These students’ uni house ceiling was leaking – so their landlord put them in Premier Inn

He even threw in free breakfast for them! Your landlord could never x


A group of uni housemates told their landlord their ceiling was leaking – so he put them in a Premier Inn and even threw in free breakfast for them all.

Lucy, a final year geography student at Loughborough, told The Tab how she and her housemates “screamed” when they were given the option of staying in a Premier Inn, and have been spending their whole time there “romanticising” the situation and pretending they’re on holiday.

The five housemates had to move out of their uni house temporarily, after a leaking ceiling meant the heating and hot water needed to be turned off in order to fix it. Your grotty uni house and mean landlord absolutely could never.

Last week, Lucy says her housemates noticed the ceiling was dripping, so they put down towels and a pan on the stairs to collect the water.

By Saturday, when she returned to the house from the holidays, they’d had to put down three pans to catch the “mini waterfall” coming down on the stairs – and they were worried because it was close to the lights and electrics.

Lucy says their landlords sent round an electrician, but it “all got a bit much” when the electricity kept tripping, and on Monday they were told they’d have to turn off the heating and hot water to be able to fix it. The landlord then offered them the option of either heaters for the house, or staying in a Premier Inn.

“We were all quite excited because we thought it was like a holiday, so we definitely went for that option.” The landlord said he’d throw in a free breakfast at Premier Inn too – “so we weren’t going to turn that down”, Lucy says, calling it a “win”. “We thought we’d romanticise it, my housemate made a TikTok romanticising our holiday to the Premier Inn just down the road”.

They were pleased when they found out they each had their room in the Premier Inn. “It was quite fun actually because we were all on the same floor, it felt like being back at student halls again and having the en suites again,” she says.

“We all live together, it’s not like we don’t spend any time together. I think being in a hotel just makes it so much more exciting. When he sent the message that said ‘we can put you in a Premier Inn’, we literally screamed, jumping up and down like it’s the best thing that’s ever happened.” They screamed so loudly that the neighbours texted to ask if they were okay.

Lucy says they were trying to treat it like a holiday – after they arrived the housemates all had baths at the same time in their separate en suites. Then that night they all went for sit-down meal in Maccies, went around pretending to be tourists and taking pictures “sightseeing”, and all went into the same room together to watch The Apprentice in bed with snacks.

She couldn’t join in with The Apprentice though – the day they moved into the Premier Inn was in the midst of an exam Lucy had a 23-hour window in which to complete. Having to move out in the middle of an exam, and then trying to get on the Premier Inn WiFi, wasn’t ideal. “I was just panicking the whole time”, she says. She’s thinking of applying for mitigating circumstances and says she only managed to get half an hours’ sleep after all the chaos of the day and the exam.

But all in all Lucy and her housemates feel lucky – she says it’s not what you’d expect from a student landlord. “It’s very nice of them to pay for us to stay in a Premier Inn for a night – we had a room each!” They’ve been making the best of it and filming TikToks of their experience:

@lucyjosephs A uni students dream #unihousecheck ♬ Material Girl (Bass Boosted) – Saucy Santana

@bryony365

All inclusive holiday paied by garry himself

♬ Just A Little While – The 502s

@emilyr1gden Manifesting these tickets more than my degree #hslot ♬ Кто снял под звук тот зайка – 💌

They were only in the Premier Inn for one night though – a plumber came the next day but didn’t have some of the parts he needed, so they still can’t have the heating or hot water back on. The Premier Inn was fully booked last night, so Lucy’s landlords have paid for five electric heaters for the house, and are covering their electric bill until the issue is fixed.

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