Tramways - Salford, salford

I’ve lived in Tramways for the past two years my experience has generally been positive. The only issues I’ve had were minor shower problems and one flooding incident, both of which were dealt with quickly. Mark always completed maintenance work promptly whenever an issue was reported. Management this year has been far more organised, which has made a noticeable difference. The rooms are what you’d expect, and the accommodation is more reasonably priced than others in the area for the same type of room. There’s no social space, but this means it’s usually quiet, making it ideal for second or third year students or those doing a masters. The location is also very convenient, being close to the university, bus stops, and a nearby Lidl.

If I could give zero stars, I would. My experience with Sanctuary Students has been nothing short of appalling, made worse by the condescending attitude of Melissa Flackett, the then-accommodation manager (now the line manager for the Greater Manchester region). From the moment I raised concerns about my accommodation, including a broken chair, a window covered in condensation and mold, and a mattress stained brown and reeking of mop water I was met with nothing but dismissal. Melissa’s response? "If you don’t like it, you can cancel your contract." No apology, no willingness to help just pure indifference. In the end, only the mattress was replaced, and I had to replace the chair myself with one my flatmate kindly gave me. Even then, the nightmare didn’t end. The fact the old mattress was not cleaned or covered left me with ringworm, a condition I’ve spent nearly two years treating out of pocket as it spread down my neck and back. When I finally spoke to reception, I realized the sheer neglect Sanctuary Students has for its tenants and their well-being. The ongoing lack of maintenance is just as bad. When I asked about the E Block door in January—after it had been broken since November I was met with yet another excuse. With her usual dismissive attitude, Melissa Flackett claimed, "We only knew about it a week ago," despite multiple reports from tenants. This place is a joke. Over the course of two years, I’ve paid approximately £16,000 to live in a building overrun with rats, burst boilers, a car park gate that’s been broken for nearly a year, and a hole in the fence that’s led to bikes being stolen. Sanctuary Students has done nothing to fix these issues, yet they have no problem charging sky-high rent most students cannot afford. I wouldn’t recommend this place to my worst enemy. I’m currently awaiting their response to my complaint regarding reimbursement, which I should receive by tomorrow though at this point, I have little faith in a resolution. If they fail to respond, I’m prepared to pursue legal action. I strongly advise anyone considering Sanctuary Students to look elsewhere. UPDATE: After nearly a MONTH of back and fourth messaging and what felt like intentional stalling, they FINALLY paid a meager £450 settlement. Pocket change to them.

Terrible. Mouldy flats, mice infestations, uncaring staff and yearly price hikes. I stayed here for two years, first year Jehovah's witnesses trespassed into our flat as the door to C block was left open and they either followed someone in or came in through the hole in fence that has not been fixed in the two years I've stayed there. Back then, it was somewhat reasonably priced and I was fortunate enough to not experience many issues that year beyond that, although the flat became freezing in the winter and boiling in the summer. Oh, and the lift was out of commission for weeks at a time, so bringing home heavy shopping and instruments was a huge pain on the fourth floor. The second year I stayed here, when I moved in it was impossible to use the hob without tripping the lights and it took a month for them to replace it. My flatmates suffered with leaky windows leading to mould in their rooms, tramways did nothing to address this issue. Towards the end of the year, my flats boiler burst and I had to learn through my flatmates the nature of the situation, as I was away for the day. When I returned, some of my belongings had been left on the floor and I was very fortunate that they hadn't been damaged as they had been kept in cardboard boxes (however the boxes were damaged beyond use). They never offered me a different room while I had to live in a room with wet floors, a permeating smell and no hot water. My flatmate had it even worse, as they failed to remove the water from her room and denied a flood taking place in the first place. We only received compensation after weeks of emails and threatening legal action. I continue to hear bad things about tramways, continued unaddressed mould issues including under the carpet, There has been dirty water coming out of the taps, E block door has been broken for months, bikes have been stolen and fire alarms seems to go off weekly. All this with another huge price hike this year. Avoid this place like the plague.

