UCL halls flooding leaves student’s room ‘damaged with urine’

Cut The Rent have released a statement regarding an incident in one of UCL’s halls, where a leak allegedly containing “urine” was discovered in a student’s room. This followed “reports of a flood on the second floor” where “security did not respond at all”, according to the student affected, before her ceiling started leaking.

The student says staff took “30 minutes to come up and even look at it,” however when senior staff members arrived she was allegedly not allowed to enter her room “to take photos and videos.” She says she was moved to “an empty room” overnight due to the severity of the leak, however states that she was “given no help in moving my belongings.”

Her electricals were also reportedly “clearly damaged and not working”, despite the accommodation team telling the student to “leave them to dry.” In Cut The Rent’s statement on the issue, they summarised: “She pays £220 a week, had all her clothes soaked in piss and got nothing back in return.”

They quote the student’s statement saying: “They want to steal our money and soak us in piss.”

This incident is the most recent in UCL rent strike’s reports of alleged sexual harassment, mould, rodents and isolation from students living in halls accommodation. Cut The Rent says: “Piss, rats and mould should not be a common experience for anyone. It’s a joke to think you’d pay eight grand for that.

“Not only are people having to put up with sewage and rodents but they are forced into isolation and fined for trying to make friends.” The mental and physical toll on students and accommodation workers alike, according to Cut The Rent, means that “we have suffered at the hands of people who do not care about our wellbeing, only their profit.”

When asked for comment, a UCL spokesperson said: “We are continuing to support a student following an isolated water leak in one of our halls, that led to a large amount of water in one particular room.

“The health and wellbeing of UCL’s students is our highest priority. UCL staff attended as soon as they were alerted and our emergency response procedures were mobilised immediately. The student was relocated to an alternative room temporarily and the water leak was resolved in a timely manner.

“The UCL Accommodation team is providing further support to the student on making an insurance claim to cover any damages.”

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