It's housing season! Since early February thousands of students have been marching through the streets of Durham in the hope of snapping up a nice house for next October. They ring at homes marked with huge ‘To Let’ signs.
'Rinnnnngggggg!'
I’m a student and I live in a red brick house. I hurry down the stairs but I’m too slow for the landlord’s caretaker. As he lets himself in I’m greeted by four girls. Once again I find myself with five uninvited guests.
The guiding caretaker works for my ‘landlord’. And a ‘landlord’ is exactly what he is. Here in Durham a few aristocratic property owners don’t just govern over one or two houses, they own dozens. Business is good as the colleges can only accommodate two-thirds of the students. Moreover, the city is full of small terraced houses, bought & cheap furnished – perfect for modern student living.
It’s more than a little annoying when a high-earning landlord decides to save on staff and courtesy. Just like last year the house hunters turn up unannounced and sometimes even without a guide, so they expect nothing less than a private tour of all the rooms. Our house was particularly unimpressed by a little visit over Christmas holidays. One of my housemates returned a week before term began and watched how a band of hunters plus guide didn't just visit the house but accessed all of our locked private rooms with a key.
From a letter that came yesterday – ‘Following a successful viewing, we have now let your property’. My Lord is grateful for our cooperation and patience. Enclosed inside is also the announcement of a ‘routine property inspection’ which will take place sometime between the 1st and 4th of March. Whilst our rooms will be entered and the Ikea furniture checked if it's still intact, we will be ‘not required to be present’. And to finish the notice states (not in accordance with our contract and most probably not the tenancy law either) that, ‘If there is a need for a re-inspection, the tenants will be charged a fee of £ 50 for communal areas and £ 15 per room’. But my Lord, you have the key to everything anyway!