LATEST: Online petition demanding that tenants are let off rent reaches 70,000 signatures

admin    Uncategorized     agents

Started by a student in Belfast who claims it is unfair to charge tenants rent when campus studying has been suspended, the petition has garnered increasing support after the BBC and Guardian newspaper gave it coverage.

An online petition calling for students to be let off paying
rent this term has been signed by more than 70,000 people.

With universities closing their doors, it asks all
landlords to suspend rent payments for students who have had to return home.

Queens University student Jamie Finnegan in Belfast started
the change.org petition and believes it’s unfair for students to pay hundreds of
pounds a month for a room they’re not using, when most already face other bills
every month.

“With hundreds of people being told not to come back to
work due to the pandemic, students are going to be left financially unstable
and unable to pay for their rent, regardless if they are living there or not,”
he says. 

Finnegan believes that student accommodation providers
should realise that their cancellation policies don’t cover scenarios such as the unforeseen pandemic.

He adds: “It’s categorically unfair and
greedy to charge students for rent if they are unable to live in their accommodation.”

While some large student accommodation companies and university-run halls of residence are now giving students the option to terminate their contracts early without financial penalty, small private landlords are now being pressured to follow suit.

Early release

The National
Union of Students has demanded that every
landlord should offer students a no-penalty early release from tenancy
contracts for the current and next academic year.

It wants an end to all
evictions during the crisis, with rent subsidies, reductions or waivers for six
months for those impacted by Coronavirus, and no rent increases for the next 12
months.

Around the country, hundreds of
university students have also signed up to a rent strike, including those
renting off-campus at the University of Warwick.

©1999 – Present | Parkmatic Publications Ltd. All rights reserved | LandlordZONE® – LATEST: Online petition demanding that tenants are let off rent reaches 70,000 signatures | LandlordZONE.

View Full Article: LATEST: Online petition demanding that tenants are let off rent reaches 70,000 signatures

If you enjoyed this article please consider sharing it!