'This has really messed up his final year of university'

A university student was forced to consider quitting his course after a staff member sublet a room she didn’t own. Lucy John reports

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A STUDENT faced dropping out after a Cardiff University staff member accepted his money as rent for a house she did not own, leaving him without accommodation as the new term began.

The female staff member accepted £800 from the third-year Bath-based student before telling him he could not move into the property.

She only notified him that he could not move in when he was already en route to the property from his home more than 150 miles away.

It then took the staff member several months to refund the student, causing him to consider dropping out of his studies due to financial difficulties.

She first accepted £400 from the student around April, before she accepted a second £400 in September, days before he was due to move in.

However, emails seen by the Westem Mail suggest, and public records confirm, that she had no right to let out rooms in the property from at least June, when the property was sold.

The student's mother, who wishes to remain anonymous, explained how the staff member seemed to be the “perfect” landlady and particularly “student-friendly” due to her role at Cardiff University.

In August the staff member liaised with the student to arrange a new moving-in date, despite August being just a month before the student was due to move in and two months after the property was sold.