Homes for Students Canalside

Absolute WORST student accommodation it’s dirty, there’s rats and mice, spiders and a hell of a lot of silverfish, if you issue a complaint it’ll never get fixed, the lifts kept breaking, to be honest things were constantly breaking. when I stayed there I had no heating, the hot water was going stone cold literally every two weeks, my whole flat didn’t have hot water for a month, tried to call up and get my money back, kept sending emails and no one got back to me. The only good thing about this place is the minibus to Aldi. I would never ever stay here again even if you paid me, do not recommend staying here .

Dirty. Poor maintenance. Drugs found in room. These rooms are supposed to be cleaned prior to the new occupant moving in.Kitchen cupboards dirty and even kitchen sink tap is broken.External bin store has open overflowing skips with food waste etc in them.I've just moved my youngest into here and the place is shocking.Similar experiences being had by others throughout the blocks.

Wi-Fi Connectivity IssuesThe Wi-Fi connection in our accommodation is unstable and unreliable. Despite being equipped with a Wi-Fi booster in my room, I have had to rely on my mobile data for most of my online activities throughout the year. Whenever I have raised my concern about the poor Wi-Fi connection at the Reception, I was directed to contact the service provider myself.This issue is not limited to me but is a common problem faced by all the 609 students residing in our accommodation. It would be more convenient if the Reception desk could contact the service provider on behalf of all the students, instead of each student having to make individual calls to the company.Alarm IssuesAlarms will keep going off without interruption I have even seen the reception staff leave while it is going offEvery time a new security guard is on duty, The alarms persist for some time. I reported this incident, which has been recurring for three days now.They assured me they would launch an investigation, but I am still waiting to receive feedback.They claim to have no information about the investigation yet, despite three months having passed since it began. I doubt they have conducted a thorough investigation.Recreation FacilitiesAt Canalside, there are only two TVs, a pool table and a table tennis table in the recreation area, not a full-fledged games room.Laundry IssuesThere is indeed a laundry room, but it does not function as efficiently as it should.The laundry service provider, Circuit Laundry, has installed a QR code on the washing machines to operate them through their app, but it has never worked for an entire month since the installation.The QR code works seamlessly in the B block, but it has been problematic in the A block. Despite reporting the issue to the reception, they direct the students to call the company themselves, which is unfair.Managerial IssuesOver the past year, we have had five property managers and a reception transition, but none of our issues have been resolved, resulting in an endless cycle of frustration.Information Transfer IssuesRegrettably, it appears that crucial information provided to the previous management and reception was either misplaced or inadequately passed on to the new staff during the transition period. Consequently, several assignments that should have been accomplished several months ago still need to be completed and addressed.Rodent IssuesThere has been a persistent problem with mice and silverfish in Canalside. The mice have been seen running around in multiple rooms, and effective pest control has not been called in a year.Security ConcernsSome frequent homeless people hang around outside Canalside, often exhibiting intoxicated or aggressive behaviour. Occasionally, they even enter the compound of Canalside to sleep, raising concerns about the security of the premises.Room BookingsEvery Wednesday, there is a choir that books the common room from 6:00 pm to 9:00 pm. The issue is that this space is not meant for choir practice and most of the people who attend do not even live in the building. It is unfair for someone to book the room for a purpose that takes away from other students' needs.Fixing room maintenanceI have been requesting maintenance for my room for a year now, specifically the repair of my window blind. Whenever someone approaches my window, they can see inside my room which is a privacy concern when I am changing.However, each time I ask for the repair, I am given an excuse instead of a solution. I have been told that the specific blinds I need are out of stock, that they are conducting room inspections to identify issues, and that the order for the repair is being placed.Unfortunately, I have undergone my second room inspection and the issue with my window blind remains unresolved. It has been four months into my second year at Canalside but nothing seems to have changed except for the reception staff, management team, and pricing.Heads up Canalside, I have this copied so if you delete it, I will just re-upload it

fun clean and amazing events. the man at reception don’t know his name think starts with S always smiling and making time to help out on situations. dan andy top always for jobs.

I lived at Canalside during my last year of uni and although I’ve moved out in May I am still having issues with the Canalside team. First, myself and others have made multiple complaints about a roommate who was very messy and would steal our things. They refused to intervene and made it very difficult to stay there. I had to resort to hiding some of my kitchen things in my room. Second, aside from the maintenance team, the staff were horrible. Elevators and wifi breaking almost everyday and they could care less. Also, the bathrooms were so small and stuffy. Lastly, I had a friend take over my tenancy which meant that I was supposed to get a refund of 1,500+ pounds. I have filled out the correct paperwork yet I haven’t receive anything back even though I moved out in May. They have never gave me a straight answer and I feel like I’ve been robbed. If you want to keep your sanity, DO NOT BOOK with we are homes for students!!

