Aug

Fixed-term tenancy plans will damage HMO student housing market, warns portal boss

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The changes to tenancy law being proposed within the Government’s recent Fairer Renting White Paper will damage the student rental sector and reduce the amount of housing available within it, it has been claimed.

Specialist portal Accommodationforstudents.com says proposals by Ministers to introduce fixed-term tenancies to replace Assured Shorthold Tenancies will compromise the huge HMO student sector.

This, the portal says, will result in less choice and higher rents for students, in part because many students will be forced into the Purpose Build Student accommodation (PBSA) sector, which can be £30 a week more expensive than traditional student HMOs.

Plans within the White Paper to ban fixed-term tenancies, and instead transition all tenancies to one system of periodic tenancies, would mean students would not have to leave their HMO accommodation at the end of their fixed-term – usually the end of the academic year.

Guarantee spaces

Accomodationforstudents says this would mean private landlords would be unable to guarantee spaces to new students at the start of the next academic year, and could result in student landlords exiting the market, subsequently reducing the mix of accommodation options for students.

The portal says similar changes already implemented in Scotland has already reduced the supply of student HMO accommodation there, particularly in Edinburgh, where many students now struggle to find somewhere to live.

Simon Thompson (main picture), Director of Accommodationforstudents.com, says: “It is, in my view, vital that the Government exempts private student landlords from its proposal to move all tenancies to periodic ones, as it has for institutional landlords who run PBSA.

Read more: Ultimate guide to student property.

“Failing to do so will force private landlords out of the market, reducing the mix of affordable options and drive up rents for student who are already on a limited budget.

“Furthermore, where demand exceeds supply, students will be forced to look for accommodation further away from their university town or campus, meaning transport then becomes an additional cost and problem for students.”

Read the Fairer Renting White Paper.

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