American pays 16 months rent up front to live in London

I saw this black girl paid 16 months rent up front to live in london. I was not surprised. I am black. I am American. I study in London. I was homeless for 3 months as a result of my school failure and the U.S. Dept of Education rules on giving me funding. I was so desperate for a place that I paid rent up 4 months. It ended up being a scammy slum house. It was a place in Peckham where the landlords were Nigerians. I was told that I should have gotten a white landlord. Then I got another place in Brixton from a slumlord called Saydul Karim. Again, I was told I should have gotten a white european landlord. Also, I’m saying Karim’s name because he was horrible. He bought two houses on coburg crescent. One was student accomodation for boys and another for girls. Everyone has to pay upfront to get a contract. I paid my rent up 4 months and left early. He never gave me my 1 month deposit either. The entire time I had a bathroom, the shower didn’t work. It was either burning hot or ice cold. The power in the entire house would go out at random, the heating was always high in the kitchen. The trash never got taken out and my roommates would stack it in the kitchen. There was never a cleaner. We were promised two fridges and netflix and all this bullshit.

My point, I was scammed twice because I was desperate not to be homeless AGAIN while going to college. I almost got scammed three times. Prior to all that, I had an airbnb landlord that wanted me to sign a contract where I promise to pay her 3 months upfront as a deposit. Then i needed to pay her rent three months. I don’t think that’s legal. I asked other students at my school if this was normal. I was told by a Burmese guy and Swiss-Iranian guy and a Korean girl and british students and more that this is the norm. In fact, it got reinforced as I went searching for housing. I went to agencies and found this was true. They see me as a foreigner. I have no UK Guarantor. They don’t trust me to pay rent on time. They say housing is competitive. If I don’t secure the place with 200 pounds or more, it will be gone. Some places want me to pay rent weekly because they don’t trust me.

I went to student housing websites and they asked for rent up front. It’s a big industry of stealing money from rich kids. The rich don’t care about paying up front. Poor kids like me who have no money and no family are screwed over. We don’t even have a voice. I wish that the predatory practices of landlords in London were realized.

I talked to other students who were renters and they said pay up front. I went to student housing websites and they required me to pay up front. When I lived in Saydul Karim’s student housing, it took a big toll on me mentally and physically. I actually went days without eating because of this. I had no money for transportation. My mom gave me her credit card and I felt bad using it. I never learned how to cook for myself or what to buy for a kitchen or fridge. Being homeless in London gave me worse social anxiety. I was scared to go outside and be in crowds of people. I never left my room and I was so depressed that I never had energy to move. It wasn’t even important to me that my shower was broken. I didn’t was my hair, but it wasn’t like I had energy to. I didn’t eat but I was used to that being homeless. All my energy went to my classes. It took me 10+ hours to do anything for class. I’d be in the library all day because I lost my focus constantly and Saydul Karim had weak/non-existent internet.

On a happy note, there is a group called Food for All. They would be outside my school. I was so grateful to them. They are a big reason I stayed alive. I only know about them because a Sri-Lankan girl at my school told me.

When I told Saydul Karim I was leaving, he asked me if I found a new place every chance he could. He did more room inspections in MY ROOM. It made me feel disgusted. He wanted to start viewings and told me to clean up. I put my things in a storage unit. The same storage unit I had when I was homeless. I felt so defeated. He would call me at 10pm asking if I found a new place. He was happy knowing I had difficulty. He didn’t want to give me a recommendation as my landlord. He never gave me a single recommendation even though he said he would if I left. It’s so weird because he would go in my room and he knew it wasn’t bad condition. When my deposit didn’t come back into my account, I believed it was normal. I thought everything in London was expensive and everyone was mean. I still believe that, but there are some nice people here.

I don’t know about how to get housing even now that I have a room. I honestly believe it was luck. I don’t know why I got to be so lucky. I know others aren’t. I hate seeing homelessness in London. It’s a constant reminder that what I faced continues on. Please, those who can give, give money to homeless people on trains and street performers. It makes me sad that even in times of covid19 homeless people are still asking for help.

So the big take away. London housing is accessible to rich people. It is a problem. Yep, it a problem UNLESS unless you have 6+ months to search, unless you are able bodied, unless you are white skinned, and rich… If you don’t check those boxes, you will be at a disadvantage when finding housing in London. I do believe there is racism in housing practices in London. I know the black girl, Imani Change, experienced it. She “offered” to pay 16 months doesn’t make it right. It shouldn’t be an offer. AS well, she first offered 12 months. Then the landlord got a british couple interested in the apartment to match that offer. Ms. Change had to extend her offer to 16 months as a result. Finding housing in specific areas of london is impossible. Nothing is cheap. No one is there to help you. Yet, people WILL TALK when a person gets scammed. Yall love to call that out.. Then you tell people like me, “Have you tried living 3+ hours away from your school.” Regardless a room should not be 1,000 pounds. A room shouldn’t be a fucking box with a box bathroom and 100s of stairs.