Student Helpdesk

Planned and reactive

If during your stay you find any faults or defects in your room or hall, please inform the Accommodation Team, or email accommodation@loucoll.ac.uk as soon as possible so that we can request the repair to be actioned in a timely manner, we cannot rectify faults if we do not know about them.

The Premises Officer will prioritise maintenance work on a daily basis to ensure compliance with health and safety requirements.

Any deliberate damage, use of any materials likely to block the toilets or drains, and misuse of property and equipment will result in charges being made to students to rectify the situation.

Maintenance Reporting

The approved reporting procedure should be used to report to site staff any minor defects in your room or problems such as a drain blockage, lights not working or loose handles. The fault will then be investigated and repaired as soon as possible. Maintenance – Planned and Reactive Where it is necessary for maintenance work to be carried out in your room, we will seek to give you 24 hours’ notice. Where the work is of an emergency nature, we reserve the right to enter your room without prior notice. We will endeavour to keep you informed about contractors working in the communal areas and give you as much notice as possible. You may, however, see them working in the communal areas without receiving prior notification. Contractors employed to work at the college are verified in the same manner as college staff. Accommodation, housekeeping, and maintenance staff working in halls will wear college identification badges attached to appropriate lanyards.

Termly Health and Safety room inspections will be conducted by the Accommodation Team. You will be told in advance what week they will be happening but not the day.

These inspections will check the general cleanliness of your room, the health and safety aspect of any electrical equipment such as sockets not overloaded and a check for any banned items. Dirty plates, glasses, mugs etc. must not be left in your room. Food and takeaways must be disposed of in the outside bins, once finished.

You will be informed if your room has passed or if it will be reinspected along with the reasons for this.

You are expected to comply with all recommendations made for improvements to the condition of your room. Any resident failing to maintain their room in a clean and tidy condition could be subject to disciplinary action and may have their Licence terminated.

Kitchen inspections are conducted weekly to ensure hygiene levels are being maintained to avoid pest infestations and illnesses. You are expected to wash up your items and put them away. Food should not be left out, use the cupboards and fridge/freezers to keep work surfaces clear. No items to be stored on top of fridge/freezers due to this being a fire risk. The housekeeping team will empty kitchen bins Monday to Friday, but it is your responsibility to do this over the weekend by bringing the bin bags out to the bin store, a build up of rubbish in kitchens is not acceptable.

An inspection report will be left in your kitchen once the inspection has taken place and will be reinspected in 24 hours if necessary. If there is a build up of dirty dishes and pots, they will be removed due to this being a health and safety issue.

Damage is any deterioration to the property over and above what is ‘fair wear and tear’.

You will be issued with an Arrival Inventory which we request you complete in detail as not to occur charges at the end of the year which were not your fault.

Some damages are easy to identify, for example where items have been broken. Some damages are less obvious, for example marks left on walls due to use of blu-tack, staining to a mattress, but could still result in charges.

As soon as you are aware of damage either in your room or communal areas, you must report this to the Accommodation Team who will arrange for repair or replacement of an item.

Residents should never attempt to fix the item or correct the fault themselves.
The cost of repair or replacement of any damage or loss that is the fault of a resident or one of their visitors will be charged to that resident.

If those responsible can’t be identified:

• Damage found in a communal area of the flat or block. E.g., hallways or staircases, laundry areas, kitchen, shared bathroom – all residents with access to the affected area will be charged equally*
• Damage found in a bedroom; the resident of the room will be charged.

*If you were away from the halls at the time the damage was recorded/identified and had appropriately submitted your Notification of Absence Form you won’t be included in the damage charges.

Deductions will be made from your deposit for:

• Damage and extra cleaning charges to your room.
• Redecoration due to LED lights being taped to walls
• Redecoration charges for any other damage to walls or ceilings
• Damage and extra cleaning charges to any other areas, including communal damage, caused by yourself or guests.
• Non-return of keys at the end of your stay.
• Residents are not permitted to cut their own keys, and replacement keys will be charged at £125.00 per set of keys.
• Non-return of Bicycle Locker key and lock is charged at £20.00

All replacement charges will be at the cost of replacement, considering fair wear and tear. In addition, it may be necessary to apply labour charges to rectify the damage.

Tips to avoid damage charges:

• Look after your keys and cards
• Don’t use sticky tape, sticky hooks, blu-tack, drawing pins or nails to affix posters, pictures, or other items to the wall. Please use the pin boards provided.
• Always use the mattress protector provided.
• Complete your Arrival Inventory in detail.

A list of charges that may be applied and deducted from the damage deposit are available upon request and are on the Accommodation page of the College website.

You shouldn’t need to bring any additional electrical equipment for the kitchen with you as all our accommodation is well supplied with the basics.

Electrical equipment must be safe – preferably new. At the beginning of the academic year, all appliances will be PAT tested if necessary. If there any doubts about the safety of the equipment provided it must be given a formal inspection and/or test (Portable Appliance Test, PAT).

The UK electrical supply is 240V and all appliances must be rated for this voltage. Do not use electrical items made for other countries’ electrical supply. Only use CE marked plugs and appliances with the correct rated fuse.

Never overload electrical sockets or use adaptors unless these have been provided in your room.
If staff discover an electrical item, they suspect is not safe, it will be removed, and you will be asked to come and speak with the Accommodation Team about options available either to make it safe or store it until you go home.

Energy Saving

To help conserve energy we advise students to:

• Turn off lights when you leave rooms
• Unplug electronics when not in use, don’t keep on standby
• Close windows when it is cold
• Cook smart – batch cook
• Don’t keep fridge door open for too long
• Don’t put hot food in the fridge
• Wash your clothes at 30 degrees and do a full load
• Turn taps off fully
• Walk rather than drive when possible