Ayton House Residents Displaced Due to Roof Maintenance

Several students living in the private student accommodation Ayton House have been displaced from their housing after issues with the building’s roof forced their removal. 

The impacted students, all living on the ‘B-Block’ building’s top floor, were told they had to move out when they returned to St Andrews after the winter break, with little to no warning in advance.

An anonymous male third-year student shared his experience with The Saint, saying that upon his return in late January, “not even five minutes of being there,” a woman entered and told him and his flatmate they had to move out that night because the roof was leaking. An anonymous female second-year student living at Ayton House said she received no official prior notice, but received a text from a friend informing her in advance.

Impacted students were told to temporarily go to the SPACE private student accommodation. The male student explained, “We didn’t even finish packing; we just got our suitcases and went back down.” Students were initially told they would only be displaced for a week, but were sceptical.

“I saw there were problems with the roof in the middle of December,” he said.

By the end of the first week, Ayton House contacted the affected students and told them that, upon further investigation, the repairs would actually take six weeks because “it’s not repair[s] they have to do, they have to replace the whole roof,” the male student explained.

Ayton House then notified the students that they would receive housing offers from the University of St Andrews, but also told students that if they declined this offer, they could provide no alternative.

The male student told The Saint that he tried to stay in SPACE, but he would have been required to pay £120 per night. When he returned to Ayton House to pack the rest of his belongings, a student resident informed him that Ayton House had spare bedrooms. Only when he asked reception did he officially discover the spare rooms, but he didn’t take one, since they were in flats already occupied by unfamiliar students. “Just the fact that they didn’t even tell us is frustrating,” he said.

The female student had a similar experience, where she only discovered the available Ayton House flats when she asked about alternative accommodation. Both students also noted that their move-outs were poorly supervised and that Ayton House gave them little help — the female student said the only staff present during her move-out was the grounds security guard.

Neither the male nor female students are sure if Ayton House has begun the roof construction yet, as they informed the impacted students that construction cannot begin until they have a 24-hour dry period. Both students expressed their frustration with this. The female student said, “A 24-hour dry period in Scottish winter is like asking for unicorns to exist.”

Both students said that communication from Ayton House has been inconsistent. The female student explained that at the beginning, they were “not communicative at all,” but since their departure from SPACE, Ayton House has sent weekly email updates. The male student said these communications have been vague. “One of the update emails was just, ‘if we get any updates we’ll tell you,’ I was like, that’s crazy!”

Impacted students have been told they will receive compensation once maintenance is over.

The students explained that this situation has been difficult and disruptive to their lives. The female student told The Saint, “The first two weeks of school, I was doing all my school, but I was also trying to figure out where I was going to live and what my accommodation was going to look like for the foreseeable future.” For her, the most stressful moment was moving out and having to move back in with no assistance from staff.

As the male student opted for the University accommodation instead, he explained that it’s been mentally exhausting to reroute his routine. He also cited additional expenses, saying, “I had to order so many taxis recently because I wasn’t sure how to get places.”

He continued, “Now I’m more settled, but [...] come March, [...] [I] have to move back.”

Both students expressed scepticism about the truth of the March move-in date, saying they felt like the work could take the full semester.

For now, the impacted students are mostly living in University accommodation in Fife Park and David Russell Apartments.

A University of St Andrews spokesperson told The Saint that they were “approached on 23 January by Ayton House to ask if we had any rooms available. We met with their representatives on 28 January and offered rooms.”

They continued by explaining they’ve been given an initial end date of 13 March for the repairs, but “there is an option to extend if required. We have not received any further updates on the end date.”

When asked about their relationship with Ayton House, the University explained this was their first formal collaboration with the company, but they have informal contacts with Ayton House through several local accommodation groups.

Ayton House did not respond for comment at the time of publication.

Photo by Manraj Gill