87% of respondents said that students made good tenants. Of those surveyed 93% plan to continue to let to students in the immediate future. Of those who plan to stop letting to students all were Landlords opposed to Letting Agents and two thirds of which failed to let their entire property portfolio.
A majority of respondents (61%) stated they would recommend the student market to other Landlords. In particular, those with smaller portfolios were most likely to recommend the student market.
Students offer better rental yields
77% of Landlords and Letting Agents surveyed listed better rental yields as a key motivation for letting to student tenants. As student properties are let on a per-room basis, those letting to students can hope to achieve an average yield of 6.45% compared to an average of 6.2% for other tenants.
Another benefit associated with student tenants was the fixed-tenancy length reducing uncertainty for Landlords and Letting Agents, with 68% listing this as a key benefit.
Letting to students is more time-consuming
The biggest challenges mentioned were; students failing to complete basic maintenance and letting to students being significantly more time-consuming than letting to non-students. Both issues were listed by 50% of landlords and letting agents.
Among landlords with smaller portfolios, the biggest issues were those related to costs, in particular the cost of maintaining a HMO. However, it seems in the majority of cases the benefits greatly outweigh the costs as evidenced by 73% of letting agents recommending the market and 93% of respondents planning to continue letting to students in the future.
