole in their ceiling on the very first day, and when they reported it were told they wouldn't fix it, and they haven't. Instead of fixing the little things that will take 10 minutes (like screwing a cupboard door on, patching a hole in the ceiling etc) they seem to wait until theres a major problem or the problem has been there for ages.

I don't want this to put you off Portsmouth; I love the uni and the unilife halls in the city seem much better then these, but I want people to know of my experience as I would't have picked Langstone if I knew these problems! I do love the area though- I'm lucky enough to get a sea view and its much quieter here than in the city. Its just a shame that simple, fixable things can cause me to have a negative view on the accommodation. I will try to attach some pictures so you can see some of the things I've described.

(edited 8 years ago)

Reply 1

Some photos:

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University of Portsmouth

Portsmouth

Reply 2

katielouise_a

I might be starting at Portsmouth studying Digital Media this september, and would be choosing my accomodation as soon as I get a response from the Uni, which halls would you recommend?x

Reply 3

mattpapz

I really appreciate you posting this. For a while I was considering Langstone but after hearing your experience and seeing these photos I will definitely be looking elsewhere. Fair enough the rooms at Langstone are competitively cheaper at a glance, but that does not give them the excuse to ignore students and treat them like this. I am not sure whether your situation has improved since, if it hasn't I would suggest that you speak to someone from your course and ask them to take the complaint further.

I wish you good luck and hope you can get it sorted.

Reply 4

07holderh

Original post by katielouise_a

I might be starting at Portsmouth studying Digital Media this september, and would be choosing my accomodation as soon as I get a response from the Uni, which halls would you recommend?x

It depends what you're wanting really, Margaret Rule has pretty big rooms that are ensuite and theres only 5 people in each flat. Its close to everything (walking distance) but is a bit more expensive. I would definitely say Langstone is the quietest and the best location if you don't like being in the city, but as you can see from my review the management is by the actual uni and is terrible. Plus, very outdated kitchens and small rooms. The new Greetham street halls will be be super modern but are extortionate prices!! Honestly, as someone who is careful with money and in the cheaper halls it would have been impossible for me to have any money to spend even on food if I had to pay £142 a week! James Watson is the busiest day and night, in my opinion the loudest place to live. Plus they have so many strangers walking in and out which isnt really ideal. The only bad thing I've heard about trafalgar is the lift breaking down a few times, but I havent actually been in those halls.

Hope I helped a bit, at the end of the day they all have positives and negatives, just depends which negatives you can live with!