Renting And The Student Accommodation Thing

[pjw]

Hi, my house (a low-end terrace) is up for sale and I am thinking of renting in Nottingham if the sale goes through - got a viewer on Saturday, although not building my hopes up.

Looking on rightmove tonight at 2 bedroom properties for rent in Nottingham, I am dismayed at the prevalence of the student accommodation thing. You look at something that says £325 per month, and reading in more detail, it says that the place is for students, and it is £325 PER PERSON per month. The actual rental being demanded is two to four times the amount mentioned on Rightmove.

I wish the whole higher education con had never got started - Mickey Mouse degrees and all that - and I can only think the £9K a year fees a good thing, if it dampens the market for accommodation, because many of these landlords are offering for rent terraced houses that they picked up for nowt 10 years ago and are getting £1200 or more from them in rent.

Why is this country such a con?

[pl1]

Hi, my house (a low-end terrace) is up for sale and I am thinking of renting in Nottingham if the sale goes through - got a viewer on Saturday, although not building my hopes up.

Looking on rightmove tonight at 2 bedroom properties for rent in Nottingham, I am dismayed at the prevalence of the student accommodation thing. You look at something that says £325 per month, and reading in more detail, it says that the place is for students, and it is £325 PER PERSON per month. The actual rental being demanded is two to four times the amount mentioned on Rightmove.

I wish the whole higher education con had never got started - Mickey Mouse degrees and all that - and I can only think the £9K a year fees a good thing, if it dampens the market for accommodation, because many of these landlords are offering for rent terraced houses that they picked up for nowt 10 years ago and are getting £1200 or more from them in rent.

Why is this country such a con?

I wonder how many of them were bought with a 60% right to buy discount and are now being rented out at over a grand a month? We need rent controls, price controls, supertax on second homes and where applicable eminent domain.

[pjw]

We have eminent domain: in England "freehold" is not absolute ownership, as the ultimate title is vested in the Crown.

[200p]

The University of the UK

We just need to cut the landlord subsidy (HB), and change the how the free money from student loans comes about (unlikely).

Students can still think, I'll borrow £50K, and it is paid back over many years in small amounts each month, and if you don't earn over the threshold they can't do anything.

You get to be your own independent person, get out of the parental home, not have to answer to a boss or your parents. They are not worried by handing over £325pcm over to a landlord for a room - it is not their money they have earned through sweat and toil (yet to come in repayment), in fact it is a bargain for 3-4 years of freedom! A few hours of lectures and study each day. Sports afternoon on Wednesdays, cooked breakfasts at the Union bar, and all the other stuff involving the birds and the bees.

The loans are written off after so long anyway if you don't find work. It is a still a low risk play, compared to fighting it out in the extremely tough jobs market with others who are older, have more experience, and more connections. And even then you may not want to move out of your parents home with a job because the money is hard to come by and you want to squirrel it away, rather than hand over £500pcm for a damp flat in a scum area. If I was coming out of college right now, I would still take the university route and bypass the recession/depression.

Edited June 21, 2013 by out2lunch

[Tonkers]

Just anecdotal but I have twice heard youngsters discussing university and saying that the loan doesn't matter as it gets written off.

Is this because when you are so young you have no concept of waiting 30 years before it is written off, or is it part of the uni sales pitch?

[200p]

.

Edited June 21, 2013 by out2lunch

[The Knimbies who say No]

Just anecdotal but I have twice heard youngsters discussing university and saying that the loan doesn't matter as it gets written off.

Is this because when you are so young you have no concept of waiting 30 years before it is written off, or is it part of the uni sales pitch?

Maybe they jusy realise what the experts who made the policy did not-the chances of paying it off in full for the average type, is approximately nil.

[R K]

Hi, my house (a low-end terrace) is up for sale and I am thinking of renting in Nottingham if the sale goes through - got a viewer on Saturday, although not building my hopes up.

