New management of Gateway promise change for tenants

The new management of Gateway Student Village has said that students who stayed there last year were “robbed” by the previous management.

Managing director of Gateway John Russell went on to assure students that the problems encountered with the previous management team would not be replicated this year.

Students who resided in the complex last year encountered many problems with Ely Properties (the previous management company) which included being unable to get their deposits back.

Russell told the College View that bookings were down this semester compared to this time last year due to difficulties created by Ely Properties for students. He agreed that students had every right to be angry at not getting their deposits back on time and was keen to stress that the situation would not be repeated by this year’s management.

“If students have any doubts at all about their deposits this year, they are welcome to come into the office and we will show them the deposit account. I’m a landlord, and my reading of the law is very simple - a security deposit is fully refundable,” he said.

“When you vacate your property you are entitled to your deposit back that day, and we will ensure that happens this year,” he added.

Russell, one of the investors in the complex, became aware of problems students were having with the previous management months earlier. “We became aware of problems with this property last January. We spoke to students and realised that things were really going downhill.”

Steps were then taken by the investors to remove the management company, Ely Properties, which ran the complex on a day-to-day basis. The investors will be taking a much more hands on approach to running the apartments this year, according to Russell.

“We have invested heavily in Gateway, and we can’t afford to let it go downhill,” he said.

Russell emphasised that he sees it as his role to turn Gateway around and repair its reputation. “Going forward, I want to see this become a very transparent, happy place,” he said.

Russell said that this year, every problem that students have, no matter how small, will be attended to. He said that, unlike last year, when students had to email the management with problems, there will be a contact number and the management will respond to problems as quickly as possible.

He also said he was aware that students encountered problems with security and as a result, last year’s security firm have been removed and security staff are now employed directly.