King’s students crowdfund £400 in 24 hours for King’s runaway landlord victim

GENEROUS King’s folk have helped raised over £430 in less than 24 hours to help out a fellow student who had thousands of pounds worth of his stuff nicked by a dodgy landlord.

Roar reported on undergrad Josh Tigger-Carley’s ordeal yesterday, and hours later a crowdfunding page sprung up to help the Comp Sci student recover financially.

Kurt Lee, a PhD student who started the #letshelpjosh crowdfunding page, only found out about Josh’s plight after reading the article, despite having been friends with him at the time.

Kurt said he “super shocked” when he read the article, and started the fundraiser because he “really didn’t like the thought of him going through all this alone.”

“He deserved all the help we could give him,” Kurt told Roar.

‘Such a shock’

Kurt and Josh had met through the hacking community when Josh organised the hugely successful HackLondon weekend, which brought more than 200 students together to “be inspired by technology.”

Josh said he was “completely overwhelmed” when he found out about the page. “It was such a shock for Kurt to start the campaign, and for so many people to support it.”

“I can’t express in words just how much it means, and it’s a true testament to how amazing the hacker community is,” he said.

He also wanted to repeat his warning of the dangers of dodgy landlords: “No matter how much you trust somebody, sometimes bad things are unavoidable.”

‘Did a runner’

“Make contracts, document everything, photograph stuff when you move in,” he said, adding: “Don’t let a landlord take advantage of you – you might think you’re getting a good price, but that doesn’t mean much with no kitchen!”

Josh had been living above a pub in Leytonstone rent-free and without a contract, in exchange for working 17 hours per week in the pub.

He moved out while a kitchen was installed, during which time his landlord stripped Josh’s flat of all his possessions and did a runner after stealing cash from the pub’s safe.

When Josh returned he found the flat stripped of all his possessions, leaving him with only the suitcase he had taken to his girlfriend’s.

King’s were unable to offer him financial support, and so Josh has had to slowly replace his belongings with his own money.

You can donate and help Josh here: bit.ly/letshelpjosh.

For advice on how to rent savvy, click here.