UCL’s decaying halls of residence are as inhospitable as they are profitable – 2014 saw college make a meaty £12 million sur- plus on its less than salubrious portfolio of student accommodation, and accord- ing to a defiant missive from Vice Provost Rex Knight’s office to UCLU last year, are expecting their operating surplus to hit £16 million by the end of next year.
After years of hiking rents by around 5% annually for reasons known only to the management’s accountants, Residences have finally had cause to dip into their nest egg. The 87 freshers unfortunate enough to have been placed in one of the cupboard- sized rooms in Edwardian townhouse Campbell West on Taviton Street last year had the added woes of being constantly as- saulted by the noise of a thousand drills as builders tore the nearby Bartlett to pieces and sharing the complex with rats. In an uncharacteristic show of compassion from UCL, albeit one arbirtrated by a com- plaints panel, they have been each awarded a term’s rent in compensation (£1,368).
Despite this victory for campaigners, it remains to be seen what will happen to rent strikers in other halls – some of whom were threatened with expulsion for withholding their thirty pieces from UCL Residences (see last CG) – including Hawkridge House in Kentish Town, which was almost entirely covered with scaffolding and plagued by al- most non-stop building works for much of the year. An arbirtration panel is set to rule on the strikers’ fate next month.