Leeds students wake up to find huge hole in kitchen ceiling after it caved in

A group of fourth year Leeds students had an especially rude awakening when they woke up to find that their kitchen ceiling had caved in.

After reporting a crack the week before, the ceiling collapsed on October 17th, leaving debris covering the kitchen floor and a hole in the ceiling, exposing the floorboards and wiring above.

Though it was eventually fixed, a tenant living in the house told The Tab Leeds that the leak has returned, prompting fears the ceiling could give way again.

The hole left in the kitchen ceiling

Upon finding the crack, the six tenants, who live in Hyde Park, reported it to the letting agent on the following Monday, after realising it had grown in size.

But one housemate, Millie*, told The Tab Leeds that the next week they were woken to the sound of crashing at around 8am and, after going downstairs to investigate, found a section of the kitchen ceiling had collapsed.

Chunks of the ceiling along with dust can be seen littering the kitchen, across the floor and table.

The two business and four social policy and crime students immediately contacted the agency at 9am, and a representative quickly came to the property to assess the damage. Cleaners were then sent later in the day, though having been told the problem “was a leak”, they didn’t bring the appropriate equipment.

“Happy Tuesday guys” – the house woke up to debris covering the kitchen

Millie said that the cleaners came back the next afternoon to clear away the mess, and, following a visit from a British Gas plumber, it was revealed that the issue had been caused by a leak under the bath.

“The waste pipe had detached”, Millie explained, “it was just under the bath, so we just avoided using (it) whilst it was broken.”

A video posted on TikTok shows the debris covering the floor, table and a chair, and the hole left behind in the ceiling. Captioned “POV: You wake up on a random Tuesday as a uni student xoxo”, the video pans round the kitchen, where everything seems to look normal, before filming the corner of the room, with a gaping hole in the roof.

She went on to say how the letting agent had said the hole would be fixed at some point during the week of 23rd October, and that, despite the surprise, “the agents handled it fine and we’re happy with how they’ve handled our tenancy thus far.” Since then, the ceiling has been mended, although Millie says the leak, that the plumber resolved, has started again.

Unfortunately, it isn’t the first time Millie has had to deal with a household dilemma: “In second year…our ceiling in our bathroom fell through.”

She described how, on that occasion, the agent “took weeks” to sort the problem out, and that, despite the group being promised a shower in the basement bathroom when they’d initially looked at the property, it was never installed, meaning they “only had one bathroom that worked between six of us.”

Millie also revealed that, when leaving the house at the end of the tenancy, the agency tried to charge £700 for cleaning, despite her and her friends leaving the property “clean”. After disputing the fee, they managed to get it reduced to £200.

“(I) would never rent with (them) again”, she said, summarising her experience.

If you have a story about the standard of your student accommodation and want to let us know, you can get in touch via our Instagram, @thetab_leeds.

*Name has been changed to protect privacy

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