iQ Student Accommodation Reviews 141

I would not recommend this accommodation. I made the mistake of not reading the reviews beforehand. The alarms were constantly an issue and the general upkeep of the courtyard and corridors were appalling. Problems with the room were never sorted out and security and general commutation were very poor.

Absolute legends at reception very helpful and cheap for money

The studios are spacious but the building is old and not greatly maintained. Although tenants change, I will say I had an awful experience with people not respecting shared spaces. Damaging property, spitting on indoor floors and poor hygiene, resulting in fruit flies all over the building. Also way too expensive for what you get, the building doesn’t even have a courtyard or a gym and it is significantly more than accommodations that do. They also charge more for their laundry in this building than any other accommodation I’ve been told about.

Terrible stay.
- cold water for 2 months (December and January !!!)
- washing machines and dryers DIRTY and working once a month
- lifts ALWAYS broken
- the rooms are bad quality and everything breaks after being used much
- the first time you enter the room PLEASE CHECK EVERYWHERE for dirt, especially under the bed.. months and months of dirt under my bed. no way I couldn't breathe.
- no air conditioning in the rooms, and they don't find a way to help you, I think that if you pay 450£ a week you could at least do something not to boil in the rooms from June to October.
- useless help at the reception (we love you Laura) but useless when in need of something that is broken
- fire alarm going off every day
please do not go there

Hate it here - would give 0 stars if I could. Almost all of the positive reviews posted since September are likely fake, as most of us here seem to share the same sentiment. I would literally rather sh!t in my hands and clap than stay here again next year. That’s not a slight against operations management (we love Shelley!), because it’s quite obvious the company itself is a mess.

Aside from the COMPLETE lack of airflow in the blocks, and the constant neglect of maintenance issues both in the hallways and in almost every room, Sterling Court’s biggest problem is the lack of communication between residents and staff regarding important matters. A few weeks ago, an individual was found deceased, (presumably in their room), and we were told to stay in pur rooms as the body was wheeled out. At no point did it occur to the IQ staff to inform students of their passing, or soothe anxious residents, and had we not looked out of our windows, we wouldn’t have known a thing.

Another issue in this building is that there are barely any cameras and essentially no proper security measures. We’ve had repeated instances of things like residents being sexually harassed/assaulted by the same individual, people’s door handles being jiggled at night, and people being followed to their rooms at odd hours. Once, at 7am, a member of the maintenance team attempted to open my door whilst I was using the toilet (the handle has been broken since September but they’re “going to fix it soon”), and when I reported it he said I was lying. A more extreme example would be the fact that a rape was reported around a month ago, and although the resident was evicted, residents were not informed or asked for information, nor did they think to search for other victims. Nothing was actually done for the victim’s wellbeing, after the fact, and were it not for the victim herself and her friends telling people, no one would know. A less

IQ is not a nice or safe place to live, and I would advise you to NEVER stay here unless absolutely necessary.

This student accommodation is a melting pot of cultures, welcoming everyone with open arms. It's perfectly located, just a 10-minute walk from NTU, offering a scenic route filled with interesting sights.
You'll find all your grocery needs met with nearby stores like Lidl, Tesco, and Murat's International store. Plus, there are plenty of cozy coffee shops nearby for relaxed days.
What truly stands out here is the wonderful staff. They're incredibly kind and caring, making you feel right at home from day one.
In summary, this place is more than just a place to stay—it's a friendly and convenient hub where you'll feel like part of a family.

I wish I've read all the reviews here before paying a reservation fee. But anyway, I just lost £275 reservation fee from Flinders house for academic year 24/25. I wanted a refund coz we found somewhere more affordable. They told me I could not get my money back coz it has been more than a week. Well I've been trying for weeks!! They told me to log in the portal to cancel my booking but there was'nt any option there, then I have been ask to email them, but the email was invalid, and the man I've spoken to was dismissive. There was no means of communication with management or service at all. So in the end, I emailed complaints department, they replied and told me they'll sort it out, but they didn't !!!! I'm
Just happy that we found somewhere else. To think, this is the kind of service that we'll be getting if we push through with it, and my daughter haven't even move in yet🙄🙄

Nathan Robinson - Senior project manager IQ Student is a very rude individual. Swearing in the study room where students want to study peacefully. I had to asks others for his name because he refused to give it to me. Told me that I should go back to Asia!!. I don't know where to make a official complaint on him.

Extremely poor communications - comms are really unhelpful and feel like replies from a chatgpt bot.

Dirty, broken door, no security, unsanitary dining room. In addition, the admission service does not attend you.
I paid and could not stay in the room. I have claimed the money and they don't answer me.

The negligence in cleaning grease traps resulted in a fire in the flat below mine, causing extensive damage. Despite the gravity of the situation, my concerns were not adequately addressed, and I felt a lack of accountability on the part of IQ Student Accommodation.

When they relocated me, they continued to charge me. I encountered numerous hurdles when trying to access insurance funds for new kitchen equipment. Ellen Cartwright, from IQ, not only ignored my emails but also provided false assurances in person. Her claim that they were "on the way" with the necessary kitchen supplies proved to be utterly untrue. Eventually, I did receive the kitchen equipment, but it was sourced from a different IQ branch.

Even before the fire incident, I had encountered several issues with my room, and it was in an absolute state when I arrived there, I was cleaning the place for hours.

Amazing Accommodation, lovely people, so lovely, clean and a big shout out to Hayley and Amana!!!!!

Complete disregard for safety of residents. Customer service is awful not only from the residence staff but also from the iQ office. Stay in any other student residence.

