Bristol uni student demands action on mould
Annie McNamee says students "pay more than enough" in private rent to be entitled to high quality homes
A student studying at the University of Bristol is leading a campaign to improve the quality of rental accommodation, saying too many of her peers are forced to live in mouldy flats.
Annie McNamee (21), who is in her final year and originally from Glasgow has launched Break the Mould and is calling for the creation of a TripAdvisor style website allowing students to anonymously review the quality of their rental properties.
Speaking to Cool FM on Wednesday (5th February) Annie said: "We are fighting for safer, drier homes for students.
"We think students pay more than enough to be entitled to high quality homes in Bristol, so we want the SU (Student's Union) to help us set up this system called Rent Review.
"Imagine a TripAdvisor but for houses, so if you had a good or a bad experience you would be able to put that on this Rent Review system and students in the future would be able to then go and see...
"It'll just allow students to make more informed decisions about where they live...and we hope that it'll hold landlords to account and encourage them to be good so they get good reviews."
Annie is co-editor of Epigram, the University of Bristol student newspaper, which she is using to help amplify the idea.
Discussing the issue in Epigram Annie shares stories of people complaining about mould growing in their shoes, mushrooms growing on window sills and even ceilings collapsing.
Speaking to us she said: "I know so many people who have had really bad experiences with their bedrooms getting infested, having to throw out clothes, their roofs falling in. You know, crazy things."
According to a 2023 study by the group Students Organising for Sustainability, 54 per cent of students in private rental accommodation have experienced damp or mould on their walls. A Bristol specific study in 2015 put the figure much higher, at 75 per cent.
Annie hopes that similar systems may eventually be created at universities across the UK.
"I have friends in Edinburgh, Manchester, Newcastle (and) they're all experiencing this," she said.
"We're focussing on Bristol because that's where we are, but I have a dream that this will expand and every university will have its own Rent Review and students across the country will be getting better value for their money."
There's currently no timescale on setting up such a Rent Review site, but Annie says she would like to see one created before she graduates in the summer.
You can find out more about the Break the Mould campaign on the Epigram website here.