Students have spoken exclusively to Voice of London about being forced to vacate their accommodation.
Residents, who were asked to immediately leave their accommodation with a day’s notice due to fire safety concerns of the building, are left wondering about their fate.
Tassi Nahar, 24, and Hope Muckett, 21, expressed discontent over the whole experience. Nahar said: “It has gone to our mental health, we have been stressing a lot about it.”
They were shifted to other accommodation in Wembley. However, they have now been told to move again after just two days through a vague email by Notting Hill Genesis association.
Paragon Students Lets, with approximately 1000 residents, mostly students from the University of West London, had to evacuate the building after a series of checks revealed safety issues with the building.
The pair stated that some students had to hire their own moving trucks. “They told us that you can’t move, but we didn’t feel safe.”
Students have been asked to move back to Paragon and will then be shifted to other Notting Hill accommodations, which cost more.
Muckett said: “Grand Felda Wembley is similar to our other accommodation so we’re not worried about the finance but others are double the amount which we can’t afford.”
UWL has given the students £139 for travel card and £50 for food, whereas Paragon has provided moving boxes and vans for some of the students.
UWL addressed their students on Twitter:
To all UWL students living in Paragon Student Lets,
Today, you will be contacted by your landlord and the University to inform you of important changes to your accommodation. To find further details of these changes and the support available, please visit https://t.co/aQHiPhR4Y6
— Uni of West London (@UniWestLondon) October 19, 2020
There is still panic at Paragon as some students are yet to be moved, including those tested positive for Covid and their flatmates who have been asked to isolate. One of them has filed an online petition against Notting Hill Genesis for a refund and better treatment.
Kate Davies, NHG’s group chief, apologised to the students as she told BBC: “We are working as hard as we can to move all students into new accommodation as quickly as possible.
“As a not-for-profit housing association, our first duty is to the health and safety of the people who live in our buildings.
“We take fire safety extremely seriously and have worked with the London Fire Brigade and other stakeholders to put in place measures to manage this risk, including the provision of 24-hour fire wardens. ”
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