How will Renters’ Rights Bill change logistics of student rental market?
12:01 AM, 21st January 2025, 1 year ago
21
Hi, still trying to get my head around how this is going to work in practice. I work within a small agency which specialises in student homes.
A surprisingly large portion of our homes are 1 and 2 bedroom options for students. However, from what I can see, there isn’t any provision to offer this in the future as there will be no guarantee when the current tenants will move out.
I can’t see that we have any choice but to remove these from the student market which seems unfair to the tenants that don’t want to live in larger homes.
I’m also trying to work out how a tenant, say in an 8-bed home on a joint AST (currently) would have the option to essentially end the tenancy for all, two months into the contract. I appreciate this won’t happen often but the risk factor to landlords is huge – so trying to see the benefits to tenants that want some security? The upheaval in the middle of term would be massive.
Lastly the marketing of homes is causing me confusion. In Newcastle homes are typically let between mid October-January. Does the proposed legislation mean that advertising could still happen ‘early’ but then the contracts not agreed until 6 months before the start date. Not having at least some option to exercise the 4A possession ground feels like far too big of a risk?
The student market is so specific, I appreciate I’m biased but on the whole it works ok. There has been so much legislation in recent times to improve the quality of housing that it feels this really will create the opposite effect – forcing good landlords out of the market and creating such an unstable market for student house shares that they will be forced to live in sub-par homes just to have somewhere to live.
Not looking for a specific answer, just to see if anyone had any ideas with how to navigate this?
Thanks,
Ellen
Tags:
impact on student housing, joint AST risks, new housing rules for students, proposed rental market changes, renters rights bill students, student accommodation legislation, student housing challenges, student housing legislation, student landlords, Student Property, student rental market changes
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Member Since August 2015 - Comments: 342
4:24 PM, 21st January 2025, About 1 year ago
Reply to the comment left by Jo Westlake at 21/01/2025 – 15:50
I don’t know why you bring up all the things the student should know. I’m sure most adverts for these houses have all these things and what is not said can be worked out by monthly rents.
I expect most landlords would like a September start date but the RRB have put this at a great disadvantage. If you read my first comment then I try and explain in order to protect one’s self the tenancy should start much earlier in the year. I did mention 1st June but I only mentioned this as that’s the earliest date you can legally have it if you want to be able to bring the tenancy to an end. You would have it sometime later to cover the terms of your student tenants.
Member Since September 2015 - Comments: 3
5:22 PM, 21st January 2025, About 1 year ago
The 2 month notice will kill us. We rent out 4 bedroom properties with communal living spaces in London and the work required to get the students in and out in September is considerable and involved. If this becomes law we will have tenants leaving whenever they want. Just yesterday I had 1 student saying he hardly goes into university so he will just move back home. In this instance he said he would try and find a replacement tenant but in the future they will just hand in their notice. The problem in London will be acute and we are considering getting out of the student market which means around 100 4 beds between me and my friends/acquaintances will come out of the student and young professional market in zone 1/2 borders. We will have a massive reduction in rent but its something we will have to absorb. Our tenants love living in our places as we provide a high level of customer service and are small enough to care but big enough to have resources to ensure things are done very quickly and to a high standard.
Member Since April 2019 - Comments: 17
12:50 PM, 25th January 2025, About 1 year ago
Reply to the comment left by Gromit at 21/01/2025 – 13:35
I thought fixed term tenancies were banned for students going forward?
Member Since September 2015 - Comments: 1013
2:20 PM, 25th January 2025, About 1 year ago
Reply to the comment left by Sam Smith at 25/01/2025 – 12:50It may well be if the legislation abolishes the fixed term for students. In which case the whole situation becomes a nightmare as without the certainty of students moving out or moving out in a timely fashion Landlords cannot sign up new students. I suspect some non-binding pre-tenancy (booking) agreement may be made but it just moves the uncertainty around.
Joint tenancy agreements would provide some mitigation as any one tenant wanting to move on can terminate the tenancy or conversely all students have to agree to remain for the tenancy to roll on.
Member Since September 2015 - Comments: 3
9:11 AM, 26th January 2025, About 1 year ago
“I suspect some non-binding pre-tenancy (booking) agreement may be made but it just moves the uncertainty around.” Unfortunately the dynamics will mean that people may say all the right things to get the property in the first place but in reality as soon as their situation changes only the new tenancy rules will matter. Any attempt by us to navigate this will be shut down.
I think for us we will have to provide relatively cheap rooms on one tenancy to keep tenants happy. I do not want to be reletting mid way through a 12 month period. What would be amazing is having a high rent to start with reducing the longer a tenant stays within 12 months. i.e. imagine a situation where you get away with charging 5k per month for the first 3 months reducing by 1k every quarter so that you go from 5k to 4k to 3k to 2k. So you end up with an average monthly of 3.5k.
The other suggestions saying tenancies will commence in June rather then September could also help the situation with undergrad properties as its the summer which is the riskiest. What may happen is that students who take a property in June will be heavily rewarded by way of a better price then compared to those who wait till September where there will be hardly any availability,
Member Since May 2014 - Comments: 145
1:23 PM, 26th January 2025, About 1 year ago
Reply to the comment left by Gromit at 21/01/2025 – 13:35
So by letting for 11 and a half months this means that all of the utility bills including the Council Tax all go back into your names for these two weeks, administrative nightmare.
Member Since September 2015 - Comments: 1013
1:31 PM, 26th January 2025, About 1 year ago
Reply to the comment left by Jim at 26/01/2025 – 13:23
Hardly a nightmare but given we’ve always had a void period to turnaround a student let, it’s unavoidable.
Most years the Council haven’t charged council tax, and likewise utilities. I’m now moving the properties to be under Unihomes for utilities and council tax so even this will go away.
Member Since May 2014 - Comments: 145
2:00 PM, 26th January 2025, About 1 year ago
Reply to the comment left by Gromit at 26/01/2025 – 13:31
Uni Homes won’t cover council tax and soon the council tax will be a 200% charge from day one. The council always charge even if only one day.
I must admit that going forward it looks like student landlords will be forced to only offer properties on a bills inclusive package so as to avoid the multiple billing of gas/electric/water/TV/Broadband for anything from 1 day to two months periods. The students will have less choice about being able to choose to pay their own bills. Maybe offering a student rental property that is not bills inclusive will become a marketing advantage because they will be so rare for landlords to offer them.
Member Since May 2014 - Comments: 88
2:19 PM, 26th January 2025, About 1 year ago
Reply to the comment left by Jim at 26/01/2025 – 14:00
Jim, I don’t understand why you’d have to offer all bills inclusive? Just to avoid paying in the void? I’ve paid in the few days voids for years with our student lets, it’s hardly a big issue…especially with smart meters for gas and electricity. And water don’t seem bothered what the readings are. Council tax is done easily online.
I’ve got one 6-bed hmo (all en suite, shared kitchen/living area) let mainly to nhs workers on individual ASTs. There’s no choice but make it all inclusive. It’s a nightmare as there’s no incentive to save fuel. During the last energy crisis I was paying a grand a month for gas and electricity. I’d 100% avoid all-inclusive. Madness to offer it.
Member Since July 2016 - Comments: 166
2:44 PM, 26th January 2025, About 1 year ago
We offer all inclusive rent to student tenants for different reasons. We have smart meters and pay a quota for gas and electricity bills. Tenants have to top up if they exceed the quota. We also use Timeostat for heating which requires tenants to press a button if they want heating every 2 hours. We have set a minimum background temperature.