Students have raised concerns about problems with accommodation at Murray Edwards College, including mould due to limited ventilation.

Windows were boarded up at the Buck House accommodation block at Medwards, due to installation issues. According to affected students, the boarding up of the windows caused mould to form.

One student, who wished to remain anonymous, said: “They didn’t really tell us how that would affect the rooms, so they didn’t really tell us to ventilate properly. [...] I wish they would have told us this… so that I can know how to take care of my room so that it doesn’t get to this.”

A student told Varsity that repairs had taken place after the windows had been broken. They said plastic had been installed on the window so that it can be tilted but not opened.

The student also said that the college had recently attempted to resolve the problem and had “’removed the mould around the windows and on my bathroom tiles.”

The student said it took accommodation services around two weeks to deal with the issue of mould growing around the boarded-up windows.

The student also claimed that the member of the maintenance staff carrying out repairs said that the issue of mould was widespread, and not just limited to Buck House. While repairs were happening, the student had to move to temporary accommodation in Pearl House.

The student said that they reported the situation “three or four times” and each time the college said “we’re going to make a plan of action or something”.

The experience was particularly stressful for another student due to their allergies. As a child, the student had an allergy to mould. They claim that they made accommodation services aware of this fact from their first reporting of the issue.

The student said that because of the issue “my head hurt, I was sneezing, I was feeling really dizzy and everything”. The student told Varsity: “ It was just a really stressful week”.

The student said that since the situation had been resolved they “feel really good in my room now…So right now I’m really happy it got sorted.”

Varsity spoke to another student who claimed that the mould problem in their room has not yet been dealt with.

The student has been told they must move into a new room at the end of term “because they’ve got contractors in”. However, the student claimed, “the only reason they’re pressuring me to leave the room quickly is that I’m asking them for a rent reduction, and they don’t want to give me that… so they’re forcing me out of the room”.

The student claimed: “When my tutor spoke to them and said she needs compensation, they were like, today we’re just going to email her and tell her to get out of the room. She has another room, so we don’t have to give her anything.”

The student said that the college has offered them £100 to use in Medward’s dining hall, which the student has turned down.

The student said the Medward’s accommodation team have “been really passive aggressive towards me, and very gaslighty as well”. The student claimed: “They only ever respond when my tutor gets involved”.

The student said that after their window broke when the hinge snapped, the broken window was not cleaned up for a week after it had fallen. The window was boarded up, which the student claims led to mould.

The student told Varsity that when they saw the black mould, they reported the issue to the college at the end of Michaelmas, and it was not resolved when they returned in January.

The student also said they experienced health problems as a result of the mould, as they told Varsity that their asthma meant it “messed up my breathing quite a bit” and “there were nights I literally couldn’t sleep because I could not breathe”.

The student said at the same time as the issue with mould they “had to go to the doctors, they had to give me allergy tablets, and new inhalers”. The student claimed that their doctor told them these health issues were being caused by the mould in their room. They added that they are yet to show the report to the college.

Murray Edwards has the second most expensive rent of the Cambridge colleges. Undergraduate rent prices vary from £4,951 to £7,002 a year.

One student said “the amount we pay in rent is not good value for the room that we have”. Responding to this fact one student said:

They added: “I just think the accommodation team here are very inefficient, they don’t care, and they just do things to make themselves seem like they’re in the right [...] There’s so many maintenance problems across Medwards, I understand it is hard to deal with all of them at the same time.”

They continued: “Instead of putting their hands up and saying, yes, we understand this is wrong, they try and defend themselves which makes everything worse, and it just puts more problems on their plate.”

According to its website, Murray Edwards College is a certified Accreditation Network UK landlord, following the code of practice for the management of student accommodation. The code sets out expected standards of service in accommodation provision for students, including rights and notification of access, repairs and maintenance obligations.

A spokesperson for Murray Edwards responded to the allegations and told Varsity: "In the seven years prior to October 2022, we received three reports of minor cases of mould in Buckingham House which were addressed immediately."

"In October 2022, a student reported a hinge on a window on her room was broken. The maintenance team who attended noted the window frame had buckled and a temporary window frame was installed. The window was not boarded up at any point. The student was offered immediate alternative accommodation of an equivalent standard. When she looked at the alternative room, she noticed traces of mould on the silicon sealant round the top of the glass and said she therefore declined to move into this room. The mould traces were removed and there is no mould in this room."

"However, she has continued to decline to move into the alternative room preventing our maintenance teams from fixing the window in her room. This window will be mended when she leaves over Easter. Our professional teams do everything possible to assist students and we are confident they dealt politely and appropriately with this complaint. Separately, in February this year, during a routine room inspection, traces of mould were identified on the silicon sealant on the windows of several rooms. This was removed within days by cleaners. No complaints were received on this matter."

Interviews were conducted by Kareena Rippingale.