Very bad accommodation, do not go with IQ, regardless of location. Here's everything bad that's happened so far in my 3 years with IQ:

-Fire Alarms go off VERY regularly, almost daily - yet staff never seem to attempt to track down the problem, whether it be an electrical/alarm fault or someone setting them off intentionally/negligently. They do not care.

-Slow Fire Alarm response times. The IQ location I'm at has 2 buildings across the street from each other. Reception is one building, I'm in the other. It takes at least 5 to 10 minutes for someone to bother coming from reception to investigate and turn the alarm off. At night, it's been as long as half an hour before someone turned up, despite a "24/7" reception. Bugger us if there's a real fire.

-The internet here is AWFUL. Ask4 are an awful internet provider, and why on earth IQ uses them I do not know. At non-peak times, expect no more than 20mps, and at peak times it's been as low as ~75kbps. The internet died for about 2 weeks and IQ andAsk4 did little to solve the issue, very poor communication about the issue, and so on.

-Terrible staff. Staff do not care about anything, and they will judge you. They even try and guess what's in your packages, a complete violation of your privacy, all for their own entertainment.

-Terrible maintenance. No emergency maintenance crews, and no one available on weekends. My door broke and it was unable to be opened from inside my room - a request was submitted both online and at reception. No one was available to fix it on the Sunday, one guy came on Monday but didn't know what he was doing, so another guy had to come on the Tuesday. 3 days unable to exit my room without my neighbour helping push it open from the other side. Complete health and safety violation, what if there was a fire? How was I supposed to get out?

-24/7 reception is barely staffed for any amount of time. During Monday-Thursday it's usually staffed from 9am-6pm, Friday's are completely random, and Weekends, good luck finding anyone. Night time is just barren, not a soul to be seen.

-They repaint all the walls like every week, so there's a constant smell of fresh paint, giving everyone headaches all the time.

-Rooms are massively overpriced for what you get. I thought the pre-Cost of Living price of £1888 was bad, now they've shot it up to £1904 x4, which is extremely overpriced.

-Their cashback scheme is stupid. Instead of just giving you money back to your card like any normal sane company would do, they insist on giving you a pre-paid card which has a ludicrous amount of limitations on it, and doesn't arrive until about 2 months after you first check in.

-Car park is too small to fit even a Ford Focus in comfortably, so good luck bringing a larger car because you have a lot of stuff to pack/unpack each holiday.

-Residents are very antisocial. Many are up in to the late hours of the night, many even at 3am. They slam doors, they shout, they talk and laugh loudly. The smell of weed wafts through at least once a day, although that might not be a problem for some.

-Hazards: Everything is made of wood, so is more flammable. There is only one staircase / way out to the bottom floor, a huge fire hazard. Beds are poorly made, with a couple of screws just left out next to it.

-Rooms get dirty very easily. There's a lot of small gaps in things, e.g at the edges of the laminated wood flooring, footprints stain on to the floors easily, etc etc - so everything looks extremely dirty, and is hard to keep clean.

-Phone fell down a gap between the bed and a headboard thing - couldn't reach it. Had to spend an entire afternoon disassembling the bed completely, because it can't be easily moved. The screws weren't in properly, so took forever to get undone, with a lot of effort. Something as simple as dropping your phone can turn in to an afternoon of physical labour to get it back, at IQ.

-Lights in hallways are motion censored. You think this is a good idea at first, until the previously mentioned 3am residents start moving around, and then you get constantly lights flashing through the gap at the bottom of your door, making it hard to sleep, even without the noise.

And there's more, I just can't be bothered to keep writing.

Just avoid IQ completely. They suck all your money, and you get nothing in return. You will not have a care-free enjoyable time if you choose IQ.

Will steal your property and your pets - criminal organisation DO NOT stay here unless you want your privacy violated and your pets stolen from you. i hope the scumbag thief caught on camera stealing the cat gets what she deserves

THE WORST ACCOMMODATION YOU COULD CHOOSE.
Kitchen was absolutely disgusting
Then I did an upgrade an the studio was FOOL OF COCKROACHES

They did NOTHING to solve the problem.

They did not even deserve a start, they agreed with my daughter in a cancelation agreement, and when she canceled they challenged her about the reason why whatever she provided was not accepted and the staff asked her to stop asking for a refund. please be careful of dealing with them.

Below is, added an update to the above feedback:
Finally, my daughter got a refund from them after about one month.

Fire alarm ringing 2 hours a day for more than 6 months without any serious action from management. Room door is not locking or randomly locking, no action neither. Common spaces (kitchen) not cleaned by either building management or other students. Don't go there, never.

The most complete and utter useless staff members . Constantly being swung back and forth between reception when asking for help. When I paid my booking fee I was reassured that I could pay my 1st instalment at a later date only for them to lie and say we can’t help you. Wasted £200 in this cost of living crisis for a booking fee. Don’t bother coming here

I stayed at iQ Student Accommodation Alice House at Oxford last year, and it was absolutely horrible. The staff were rude and unhelpful, the laundry facilities were far too little for all residents and they often broke down. There was no hot water supply on quite a few days, and every time it took more than a day to fix.
The worst incident that happened was a break-in into the bike shed. The bike shed can only be accessed by residents who registered their bike with the reception, using their own fob, but someone still managed to break in and stole a few bikes. My bike was fortunately not stolen but was damaged. The culprit was never found even though there was CCTV in the bike shed.
Another incident was they attempted to overcharge me when I move out. Due to a glitch in their system they said I applied for and stayed for another few weeks after I moved out. They repeatedly emailed and called me (once even on a bank holiday!) even though I explained clearly to them and provided supporting evidence. The issue was ultimately resolved, but only after heated and protracted arguments with a few agents.