A student claims her expensive £1,600-a-month accommodation was like a "prison".
Alicia Sowerby, 23, claimed the high-rise block in Aldgate, London - which she moved into at the start of studying for her law degree last September - had broken heating, cockroaches everywhere and a bag of sick left out for a day. After a year of dealing with the squalid conditions, Alicia finally moved out on Friday (March 29) and claims her physical and mental health has been affected.
IQ Student Accommodation say the allegations do not reflect the reality of life at Aldgate and the issues Alicia have raised have been addressed.
Alicia shared the accommodation with other students from around the world. She said: "It's absolutely horrendous. You wouldn't believe it.
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"It's such a lot of money I have no idea how they are getting away with this.
"The whole block stinks and there is rubbish everywhere. It's disgusting. There was a bag of sick left on a chair for a whole day - it was spilling out everywhere. Living there was so bad for my mental and physical health.
"Those living conditions are a breach of human rights. It's like living in a prison.
"I used to sit and work near the reception area and people were complaining all the time but nothing changed." Alice, from York, said she moved into the property on September 4, 2021.
IQ claim photos of rubbish build-up had only built up in the refuse room behind the reception on the ground floor which was the result of a missed rubbish collection from the local council and this was cleared quickly.
And they say the building's team frequently cleans the common area and no record of a bag of sick being left on a chair for a whole day was ever reported. Photos provided of the damaged room have also been explained to have been taken after a student damaged it.
Despite facing a lot of problems in the flat, Alicia decided to stay there while she claims other tenants quickly cancelled their contracts. She claims a group of Chinese students went as far as to seek help from their embassy while others contacted the local MP.
Meanwhile, other residents organised a petition over complaints, according to Alice. She claimed said that pest control was called out to deal with the cockroach infestation, the insects kept spreading throughout one of the floors.
IQ said that cockroaches were discovered on one floor and since then, pest control has visited the site every week.
Alicia recalls that mucky water began to leak from the fifth to the fourth floor and from the light fittings in the smoking area eight weeks ago. Furthermore, the lifts broke at the start of May, forcing students to walk up and down 32 flights of stairs until they were fixed.
IQ say that there was no point when all the lifts had been out of order and no reports were received by IQ of anyone being trapped in a lift overnight.
Contractors have also been scheduled to visit the building to repair the damage caused by a leak on the mezzanine level where the building's laundry is housed.
Alicia said: "I heard that one guy got stuck in the lift overnight. He couldn’t get out, because the emergency button had been taken out. The pest control man said they were German cockroaches that spread really quickly, and they tried to get rid of them.
"But after he left I heard they had spread over the whole floor and it was going to be shut down. They are still there. We're just young people trying to live away from home for the first time. It was overwhelmingly upsetting and I really couldn't handle it."
An IQ spokesperson said: "We pride ourselves on the high-quality accommodation we provide to our students and ensure common areas are cleaned multiple times each day. We are disappointed that Alicia has made a series of allegations, supported by misleading photographs, that do not reflect the reality of life at Aldgate.
"We frequently inspect our buildings and over the last year we have addressed every issue that Alicia has raised.”
The University of Law - London Bloomsbury would like it made clear it has no relationship with the accommodation provider named in the story.
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