You will rarely hear a student bragging about their house. This is not because we are too modest or too polite, but because there is probably nothing to brag about. Student houses have never had the best reputation, but with gas prices rising and temperatures quickly dropping, it seems more students are uniting in the horrors of their living conditions.

With most houses only turning their heating on for three hours a day, a working boiler is critical. However, I have discovered that such a luxury is rare among students and unless a housemate is well-versed in the intricacies of indoor plumbing, cold showers will be an unfortunate fact of life. If you're clever, you will take advantage of friends with a working boiler: Adam at Exeter University spent a whole two hours in the bathroom at a house party just so he could have a good soak in the tub.

As a student, a cold house is pretty much a given. My housemates and I recently went a week without any central heating – one girl refused to take off her all-in-one ski suit. While cooking in a duvet may be no easy task, things reach a new level of depressing when, like Isabella at Nottingham University, a hair dryer becomes your only source of heat.

Another way that student houses challenge our survival skills is with their faulty fuse boxes. Some days, we have no power at all. This means no television, no internet, no microwave and worst of all, no fridge. There is only so much takeaway one can consume and it is also embarrassing when you've got the owners of your local Indian restaurant on speed dial for "emergencies".

As a student, you soon learn that cheap appliances have a way of taking revenge on you for your cost-cutting ways. When our kettle packed in, my housemate was reduced to using the water she had boiled her eggs in to make tea - not exactly what Twinings meant by English Breakfast.

ironing toast Photograph: Guardian

This wasn't as creative as one student at Manchester University though, who found that the iron worked a treat as a substitute toaster.

Landlords tend to take a relaxed approach when it comes to dealing with student tenants. In many cases, they're as elusive as Russian spies. It was six days after our power went out that we were able to get hold of ours – and even then it took two days for the electrician to arrive.

Still, I would rather go weeks without power than have to deal with what Nicola from Birmingham University returned to after the Christmas holidays: an infestation of slugs on her bed. She had to search the crevices of her sheets picking out individual slugs herself – the only support her landlord offered was insect repellent.

My advice would be that, while holding on to your duvet for dear life, you keep your sense of humour too. Befriend the electrician that has visited your house five times this week, embrace a loyalty card to your local Indian restaurant, and one day you may look back on your days of living in squalor with pride.

Practical tips for dealing with shabby accommodation

Assuming your accommodation is privately rented, you have to start by getting hold of your landlord. If you're living in a house of multiple occupation (HMO), with three or more unrelated people, your landlord has extra responsibilities in terms of security, fire safety, and the cleanliness of kitchen and bathroom amenities.

If your landlord isn't meeting these standards, or you can't get hold of them, the best step would be to contact the local authority. They can carry out an inspection and can take enforcement action if the property is poorly managed or poses a risk to your health and safety.