Collegiate St James Street, portsmouth

I am writing this to express my extreme disappointment with the management of this student accommodation. Few month ago, the entire building suffered a major flood. My room was severely affected, with water pouring from the ceiling like a waterfall at 2:00 AM. Despite the emergency, the management provided zero immediate assistance. I was forced to stay in that flooded, damp room until the following noon before being given a new key card. No emergency hotel or alternative accommodation was offered during the crisis. What is more insulting is that the management later described this forced relocation as a "room upgrade" in their correspondence. It is shocking to see such a dismissive attitude toward a tenant's distress. As an international student, I have pre-paid my rent in full for the entire year. Due to the ongoing heavy renovations, the building is now constantly filled with strong chemical paint smells and construction noise, which is significantly impacting my health and studies. I have requested to terminate my contract early and move out, but the management has been extremely evasive. They refuse to give a clear statement regarding the refund of my remaining rent and continue to "pass the buck" between departments. It is deeply unfair to hold a student's full payment hostage while failing to provide a safe, healthy, and quiet living environment. I strongly advise any students, especially international students who are considering paying upfront, to look elsewhere.

I think it’s impossible to summarize everything that has happened in just one year, but I will try to mention the most important things so that no one ever considers staying in this residence for any reason. I will be 100% honest and even mention a few positives among all the negatives. First of all, there was the first flood, which started in the room above mine and affected mine as well. Water was coming through the lights, and at 3 a.m. we were running to move our things so they wouldn’t get soaked. When the manager arrived, I distinctly heard the phrase “this room is completely gone.” It was truly heartbreaking, and there was basically a lake inside. I was left without a room for 3 weeks, and since the electrical system is connected floor by floor, the temporary room I stayed in had no lights for 2 weeks. As if that weren’t enough, the kitchen stoves were also broken and took ages to be repaired. As compensation, we were given 2 nights in a hotel and a Uber Eats voucher, which we appreciated, but honestly, the damage was already far too great. I kept asking for updates, and the response was always that everything would be repaired soon, but the issue dragged on. When I finally returned to my room, it was full of damp. They even wanted to repaint it, but that would have filled the room with paint and plaster dust, making it dirtier and negatively affecting my health. The damp everywhere caused the kitchen counter to collapse and the radiator to break. I spent the coldest months (January and February) without heating, and as compensation I was given a portable heater that smelled awful and was obviously harmful to health. I was lucky that Portsmouth had a mild winter. As for the counter, it was fixed once but collapsed again, leaving me with no space to cook (and the space is already small) for months. Even though I reported it, nobody came to fix it for a very long time. Thankfully, a new maintenance worker arrived who was very hardworking and helpful, but since every residence had floods and similar problems, he simply couldn’t keep up. This clearly shows the company’s incompetence. As if all of this weren’t enough, with everything we had already gone through, the external entrance door broke. That meant anyone could walk into the building, and from early June until now (September), it still hasn’t been repaired (at the time of writing this review, and as of yesterday when I checked out of curiosity). This company is unacceptable. They don’t care at all about safety, mental health, or the tenants’ wellbeing—everything is run with the sole aim of saving money. That’s the truth. Disclaimer: The staff were helpful and tried to assist us as much as possible. NONE of this was their fault in any way. The reality is that we had zero communication with the actual decision-makers behind the situation. P.S. I wouldn’t wish for even my worst enemy to live there. Expensive, problematic, completely unhealthy, and toxic in every sense. PS II We had two more floodings that affected some other rooms in the building and I dont know how many other floodings in other residences of the same company.

Where do I even begin with this one. I'll start from the beginning, when I first moved in it was mid September. A couple of days after moving in there a huge flood in the building which resulted in my room not having any power for 3 weeks. My partner's room (which was next door) got completely destroyed with the ceiling falling off the room. We quickly removed our valuables from the rooms and as an exchange for being left basically homeless, we were given 2 free nights at a hotel and an uber eats voucher. When we came back into the residence, arrangements were made for my partner to stay with me in my room till his was fixed and safe. The problem with this is that my room stayed without electricity for 2 and a half weeks...leaving us with no source of light or heat apart from a small portable lamp. This event (with the flood) was so distressing that a girl from our floor decided to move out after the event. There was another 2 floods that year in the building. Now I'll approach the subject of how they handled my complaints. I had very noisy neighbours. And when I say noisy I mean people who would wake up at 9 am in the morning and not sleep until 4am the next day. They were so loud, almost 24/7 and during the winter I was close to having a mental breakdown. I knew that I wasn't the only resident that had made complaints against these occupants. I believe I sent 2 emails to the residence representatives. In the second email I really opened up about the state of my mental health and how bad it was. These occupants would also leave trash and food outside their doors and were known for taking drugs and banging on our doors at times such 5am and 6am. I know that the employers of the residence went and talked to them a couple of times about the complaints against them but everytime they would fall back into their patterns. Now after I sent that 2nd email, they sent me an email back saying that they will investigate the matter...that email was void of any real empathy and compassion to my situation. They said that they would let me know what they found in 1 week's time but they never reached out. So essentially I tried being really transparent about my struggling with my mental health and I ended up being ghosted. Another issue I want to mention concerns the front door. Our front door security (where you had to tap your card to get inside the building) malfunctioned and anyone could open the door and get in. We were told that they would resolve this matter as quickly as possible. Guess what? 4 months later and they still haven't fixed it! I think that shows you precisely how much they value the human beings who reside inside that building. Lastly, I want to give another example that shows their lack of humanity. My contract was ending on the 6th of September. To my bad luck I ended up having to attend a conference (in another country) that lasted from the 3rd till the 6th of September. I pleaded with them to give me one more day so I wouldn't have to miss the conference I paid for. That would mean that I would move out on the 7th. I knew for a fact that the new occupants would be able to move in from the 14th. I pleaded and I pleaded and all I got was this nonsense emails where they struggled to even comprehend the situation. The conclusion was them telling me that there is nothing to be done and showed no sympathy to my situation. That is all I've got to say.

Amazing Stargazing Event with indoor activities as well as outdoor telescopes from the Hampshire Astronomical Group

Moved in about 2 weeks ago. Found a handful of problems with the room. Some of them are still unfixed. The room above me needs to be redecorated even though they had all summer to fix it. Now, they wake me up every single morning because they couldn't be professionals and do the tasks when they should have done. Moroever something that I would like to add is that during my stay I encountered 2 mice in my room.