Jennens Court, birmingham

I lived here for a year, and my honest opinion is somewhere in the middle. Some people say it is terrible, some say it is good, but for me it had both positive and negative sides. The biggest issue, especially during the first semester, was the constant fire alarms. They happened during the day and at night, and it was extremely frustrating to wake up because of a very loud alarm inside the room. I understand that safety is important, but the frequency of the alarms was unreasonable, and the sound inside the room was honestly unbearable. The second semester was a bit better, but it was still annoying. Another major problem was the hob/stove. It was one of the most frustrating things about living here. The hob randomly decides when it has heated enough and turns itself off. Because of this, you cannot simply leave food cooking and do something else. You have to stand there and constantly check whether it has switched off again. When cooking something in a big pot, like soup, it can turn off several times. Even when frying chicken or steak, it often switches off once or twice. In my opinion, an air fryer is much more reliable than using the hob here. The lifts were also a big problem during the first semester. They were often busy, especially because builders were using them to move materials and furniture. I respect their work, but residents are paying a lot of money to live here, and it was inconvenient that the same lifts used by residents were constantly occupied. The company could have organised a separate solution for construction work. Another issue is that in 2025, some rooms were refurbished or changed, but this was not clearly communicated. Some people were paying £170 per week, while later others received very similar rooms for £160 per week. This felt unfair and poorly handled. The contract terms also feel very convenient for the company rather than the students. Once you sign the contract, even if you change your mind before moving in, you cannot simply cancel or change it. You have to find a replacement tenant yourself, which is very stressful and unfair. The windows also do not open enough, which makes it difficult to properly ventilate the room. I understand this may be common in student accommodation, but it still makes the room uncomfortable at times. During the refurbishment works, there was also some carelessness from the builders. My room and some of my clothes were covered in construction dust, and it was not properly cleaned afterwards. Some changes also felt unnecessary, such as replacing curtains with ones that were only slightly longer. A lot of the work felt like time and money were spent without real benefit for residents. Compared to some other students, I was lucky, because I heard that others had even worse experiences, including not being able to use their kitchen for long periods of time. The entertainment area is decent, and the pool table is nice when it works. However, sometimes people break the equipment, and then residents cannot use it for weeks because replacement cues are not provided quickly enough. On the positive side, the location is very good. The night security is also very good, and the staff are generally friendly and helpful. In particular, one of the administrators was very kind and always helped me solve issues quickly and clearly. Overall, I would say this place has a good location and some nice staff, but there were many problems that caused stress and wasted time. Think carefully before signing the contract, because it is not easy to change your mind afterwards. I hope that by the 2026–2027 academic year, the situation will improve. Despite all the negatives, it is still one of the more convenient student accommodations in Birmingham.

I overall really enjoyed my stay at this accommodation it was comfortable, and the location was great. The only real downside was the bins being placed at the back of the car park it’s not the most practical setup. Another issue was the maintenance team. I requested help at the beginning of the year and, despite the app showing that my request was “assured,” I never received any assistance the entire year. That was definitely disappointing.The maintenance team really lets the place down and shows a lack of proper support when it’s actually needed. Aside from those issues, it was a positive experience overall.

This is probably the worst accommodation I’ve ever stayed in my life. I’ve never experienced anything like this before. In just one year, the lights in my room went out more than four times, and the repairs were always extremely slow. You can’t even imagine what it’s like to live in a dark room for a whole month it was awful. There’s no light in the bathroom, and sometimes the water doesn’t even run. Some of the reception staff are downright rude for no reason. Once, I asked if there was a luggage cart, and the response was, “Do you see any carts around here?” like, what for? The fire alarm goes off almost every day and lasts for hours. I always paid my rent on time, yet I had to go through these terrible experiences. If you want a peaceful place to stay, you’d be much better off somewhere else.

If i could give zero stars I would. This place is pretty awful, my friend literally had sewage water leaking into her room from the floor above and they took 1 month to fix it. Constant water leaks from the floor above and the rooms are always boiling hot. The manager is ok, but the bald white receptionist is very rude and unhelpful. On top of this they charge ridiculous prices, please so not stay here if you value your wallet and more importantly your mental health.

Avoid like the plague. The place is a complete dump, I lived there for a year of my study and it is possibly the worst experience of my life. You will never get a good night's sleep because the walls between rooms are paper thin, my bathroom had mould everywhere when I first moved in, the kitchen was missing seats from the table and the sofa had huge holes torn into the cushions. The reception staff are beyond useless. They are almost never there during the "open" hours of reception, so give up any hope of going to collect packages the same day they arrive. If you go to them with a serious maintenance issue (our flat vacuum cleaner was literally smoking due to the cable being frayed, possibly by rats or mice) they will just brush you off and tell you to file a ticket in their terrible app. More than once I had ended up having to claim "not delivered" money on amazon because the reception staff had "lost" (stolen) the package, and refused to even look for it when I showed them the amazon confirmation image. Beyond that, the utilities are flakey at best, so good luck if you want to do the laundry or have a hot shower more than once a week. Even when the washing machines and dryers work, they cost an arm and a leg and will often leave clothes with a nasty damp smell, presumably because they almost never get a chance to air out between uses. As for the hot water issue, our flat boiler had constant issues leading to often not having access to hot water for several days. The only good thing about the utilities there is the internet, which is very fast and mostly reliable, though we did have a 3-4 day outage, which is completely unacceptable for a place that houses students that are regularly doing work from their accommodation. In conclusion, avoid this place at all costs. It might be the cheapest BCU accommodation in the city centre, but it is not worth saving the money over a nicer block of student flats.