Rent reform plans will restrict student access to higher education
Access to higher education will become more difficult for students if the government’s rental reform plans go ahead, groups are warning.
Among them is the National Residential Landlords’ Association (NRLA) which has written to the government about the prospect of student accommodation being subject to periodic tenancies.
However, purpose-built student accommodation (PBSA) would still offer assured shorthold tenancies rather than open-ended tenancies, but private student landlords would not be able to guarantee that their accommodation will be available when the academic year starts.
That would only happen if the sitting tenants handed in their notice to leave.
Students who are looking for accommodation
There are fears that students who are looking for accommodation will not be able to plan where they would like to live and who with.
In the letter, ministers are warned that: “There is likely to be a significant reduction in available accommodation at a time when demand is growing.”
The group, which also includes the British Property Federation and Universities UK adds that the accommodation shortage this year has already led some academic institutions to call for a limit on student intakes for up to five years.
The letter goes on: “The proposed introduction of open-ended tenancies and the inevitable reduction in housing supply is therefore likely to further constrain the expansion of the education sector, to the detriment of prospective students and wider society.”
Want the government to extend the rental reform exemption
The organisations want the government to extend the rental reform exemption that has been given to purpose-built student accommodation to all student housing.
They say that when a landlord rents a property to a group of students, it should be permissible to offer a fixed term tenancy agreement.
The group also say that student landlords should be allowed to give two months’ notice to repossess the property if it’s needed for incoming students.
They say that to provide protections for those students, the notice should only be given in the last two months of the tenancy agreement.
‘The problems rental reforms will cause’
Simon Thompson, the managing director of Accommodation for Students, welcomed the letter and said: “The entire student accommodation sector needs to work hard at highlighting to the government what the potential damage will be if periodic tenancies are brought in.
“Student accommodation is not like other rented homes in the PRS, and the government has acknowledged this by exempting PBSA providers from plans to introduce open-ended tenancies under the rental reform plans. That exemption should be extended to private student landlords as well.”
Purpose-built student accommodation in Scotland is ‘ unfit for purpose’ , the National Union of Students (NUS) claims. In a report, they say that students are being forced to live in unfinished and unsafe buildings and some tenants cannot access water for 96 hours. The NUS is also calling for a reinstatement of Scotland’s recent rent freeze to enable the creation of a ‘sustainable system of fair renting’. It also wants student tenants to have the right to leave an ‘exploitative tenancy’ and be protected from unfair eviction.
An announcement from Durham University that its catering and college accommodation fees will rise by 10.3% in the next academic year has led to a backlash. With the student maintenance loan increasing by 2.8%, critics say students will see the biggest accommodation rent rise in more than 10 years. The university has, apparently, declined to comment further but it does acknowledge the pressures on students in the cost-of-living crisis and is investing more in its grant scheme to help with several measures, including a free breakfast club.
The Sutton Trust has carried out research that highlights that students in the UK are skipping meals because of the cost-of-living crisis. The charity found that this means students are in increasing danger of dropping out of university . Students are relying more on family support and hardship funds with one in three students from working class backgrounds cutting down on food in a bid to save money. The survey also found that students are spending less on non-essential items and reducing their social activities, and some are using less electricity and gas at home. Student landlords need to beware that the survey also found that 5.5% of students say they have missed their rent payment.
