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Students living in halls infested with cockroaches and mice are refusing to pay their rent until accommodation managers get rid of the creatures.

School of Oriental and African Studies students living in Dinwiddy House and Paul Robeson House have been plagued by the cockroaches in their flats since the start of term in September.

The halls, located in Pentonville Road, Kings Cross, are managed by university accommodation providers Sanctuary and cost £147.28 a week to rent a single en-suite room.

One student claims she was forced to kill 38 cockroaches on her first day of moving in, while others have found mice scuttling in their kitchens.

Spray treatments and gels have been placed in some of the flats, but the creepy-crawlies just spread to other rooms.

Other problems include water outages for days on end, mouldy bathrooms and flats with broken locks.

Around 150 students are refusing to pay their final rent instalment, adding up to more than £100,000, unless they are paid £800 in compensation and given a full apology.

Despite hundreds of complaints made at reception, via email exchanges and through the residents council the students allege their concerns are not being taken seriously.

Aurora Lyngstad, 22, who moved to study in the UK from Norway, said: “I killed 38 cockroaches on the first day of university. My mum freaked out.

“After seeing the cockroaches we opened the doors to the other rooms. There were dead and living cockroaches in every single room. There was also a massive infestation in the kitchen.”

Elin Wibe, 20, first year international relations student, said: “It’s very stressful living here. If you wake up and see a cockroach in the ceiling you will be stressed out its going to be a bad day.

“It's like you know they are around you all of the time. I found one under my duvet.”

Politics and development student Karmel Carey said: “There are mice in the courtyard. In the evenings they are more active and scurry around your feet.

“In the ground floor flats they come in through the kitchens.”

A spokesman for Sanctuary said: "Although there were a number of reports of pests earlier in the academic year, the site was treated and we are pleased to confirm that we have not had any students contact us to raise concerns recently.

"In addition, when it was necessary to either carry out planned work to the heat or water system, or advise of works scheduled by the regional water provider, we made a point of contacting students in advance, scheduling work for times when there would be less demand (when this was within our control) , and keeping outages to a minimum.

"We understand that some students are still not happy, and having met representatives recently to address their concerns, a further meeting is scheduled for next week. If any individuals wish to make a formal complaint or have any outstanding issues, we would ask them to contact our site office so that we can address them as quickly as possible.

"We are concerned that a minority of our tenants may consider withholding rent without fully understanding the wider implications this could have, and would encourage these students to consider their contractual obligations before making their decision."