0 As December loomed last year, I, like many other students panicked at the thought of locating a house for my friends and I, for the coming year. Fortunately for us, we quickly found, signed and paid the deposit for our house. Furthermore, the house didn’t reflect any of the concerns that my relatives had about student accommodation… or so I thought.
My housemates and I fell in love with our house, and after our first visit we were sold. Besides, what’s not to love? Space to fit six people, a well-furnished downstairs area, on-site washing machine, with the addition of a swanky conservatory and all of our bills included in our monthly rent! We thought we’d found the perfect place to call home.
don’t fall in love too quickly with any potential houses
Flash-forward to Fresher’s Week 2016, we arrived happy to be reunited, excited to be back at university and just a little disappointed at how disgusting our new home was. Clearly, no one had cleaned the house, probably since we went to look around in December, judging by the thick dust and vast amount of mould casing our shower. But we managed; a bottle of bleach, one begrudging Henry Hoover and a lot of elbow-grease later, and our house resembled a liveable space.
But not for long! To begin with, the mould has returned. Next we discovered that our fridge-freezer switched off without warning, leading to one, poor, hung-over housemate taking a sip of severely curdled milk. Furthermore, the boiler decided to abandon us, resulting in several chilly evenings, spent shivering in our onesies. But I have certainly saved the worst for last.
A week into term, I noticed small, red marks around my ankles. I, someone who always attracts
mosquitos thought nothing of this, at first, until it turned out that everyone was experiencing the same problem. We were truly stumped, until one day, whilst buckling down to some studying, my housemate noticed a black dot jump onto her page. Oh yes my friends; our house was indeed, infested with fleas.
Thankfully, a call to an exterminator led to a three hour fumigation of our house, and so far, we have not noticed any more bites.
And so, if there’s a message to pass on here, I’d say, don’t fall in love too quickly with any potential houses, look closely for details such as mould, and most of all; don’t ignore mysterious ankle-bites, you may be facing an infestation! Happy house-hunting!
The perils of sorting out housing too early!
As December loomed last year, I, like many other students panicked at the thought of locating a house for my friends and I, for the coming year. Fortunately for us, we quickly found, signed and paid the deposit for our house. Furthermore, the house didn’t reflect any of the concerns that my relatives had about student accommodation… or so I thought.
My housemates and I fell in love with our house, and after our first visit we were sold. Besides, what’s not to love? Space to fit six people, a well-furnished downstairs area, on-site washing machine, with the addition of a swanky conservatory and all of our bills included in our monthly rent! We thought we’d found the perfect place to call home.
Flash-forward to Fresher’s Week 2016, we arrived happy to be reunited, excited to be back at university and just a little disappointed at how disgusting our new home was. Clearly, no one had cleaned the house, probably since we went to look around in December, judging by the thick dust and vast amount of mould casing our shower. But we managed; a bottle of bleach, one begrudging Henry Hoover and a lot of elbow-grease later, and our house resembled a liveable space.
But not for long! To begin with, the mould has returned. Next we discovered that our fridge-freezer switched off without warning, leading to one, poor, hung-over housemate taking a sip of severely curdled milk. Furthermore, the boiler decided to abandon us, resulting in several chilly evenings, spent shivering in our onesies. But I have certainly saved the worst for last.
A week into term, I noticed small, red marks around my ankles. I, someone who always attracts
mosquitos thought nothing of this, at first, until it turned out that everyone was experiencing the same problem. We were truly stumped, until one day, whilst buckling down to some studying, my housemate noticed a black dot jump onto her page. Oh yes my friends; our house was indeed, infested with fleas.
Thankfully, a call to an exterminator led to a three hour fumigation of our house, and so far, we have not noticed any more bites.
And so, if there’s a message to pass on here, I’d say, don’t fall in love too quickly with any potential houses, look closely for details such as mould, and most of all; don’t ignore mysterious ankle-bites, you may be facing an infestation! Happy house-hunting!
Jennifer Doggett
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