Case Summaries

Accommodation - CS012404

Case summary January 2024 | Partly Justified

A student asked to move accommodation sites to be nearer other students on their course. The provider agreed to this. After the move, the student complained to the provider about illegal drug taking in the kitchen of the second accommodation. The provider moved the student to a third accommodation site while the allegation was investigated.

The student complained to the provider, saying it had failed to thoroughly investigate the allegations of illegal drug taking. The student said that they did not report the incident to the police because they were told the provider would investigate. The complaint was upheld by the provider at the first stage. It offered the student a refund of some accommodation costs and an apology. The investigator also made other recommendations including further training for accommodation staff.

The student remained unhappy with this resolution and escalated to the next stage of the complaint procedure. The student wanted a full refund of their accommodation costs and tuition fees. The provider decided the resolution it had already offered to the student was reasonable.

The student complained to us. We partly upheld the complaint (we decided it was Partly Justified). We thought the provider had identified some appropriate actions to improve its handling of any such situation in the future. We also thought it was reasonable not to refund the cost of the first accommodation, or the student’s tuition fees because they had not missed out on tuition. But the provider should have done more to recognise the distress the student suffered. We recommended that the provider should pay the student an additional amount because of this.