A STUDENT paid £1,600-a-month for her student flat which had broken heating, cockroaches and a bag of sick left out.
Alicia Sowerby, 23, also said the block badly stinks, rubbish was left everywhere and mucky water began leaking.
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And students were forced to climb 32 flights of stairs when the lifts broke in May.
Alicia called the living conditions “overwhelmingly upsetting” and compared the block to a prison.
The University of Law student said: “It’s absolutely horrendous. You wouldn’t believe it.
“It’s such a lot of money I have no idea how they are getting away with this.
“The whole block stinks and there is rubbish everywhere. It’s disgusting.
“There was a bag of sick left on a chair for a whole day – it was spilling out everywhere.
“Living there was so bad for my mental and physical health.
“Those living conditions are a breach of human rights. It’s like living in a prison.
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“I used to sit and work near the reception area and people were complaining all the time but nothing changed.”
She moved into the high-rise block in Aldgate, East London when she began studying law in the capital last September and finally moved out on Friday.
She shared the accommodation – which cost £412 a week – with other students from across the world.
Alicia, from York, stuck it out in the block despite others quickly cancelling their contracts.
She claims a group of Chinese students even sought help from their embassy, and many contacted the local MP.
Residents also organised a petition over complaints, she claims.
Pest control was called to an infestation of cockroaches, but the insects kept spreading throughout one of the floors, Alicia said.
Mucky water then started leaking from the fifth to the fourth floor eight weeks ago, and from the light fittings in the smoking area.
The lifts then broke at the start of May, so students were forced to trudge up and down 32 flights of stairs until they were fixed.
Alicia said: “I heard that one guy got stuck in the lift overnight. He couldn’t get out, because the emergency button had been taken out.
“The pest control man said they were German cockroaches that spread really quickly, and they tried to get rid of them.
“But after he left I heard they had spread over the whole floor and it was going to be shut down. They are still there.
“We’re just young people trying to live away from home for the first time. It was overwhelmingly upsetting and I really couldn’t handle it.”
A spokesperson for IQ Student Accommodation said: “We pride ourselves on the high-quality accommodation we provide to our students and ensure common areas are cleaned multiple times each day.
“We are disappointed that Alicia has made a series of allegations, supported by misleading photographs, that do not reflect the reality of life at Aldgate.
“We frequently inspect our buildings and over the last year we have addressed every issue that Alicia has raised.”
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