Vita Student Portland Crescent, leeds

Love the building and location. The team is welcoming and are great at handling anything quickly and smoothly. Farih at reception is always so friendly and helpful.

It has 24/7 front desk service, with security. Gym, vending machine, snooker and dance studio located in the basement. Fifth floor there is a huge terrace with chairs and tables. On the ground floor they have dedicated rooms for studies (prior booking required). Continental breakfast served daily. Night shift guard Mr Omar is very helpful and respectful person. New building with 15 floor, I guess it was meant to be Hilton hotel but for some financial reason it was not possible.

It is absolutely the best place to live in Leeds! I have loved it and enjoyed it throughly! The infrastructure is perfect- it’s cozy for winters and has loads of common area. The crew - special mention to Jess, Omar - he makes us feel safe and secure and is always on his toes, Joe and Dhillon are so so helpful, polite and attentive to any problem we face in the building. It is exactly like how it looks in pictures. Vita is the perfect accomodation to go for!

I love vita Omar always looks after me. He’s always kind, funny and supportive whenever I need him.

I lived here a total of 3 years over a 5 year period. The first year was amazing, management were outstanding and staff a like. I returned after 2 years and what a mess. 1) The heating in the majority of studios did not work and contractors came in multiple times but they said it was not fixable - there is a major structural issue with the pipes. The building was also originally meant to be a Hotel (Hampton), Vita bought them out and are now trying to go back and blame Hampton for the mess. We were given portable heaters in winter if there was one available as almost every room needed one! The staff also got told by the manager to test room temps at midday when it was warmest so these heaters could be taken and used else where, where other students were complaining about being cold. We were not allowed to buy our own heaters if we didnt have one from Vita or our radiators were broken for safety reason, and staff would take our own heaters out of our rooms as manager instructed if they found them. The whole building needs closing for this to be fixed, so it wil never actually get fixed as vita are all about money. 2) There were some great assistnat managers, supervisors and staff but over the course of a few months this dwindled and over 7 staff members left this year quite suddenly - the atmosphere in the building was horrible. It was evident as a student that there was an issue with higher management, the way the manager spoke to staff and students alike was appalling, more over talking about staff in the hub area was really hard to hear. I think meetings and discussions should have taken place privately as I did not appreciate how the higher manager discussed staff especially to the area manager but also the way they were spoken to was patronising. 3) Night guards began going in rooms during the night when students had left to try and empty contents of the rooms, some wanting to take items home with them, some as instructed by management as the staffing was so minimal they were struggling to turnover rooms at the end of the year ready for the next lot of students This meant on multiple occasions staff would walk in to my room by accident in the middle of the night. This was also an issue during the day, and communication around fire alarm inspections was not communicated clearly and so on some days I would be woken up after shifts to allow contractors in my room without 24 hours notice. I raised this issue multiple times and it continued, the supervisor apologised but told me it was because they had no staff that they had to clean the rooms during the night and run taps during the night and also as the day staff were sometimes not strong enough to move items such as furniture. The solution to this would have been to hire more staff, but also maybe have some one question why so many amazing staff members walked out of a job over a small time frame! 4) The way some international students were spoken to by management was uncomfortable, yes they speak a different language and may have been limited in English but there was no need to speak to them like they were dumb. As a non international student, listening to the way some students were spoken to was embarrassing and unprofessional. It also seemed as though there was alot of apologising for issues in studios and promises of fixes by the manager, however things would take months to be fixed such as the boilers when we went 3 months with hot water issues, or would never be fixed such as the heating. Its just not worth the price for the continuing issues within the building. However, the few staff, cleaners and maintance technician made the place a whole lot better and bearable! If it wasn't for their support, I would have hated my whole time at Vita. It was a shame the amazing staff members/supervisor and assistant manager started leaving whilst I was still there as all of them were just brilliant with students, but to see them now happy in new places and still be in contact from meeting them a Vita has been lovely!