avoid at all costs if you value your well-being and health. stayed a second year after a decent year but everything fell apart with new management. the staff alone, specifically ella and brandon, are a reason enough to avoid. majority of them spend the day sitting in the back doing nothing. it couldn’t be more obvious they hate their jobs and take it out on students. it was rare to have an encounter without being snapped at, having eyes rolled at me or overhearing them badmouth other students behind their backs simply to collect a parcel or report a maintenance issue. it isn’t even worth emailing as it’s impossible to get a reply back as they simply don’t read their inbox. they take it on themselves to close the desk as and when they please, and do not allow parcel collections after 4.30pm which is ridiculous. communication is incredibly poor too with multiple block wide issues not even being told to us like lifts breaking and water being turned off.this place seriously needs investigating. its filthy with silverfish crawling from every nook and cranny. there’s a mouse and rat infestation issue too, with staff blaming construction and us which is ridiculous as they’re crawling through the entire building. we’ve had mice in our kitchen since november with nothing being done until they got sick of us complaining. dead mice had been rotting for months in traps behind skirting boards and only taken out when begged for pest control to come up. the lift in our block was broken for 5 months last year and we still get trapped in it.there is also incredibly disruptive construction going on directly in front which isn’t mentioned anywhere with work going on between 6am-8pm every single day. this is expected to go on for another 2 years at least. i did not have a single morning uninterrupted being woken up by the consistent insanely loud noise, dust flying into my room and not to mention the builders watching us from our rooms.the building is also in a very sketchy location next to homeless shelters and i felt incredibly unsafe every time i left my flat with people approaching or screaming things at anyone that walked by and continuously using drugs.the maintenance and housekeeping team are the only good thing and they genuinely did what they could to make up for the place. they do not get paid enough to deal with any of this.i have also been chasing up money owed to me for 11 months which doesn’t seem like it will ever get back to me. very obvious the good reviews have been asked for. my health in all aspects deteriorated significantly staying here. i implore you to take your money elsewhere.

*AVOID* My child has spent the last academic year here & really where to start! The area the building is located in has a huge issue with homelessness and addicts, it’s very common to come out of the accommodation and witness users injecting and they are normally in a large crowd, which is intimidating. So as there is a large presence of addicts therefore, it’s also common for the dealers to be around, which gives it a very menacing feel. These issues make the students targets for robbery and potentially worse, the surrounding areas are filthy with hypodermic needles discarded in the street and homeless addicts vomiting and stumbling in the road right outside the accommodation . There is a large problem with rats and mice in the flats. When a mouse was found in my daughters flat the maintenance team were called and the man stomped on the mouse killing it, but no long term deterrents have been implemented in their flat. When they moved into their flat in September 22, the rooms had not been cleaned or maintained at all, in fact the condition was marginally better than a homeless hostel , we did complain but were given excuse after excuse. We were told someone would be around to clean the room but we did it ourselves and even had to paint my daughters room and the living areas as they were so dirty and stained. Some bedrooms in the flat were full of mould and there is a huge problem with silverfish site wide. Any maintenance issues reported took a while to be rectified and when they were dealt with it was to a substandard level, only needing to be fixed again. Maintenance were loud and rude when entering the flat, on one occasion leaving behind their lunch rubbish & when they finally addressed the poor decor situation in one room after 8 months - threw a students belongings into the bathroom to decorate, even moving the poor girls underwear, showing a compete lack of respect. The flats and external doors are all very dated and not very well maintained, the doors use keys rather than the more modern and safer fob system, not ideal to be messing around getting your key in the main door of a night time when you have a group of crack addicts sat by your front door vomiting all over the place. The internal intercom did not work the whole time they were there, this is a safety hazard. They moved a male student into my daughters flat with no warning, her flat was a girls only flat & one day with no correspondence from staff there is a male wandering around. And what I have stated is just a small amount of the issues, in this place the left hand has no idea what the right hand is doing . Get your child into Penworks in Moland Street, Similar cost but 100 times better! This place is shocking and we will be making sure that the universities in Birmingham are not endorsing this place! We were also advised by management to make a formal complaint this was escalated to stage 3 back in May/June & and we have still had no outcome and will now pass to the ombudsman. Also still waiting for deposits to be refunded, but I shan’t hold my breath as sadly they are proving to be a company of charlatans.

This is my 1st yr here. Feel safe. Good place to stay. Staff are very very helpful they help me always

Don't move in here. There is a reason for the cheap prices... The street is dangerous due to homelessness and drug use.Half the lifts don't work.I'm fed up of the silverfish infestation, I shouldn't be on the hunt to kill a silverfish at 2am.Half the flats have rat/ mice problems.When I moved in, I literally had to clean the room because they didn't do that. The toilet was leaking which they got round to fixing two months later.The window is full of mould and has progressively been getting worse. I have reported it a couple of times and they sad they'd have a look at it... Never got round to it.They created a group chat for all the residents and the majority is literally people complaining about problems with their flat and the extortionate prices to replace keys (Like £83 or something).

To say this place is a dump is an understatement:• Infested with silverfish.• A rat and mice problem.• Upon arrival the rooms are unacceptable, unhygienic to say the least.• A complaint system which I’m convinced doesn’t exist, I’ve been waiting for a response for 4 months.• A HUGE lack of care and knowledge from reception staff.• Black mold in rooms.• Inconsistent WiFi.• It took them 3 weeks to ‘fix’ the front door which had no lock or closing mechanism.• homelessness and drug use is prevalent on the street outside, VERY unsafe.• Ridiculous noise pollution.• clueless maintenance men, my room has a consistent flooding issue which I was told was ‘excess water’ and ‘because my room is on a slant’….. ?