The Holyland has been branded a 'lawless ghetto' over its dirty streets and fly tipping that sees everything from fridges to beds dumped in alleyways and on footpaths as students empty out for summer.
Landlords say the problem is the lack of bins while locals blame it on the scores of HMOs they share their streets with.
Belfast Alliance councillor Micky Murray says while the rubbish is an eyesore, it also poses a health and safety risk to those who live there.
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We headed to the Holyland to see what residents are faced with.
"There are bins overflowing and litter all across the length of the alley [behind me]," said Alliance councillor Micky Murray.
"This is an all year-round issue but particularly bad in the summer months. We get reports from students that landlords have told them that they need to empty the properties to get their deposits back.
"You end up with fly tipping, you end up with dumping in all the alleyways," he added.
"But then you have the issues of beds being dumped, bulk items like fridges and these are not items that are being dumped by students - these are items are being dumped by people who are replenishing those items in those properties.
"It becomes an eyesore but it also becomes a very real health issue. We see rats all over the place here, council workers having to wade through rubbish to unblock alleyways. It becomes a real fire risk when alleyways get blocked, access to properties gets blocked and we end up with quite a lot of fires in Eurobins in this area.
Asked why there are no recycling bins in the Holyland, Mr Murray added: "You couldn't really run the same waste management programme as you do in other parts of Belfast. This is because there are so many properties in this area so you are talking a house that was maybe historically a four bedroom house that now houses three flats with three or four people in each flat.
"The sheer amount of black bins that would accumulate that [they] would need, we know from other places that they would end up on the end of alleyways causing other issues with waste management as well.
"It's quite difficult to come up with a bin emptying plan for this area. The council have put in Eurobins instead to be used for all the properties.
"It's quite good that people are getting annoyed about the state of the city centre at the minute. We want that anger to stretch up to areas like the Holyland and Stranmillis because this is an area that has been left like this for decades.
"This is not a new issue here, it has gone on year on year. There is a lack of recycling if any recycling is done at all and it's just not sustainable for our city."
A Holyland resident, who asked not to be named, says he would like landlords and the council to do more.
"I live Fitzroy and it's is bad as ever rubbish blowing up the street from the alley at the bottom by the Ormeau road and further up Fitzroy," he told Belfast Live.
"You get fridges, mattresses, wardrobes appearing all over the place. Basically the Holylands is a lawless ghetto."
A spokesperson for Belfast City Council said it is "aware of increased and recurring levels of fly-tipping in the South Belfast area".
"Council deploys significant street cleansing resources in the areas, and, at this time of year, our enforcement staff also carry out additional inspections as a result of the increase in house clearances. We also offer a free collection service for large household items like sofas, mattresses etc.
"Members of Belfast City Council have set up a cleansing task force to review cleansing provision in both the city centre and local neighbourhoods.
"As part of a new intervention for the wider university and lower Ormeau area, we will also be co-designing an action plan with key stakeholders to tackle issues including bin provision, fly-tipping and encouraging recycling with our partners."
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