Breaking In, Throwing Up

Posted 5:21pm Sunday 25th May 2025 by Molly Smith-Soppet

A Roslyn flat got more than they bargained for on a quiet Friday night when a drunk student broke into their home, took off his shoes, and vomited into a flatmate's hamper – all while apologising profusely. Daniel, a recent PhD grad (yes, Doctor Daniel) had been asleep in bed when he Read more...

Mould-Mapping North D

Posted 4:52pm Sunday 25th May 2025 by Hunter Jolly

Last week, the Tenancy Compliance and Investigation Team (TCIT) did the rounds of North-D flats. The government-run team sieged (door-knocked) flats to check that they are complying with the Residential Tenancies Act 1986. In other words, to check whether students have been slumming it in Read more...

Flat & Garden: Critic Te Ārohi’s Search for the Best of Student Living

Posted 10:26pm Sunday 18th May 2025 by Critic Staff

It’s an age-old fact: flatting in North D can be rough. But here at Otago, we students get creative. We customise, craft, and conquer — armed with Blu-Tack and blind optimism. Despite what the nation’s landlords think, students can be house-proud (especially if you bless us with Read more...

OUSA Exec: Flatting Quality Survey

Posted 3:09pm Sunday 11th May 2025 by Callum Hadlow

We all know flatting in Dunedin can be a wild ride; from absolutely abusing free hours of power to keep the place warm, to seeing more fungi on your wall than at a bush doof. It has become a right of passage to wear three layers indoors and have that one window that doesn't close. But it Read more...

Unattended Pot Teaches Lesson in Fire Safety

Posted 3:24pm Sunday 11th May 2025 by Cailin Williams

Waking up to a group of hot, sweaty men in uniform does not sound like something one might be opposed to, though the high chance of suffocation from smoke inhalation may change your mind. Second-year Dundas-dweller Zara experienced something that can only be found in a plot of a Colleen Hoover book Read more...

ANIMALS?!?!?!? How to have pets as a student. Kind of.

Posted 9:14pm Sunday 27th April 2025 by Tilly Rumball-Smith

Kiwis own more pets per household than almost anyone else in the world, so it comes as a bit of a culture shock to leave that behind for studenthood. Many of us grew up with household pets who, unfortunately, remained in the household when we moved out. Without us realising, our final year of high Read more...

Flat Authoritarianism

Posted 11:43pm Sunday 13th April 2025 by Ellie Bennett

Flatting is a delicate balance of personalities, habits, and passive aggressiveness. For the first time, you get to experience life free from the watchful eye of parents or RAs – and that usually means 2-minute noodles for every second meal, putting off your washing to the last minute, and, Read more...

Editorial: Your Initiation “Tradition” Is Barely Consenting Age, Actually

Posted 10:42pm Saturday 10th August 2024 by Nina Brown

As students are beginning to turn their attention to where they’ll live next year and listings for Castle Street flats are cropping up, the subject of flat initiations is once again on people’s minds. Personally, it’s been in the back of my mind since last year, when I witnessed a Read more...

Debatable: Should You Date Your Flatmate?

Posted 11:29pm Saturday 10th August 2024 by Abby Bowmar

Debatable is a column written by the Otago University Debating Society. The Debating Society welcomes new members and meets at the Business School every Tuesday at 6pm. For: Abby Bowmar You enjoyed being single in first-year, when you were freshly eighteen and heating was free. But now Read more...

Students Not Convinced By Government’s ‘Pet-Bond’ Policy

Posted 10:28pm Friday 26th April 2024 by Gryffin Blockley

In a spate of new changes to renting legislation, the National coalition Government announced a new pet bond policy which claims that it will make rentals easier to find for pet owners. The pet bond of two weeks of rent aims to make landlords more accepting of the risk of letting a pet live at their Read more...