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Struggle and emergency with my student accomodation

Let me paint you a picture of the ordeal I've been facing recently with UniteStudents, the student accommodation provider. It all began when I was allocated a new room in their residence as a replacement for the one they initially assigned. Little did I know that this new room would become the source of my distress.

The conditions were nothing short of appalling. Picture this: persistent water leaks, walls that seemed to stick to the touch, stained floors that no amount of cleaning could remedy, a bathroom door that simply refused to function, a main door that appeared to have seen better days, and a wardrobe door that seemed to have a mind of its own. As if this wasn't enough, there was an inexplicable, unsettling liquid substance oozing down the walls, and the ceiling was adorned with an unsightly display of mold.

However, the gravity of the situation went beyond the physical aspects of the room. You see, I suffer from severe allergies to mold, high humidity, and mites. These allergies manifested in the form of nightly asthma attacks and an eczema rash that seemed to spread like wildfire over my entire body. It became increasingly clear that the room was simply not a safe place for me to inhabit.

In the face of these challenges, I made the difficult decision to relocate back to my mother's house in Manchester, which posed its own set of challenges given the considerable distance between Manchester and my university in Birmingham. Eventually, I reached the conclusion that taking a gap year was the only viable option, given the circumstances.

However, the situation took a legal turn when UniteStudents demanded that I find a replacement tenant within a specific timeframe. This demand seemed particularly unreasonable considering the uninhabitable state of the room. Their stance implied that I would be held fully responsible for the rent if the replacement tenant were to vacate the premises before the end of the contract, an amount that amounted to an alarming £7,000.

This entire experience with UniteStudents brought to mind previous disappointments I had encountered with them, including a previous incident where my bike was stolen from their premises, with little to no action taken on their part. Additionally, persistent issues with foul odors in my previous bathroom were left unaddressed despite my repeated complaints.

Amidst all this, I find solace in the knowledge that UK laws protect tenants from being subjected to inhabitable living conditions, as outlined in the Housing Act 2004. It is this legal backing that gives me hope and the courage to fight for a just resolution to this distressing ordeal.