I’ve given this place 2 stars because the room itself is quite good – it’s spacious, has a double bed, a really long desk, and stays warm (sometimes too warm). The rent is cheap, bills are included, and it’s close to the uni and bus routes. Security is 24/7 and room maintenance is usually done quickly. That said, it’s honestly a last - option placs to live. There are lots of spiders - so many, blinds don’t fit the window properly so the room stays bright at night (thanks to a lamppost outside), and the nearby building works cause constant dust that coat everything, and I'm telling you it's D U S T Y – we do get an extractor fan but it doesn’t help much tbh. Worstly We didn’t have a working fridge for a whole month despite it being maintenaced. Its sorted now and was sorted quickly after an agressive email. Its noticiable that maintenance is much slower for communal areas like kitchens than in rooms, there is only 1 maintenace man for the whole complex so big jobs get left. There’s no lift (at least in my block), so if you struggle with stairs, don’t pick a higher floor. There’s no gym, study space, or proper common area like other accoms have, and events are SUPER rare, whereas other accoms have events around every month. Recycling facilities aren’t great either, there's one big bin outside and there is no recycling bins provided in the flats. The bike shed is tiny, dirty, and not well protected, and parking is limited – I can’t get guests into the car park. Washing is expensive (Circuit Laundry, of you knoe you know), the reception is only open 9–5 and closes 1-2 so getting parcels around uni and work can be challenging. The wardrobe is an average size but has no drawers so you’ll need your own boxes for underware and socks because there is no room storage for this. Compared to Peel Park and iQ, where I lived in first and second year, this place feels much worse overall. The layout (aka double bed) and price are the only real positives, but I wouldn’t recommend it if you’re looking for a comfortable or sociable student experience or struggle with loneliness. I'm a 3rd year student with my own friends and trying to live cheap so it's OK for me but I think a fresher trying to make friends would struggle.

Please for your sake live anywhere else. Lived here for second year and was the WORST decision I ever made. To begin the plethora of issues I faced while living there, the maintenance staff turn the water off and don’t prewarn you of when it’s going to happen, this was a frequent event through my tenancy, and the staff only email after they have done this to cover themselves. In fact, maintenance, contractors, and cleaners will walk into flats with no warning expect maybe an email, again often after the event has happened, and don’t knock or check if anyone is in, they just enter your flat as they have the power to do that. This as you can assume is quite anxiety inducing in a flat of all girls when a group of 3 men wake you up by just barging into your room or shouting in the hallway claiming they’re there to clean your shower. While they’re happy to do this, maintenance barely actually fix any reported issues and often the solution they offer is “here’s how you do it yourself” - for example I couldn’t use the hob in my kitchen for the first month I was there without the lights circuiting out, and maintenance told us we had to flip the circuit breaker ourselves when it happened and didnt make any effort to replace this hob until after a month. Additionally, the lift D block (with 5 floors) was broken and it took them 2 months to fix it, with the only compensation offered was just a note on the lift saying “will be fixed tomorrow” and no clear explanation to when or what had happened. Past reception staff have been lovely but most staff are rude. Cleaners simply tell you to get out or “you can’t be in here” if they’re cleaning a shared space and you dare to enter, but put no signs up or anything saying they are cleaning, seems they just use it as an excuse to be rude and exercise a power trip. Other staff are inattentive and make you feel as if you are inconveniencing them asking if you can do something as simple as collect post. Overnight security don’t seem to be trained on things such as turning off fire alarms, so at least weekly expect to be stood outside at 3am for 30 mins while an incompetent security guard struggles to turn off the alarm after someone has burnt toast. They are often lovely people but not at all trained for the job. The worst thing that happened however, was that boiler burst and mine and my flatmates flat flooded. We were offered nothing in the way of compensation for my flatmates whose things had been damaged until we bombarded them with emails and threatened legal proceedings, and only then did they begrudgingly offer us two weeks rent, despite us having no access to hot water (which they again offered no alternative for) for three weeks. Staff also didnt think to inform any flatmates who were not in when the flood happened, or that we would be without hot water until they could be bothered to fix the boiler. Had I not been in close contact with my flatmates I would not have known about the flood or lack of water until I had returned from my short visit home and discovered the rank small, sodden carpet, and no hot water myself. Again, they offered no provisions like hot running water or rooms to store things for those who had been flooded or anything else in the mean time. Safety is also a concern. There has been a hole in the fence since before my move in, where anyone can and has entered the premises without a key, although the area isn’t unsafe per say there have been instances where people have been threatened with a knife by a well known man in the area, and followed back to tramways where if he had looked he could have followed them in through this gap. Often, the fob keys on doors are broken and entrances to flat buildings are then open. While all these issues remain unresolved and there have been no improvements to the accommodation at all, the rent has increased for this year. Avoid Tramways if possible!!!!!!