Mhairi,

Thank you for taking the time to post this review and for speaking to us directly recently to explain why you have posted it as we were somewhat surprised believing we had resolved the situation, as best we could, to everyone’s satisfaction.

We can only apologise again that the bathroom had not been upgraded in time for your move in date as we were badly let down by trusted contractors who we no longer work with. However, this is the situation we were in the day before your check in.

At this point we offered you and your flatmates 3 options;

1. For The Flat Company to provide similar temporary alternative accommodation until the bathroom was completed.
2. For The Flat Company to postpone the bathroom upgrade until Christmas with all tenants paying a reduced rent and we would then complete the upgrade while you were all on holiday.
3. For you to stay in the property while the bathroom upgrade was being carried out and we would make alternative arrangements for the shower and bathroom facilities as well as offering a reduced rent for this period.

As you wanted to move into the property you chose option 3 meaning we had to find alternative means for you to have bathroom facilities. Admittedly one suggestion was to use gym facilities if you had found this acceptable. However, as you advised us this was not acceptable we rented B&B accommodation within a short walk of your property where you had bathroom facilities and could spend the night if you wished. I will reiterate at this stage we could have re-accommodated you temporarily in a 3 bedroom property but this was your preferred choice.

All of the above options would have been the same to any tenants in this situation irrespective of them being students of not. As this is not a situation which has ever arisen previously or since we tried to offer the best possible solution we could find.

I should also highlight that we now have additional checks in place so we cannot be let down by contractors again irrespective of how long we have worked with them or how good their reputation.

In regards to the ceiling coming down I am afraid this was due to a leak from the flat above and completely beyond our control, however, it was made good the same day of the incident.

Finally, in regards to the compensation we offered for the dates you were living in the property without a bathroom and had access to the B&B we received an email signed by all tenants in the property advising that the amount had been “extensively discussed between all tenants and guarantors” and that you accepted it.

We realise that then whole experience must have been extremely difficult but we have tried to address the situation as best we could. We have terminated our relationship with the contractors who let us down and while some of the staff members involved no longer work here we will be ensuring we offer the highest level of customer service going forward from all current staff.

All the best,

The Flat Company