Staff cleared £10,000 of student’s belongings then charged him £52 cleaning fee

Louis shared his shock on TikTok (Picture: Kennedy News)

A student was shocked when he returned from work to find nearly £10,000 of his belongings ‘binned’ by his accommodation’s staff.

Louis Whitehead, from Saddleworth in Manchester, said he returned from work on December 20 to find his room at Stratford One in east London, owned by Unite Students, completely emptied.

The 21-year-old student and part-time model said thousands of pounds worth of belongings including his MacBook Pro, an Apple Watch and lots of designer clothing such as Dior handbags and Prada garments are all missing.

He claimed his building, owned by Unite Students, also ‘removed’ sentimental items from his £253 per week room such as old birthday cards from late family members.

Louis said that since his laptop is missing, he’ll be forced to redo all of his assignments – which he had completed ahead of his January deadlines.

To make matters worse, an email which appears to be from Unite Students even claims he was to be charged £52 as a ‘cleaning fee’ for binning his belongings.

Louis said his jaw dropped when he entered his empty room (Picture: Kennedy News)

All of his belongings were removed from his room – without Louis knowing (Picture: Kennedy News)

Despite his tenancy not ending until December 25, Louis had verbally agreed to move out on December 22 ahead of his move into a private house with his partner in January.

But on December 20 – two days earlier than Louis claims was agreed – he found his room emptied and he called the Metropolitan Police in a state of panic, as well as contacting the building’s management team to try and locate his items.

After searching his accommodation for his belongings, Louis said he discovered £500 Balenciaga shoes and bedding in a bin bag in his building’s storage room.

Unite Students did eventually email Louis and said they retrieved some of his items – but Louis said a ‘large amount’ is still missing.

Unite Students confirmed they were investigating the incident and said the £52 was their standard cleaning service fee that Louis had agreed to.

Louis said: ‘I got home from work and when I went into my room it was just completely empty. I’d been out of the house for 12 hours.

Upon his return from work, Louis saw all of his belongings were gone (Picture: Kennedy News)

He found many of his belongings tossed in a bin (Picture: Kennedy News)

‘I felt awful. You should have seen my face. My mouth was wide open. I didn’t know how to react. I just thought, “No way, this isn’t happening to me right now.”‘

Louis said some of his items missing include his Macbook Pro, Apple Watch, Dior bags and Prada clothes.

He added: ‘The two worst things that I’m most worried about are my contact lenses and my glasses.

‘These have all gone. I had to sleep in my contact lenses last night so I could see today but I don’t know what I’m going to do tomorrow.’

More: Trending

Following the incident, Louis shared his shock online in a TikTok video showing the empty room he came back to which has since racked up 82,000 views and 6,000 likes.

Unite Students explained that the £52 cleaning fee was a service offered as standard and Louis had agreed to use it, and said they are now liaising with Louis and awaiting proof of purchase on various items.

A Unite Students spokesperson said: ‘We are aware of the reported incident in question and are investigating.

‘The safety and security of our residents – as well as their property – is our number one priority and we are in contact with the student and relevant onsite teams. This is an on-going matter.’

Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at [email protected].

For more stories like this, check our news page.

‘I just thought, “No way, this isn’t happening to me right now.”‘