I recently reported on a case at Edinburgh University where students in £8,750-a-year university accommodation complained about a mice infestation; they were told it wasn’t legally the landlord’s responsibility.

Posting partly to see if this resonates with other students in Edinburgh. Are other students seeing the same kind of deflections in uni-run housing? Is this a structural problem, or just a one-off excuse?

by innesmacneil

11 comments

  1. What I would give to pay less than 9k for housing in Edinburgh

  2. So like, I am a recovering centrist / libertarian so I get suspicious any time I find myself on the side of landlords or such.

    However my instinct would be to agree, there is rarely anything a landlord could possibly do about mice? I have literally never lived anywhere in an urban area in the UK that isnt accessibile by mice and the only solution is to make sure everything is keep everything as clean as possible, block any obvious entry points and put traps around the ones that cant be blocked. Its all a basic part of being an adult that lives in a place.

  3. Keep evidence of mouse infestation and any comunication with your landlord in mail. When you have to leave the lanlord will complain about damages and high cleanig fees to not return your deposit. Be vigilent and prepare yourself.

  4. 1. All student flats have mice because they (and formerly and hopefully future me) are mucky buggers

    2. If I left breadcrumbs on my windowsill, can I complain when the pidgeons start hanging out in my garden?

    3. 9k a year, ooft

  5. They’re not paying rent, it’s the landlord’s responsibility to evict them

  7. >Another student living in the flat, Jo*, said: “My rent next year in a private flat will be cheaper, and **the landlord wouldn’t hesitate to solve an issue like that.** Here, we’re paying hundreds of pounds to share our kitchen with mice.”

    Oh, Jo*, you are in for a shock.

  8. This is being pitched a matter of legal responsibility. My thoughts are:

    1. “Spotted a mouse” becomes “infestation”. Hyperbole doesn’t help a case

    2. The price per year is of zero relevance legally, so why mention it?

    3. Mice are known to appear in almost any building less secure than a microchip manufacturing plant.

    4. The persistence of mice is correlated very strongly with the cleanliness and actions of residents.

    5. Students are at a stage of life where they still have some growing up to do.

    Nuff said.

  9. That excuse is fucking laziness in my opinion. Mice get everywhere when there’s a good source of food, time to get some cats by the sounds of things.

  10. It seems like it might have literally been one mouse. I’m not going to rip them too much as when I was 19 or 20 at halls I’d probably have moaned and wanted somebody else to fix it as well. But you just have to clean up, put a trap out, and take it from there. It’s just real life. If your neighbours are being manky and causing an issue then yeah fair enough to whinge.

  11. Parasites, the lot of them. My only objection to throwing all bad landlords in jail is that we’d need to build eighty new prisons to house them all.

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