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TODAY'S OTHER NEWS

Students rents are soaring according to bank study

Landlords with student tenants, as well as the growing number of institutional landlords of purpose built student accommodation, appear to be in the money. 

That’s because student rent has increased almost 20 per cent over the last year according to the 2021 NatWest Student Living Index there has been a steep increase in student rent bringing the average monthly cost to £518, an increase of 18 per cent from 2020.

The biggest increase can be found for students in Leicester, who have been hit with an £188 rise for their average monthly rental costs.

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London retains its title as having the most expensive rent for students, despite a significant fall of nearly £100 a month from its 2020 heights. London students can expect to pay around £619.90 a month on rent. 

The capital is currently the only UK city where student spend or costs outweigh their income.

The NatWest Student Living Index surveyed more than 2,300 students across the country. 

Students were asked a range of questions, on fraud and scams, on how much they spend on essentials such as food, rent and bills, and how much time they spend studying, working and socialising. 

 

 

The majority of students’ income continues to come from their student loan. 

However, this has dropped slightly since 2020, as contributions from parents and personal savings have gained importance in financing student lives – a reflection of more students living at home last year. This has also meant that now only one in seven students rely on their own income to pay for their rent, compared to one in five last year.

Budgeting continues to be a challenge for many students. 

Whilst 84 per cent of students consider themselves sensible with money, one in four say they ran out of money every month, and one in five say that they don’t save any money at all.

Andy Nicholson, head of NatWest student accounts, says: “Increasing student rent puts even more pressure on student finances.”

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    Section 24, enthusiastic HMO licensing, EPC targets, EICR, red tape, more red tape etc etc. What else do they expect? Also, purpose built student accommodation is so expensive (starts at over £600 pm rising to £800+ for a "suite"), it just raises the bar for everyone. I did ask all my students to email our MP .. none of them did, so hey ho

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    Totally agree. Student ghettos have pushed up rents paid by students for normal flats significantly and most students move into normal flats after their first year.

    I suspect the high rise build to rent ghettos and corporate landlords such as John Lewis and Lloyds Bank will have the same effect on normal domestic rents.

    Despite all the costs and hurdles put in our way by Local and Central Governments (especially the SNP) I am in the PRS for the long haul and continue to be able to pass on all new costs to new tenants.

    I won't be volunteering to pay CGT any time soon and am also working hard to avoid IHT and keep living for at least 7 more years.

     
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    Robert, sound like we have a similar strategy! The irony of all the measures enacted is that quality accommodation is now attracting better than expected returns. Like you, I'm now focused on maximising the enjoyment of what I have, while at the same time ensuring that my children will share the fruits of my endeavours once I am no longer around. Fortunately they share the same passion as me so it will be a good transition

     
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    I agree with Robert, I've always been in it for the long haul and certainly am not paying CGT , however my son doesn't show interest, he gets paid far too much money cutting trees down when they fall on power lines, my 2 daughters partners could, and likely would carry things on, still 68 in 7 days time, fit and healthy, this old dog is going on for a time to come yet.

     
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    kingston in surrey--uni rents much higher

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    Robert & Grumpy Doug, hats off to you I had hoped to do the same but my extended family would do anything but the right thing, so I made a decision year’s ago not to expand but to consolidate what I had.
    Separate matter outer West London prices seems to be for larger house’s 150 m2+ £5’500. m2, Semi-Detached 100 m2 £6’000. m2, Terraced 80m2 £6’800. m2, Traditional purpose built Flats £6’000. m2, forget about new or high rise.

  • George Dawes

    I'd rather burn the place down than let to students

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    Me too, tried it in the 90s never again, give me honest working tenants any day.

     
    Theodor Cable

    And get the insurance of course? :-)

     
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    Having just cleared out 6 groups, I sort of know what you mean, George! Fortunately my cleaners are superb, I have great handymen/plumbers/sparkies to fix it all, and in 3 weeks time it all starts again. My choice and I'm geared up for it, but yes, it's challenging at times. They do pay their rent (most of the time), and a quick call to their guarantor when they don't, fixes the problem!

     
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    All in all, I've found students easier, more reliable and less bother than young professionals. The cleaning and refurbishment costs are built into the rents but they often stay for 2 or more years and occasionally surprise me in how well they leave the flats, so I'm happy to keep going with the status quo.

    I've never had "ordinary working class" tenants as my properties tend to be too expensive for them. Also the SNP have outlawed fixed term tenancies in Scotland so tenants wanting to out stay their welcome are a real risk, whereas we know student and holiday lets will end usually exactly when we want them to end.

     
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    Do agree that L’don rents have soared I have some I acquired by default but they are fine, not paying anything like £619.00
    pm or was that your average or top figure. I have 5 sharing a Licensed house and if I were charging what you say I would be getting an extra £1’000.00 pm on this one property so looks like you are £200.00 pm over per person. They pay directly into Bank makes doing Accounts a bit easier and when you don’t over charge they stay longer.

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    The other side to this is the ROI on the degrees themselves. Living costs, rent and tuition fees come to not far short of £30k a year. They pay this for 3 or 4 years. There will always be winners but most of those would win with or without the degree. Very few commercial organisations would speculatively invest £100k on a punt like this. Universities are selling bad deals to doting parents and teenagers with no life experience.

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    Very true, the hard sell to the gullible.

     
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