Looking on rightmove tonight at 2 bedroom properties for rent in Nottingham, I am dismayed at the prevalence of the student accommodation thing. You look at something that says £325 per month, and reading in more detail, it says that the place is for students, and it is £325 PER PERSON per month. The actual rental being demanded is two to four times the amount mentioned on Rightmove.

I wish the whole higher education con had never got started - Mickey Mouse degrees and all that - and I can only think the £9K a year fees a good thing, if it dampens the market for accommodation, because many of these landlords are offering for rent terraced houses that they picked up for nowt 10 years ago and are getting £1200 or more from them in rent.

Why is this country such a con?

Because it's run by, for and on behalf of the landowners.

My offspring has been renting student accom for last 3 years. 5 girls in what was originally a 3 bed semi, now with roof conversion oop North.

Nearly £2,000 per month for the house. Imagine what that does to the capital values in student areas. Insane.

[@contradevian]

Because it's run by, for and on behalf of the landowners.

My offspring has been renting student accom for last 3 years. 5 girls in what was originally a 3 bed semi, now with roof conversion oop North.

Nearly £2,000 per month for the house. Imagine what that does to the capital values in student areas. Insane.

Plus you have the hidden costs imposed by the agent, because these shared houses are usually let on an AST basis, so there are charges for tenancy renewals and for changing the names on the lease and so on. Nice little earner.

However can't see this continuing. The scale of student accomodation building in my local town (Huddersfield) is something to behold and the rooms will be fully serviced with internet, laundries and in some cases gym's and swimming pools.

Its just amazing how quickly they can build, when there are students, and especially foreign student cash to suck in.

Hope to a lot more sad looking "To Let" signs springing up Bedsitland soon, and hopefully the bankrupting of a few local letting agents (racketeers).

[RufflesTheGuineaPig]

However can't see this continuing. The scale of student accomodation building in my local town (Huddersfield) is something to behold and the rooms will be fully serviced with internet, laundries and in some cases gym's and swimming pools.

Its just amazing how quickly they can build, when there are students, and especially foreign student cash to suck in.

The UKs universities have abundant land, but also MASSIVE financial problems.

Simply selling off the land is unpopular. Since unis tend to be run by smart people, they realise that the short-term cash gain from a sale is not a good use of the land, and there is far more profit to be made from turning it into student accommodation. Even at their reduced rates, a new build student accommodation block probably pays for itself in well under 10 years, because the largest cost - the land - isn't paid.

[Gigantic Purple Slug]

The UKs universities have abundant land, but also MASSIVE financial problems.

Simply selling off the land is unpopular. Since unis tend to be run by smart people, they realise that the short-term cash gain from a sale is not a good use of the land, and there is far more profit to be made from turning it into student accommodation. Even at their reduced rates, a new build student accommodation block probably pays for itself in well under 10 years, because the largest cost - the land - isn't paid.

This.

Plus the fact that you get to build them three stories high, with one kitchen/utility between 12 people.

Oh yeah, and you get to control the internet, power etc and funnel in the tenants through your admissions system.

And if it is all on site, then you get more students in your bars and buying stuff from the student shops.

Or of course you could just leave the land lying empty and let them go off campus to student landlords...

[Tankus]

The University of the UK

We just need to cut the landlord subsidy (HB), and change the how the free money from student loans comes about (unlikely).

Students can still think, I'll borrow £50K, and it is paid back over many years in small amounts each month, and if you don't earn over the threshold they can't do anything.

You get to be your own independent person, get out of the parental home, not have to answer to a boss or your parents. They are not worried by handing over £325pcm over to a landlord for a room - it is not their money they have earned through sweat and toil (yet to come in repayment), in fact it is a bargain for 3-4 years of freedom! A few hours of lectures and study each day. Sports afternoon on Wednesdays, cooked breakfasts at the Union bar, and all the other stuff involving the birds and the bees.

The loans are written off after so long anyway if you don't find work. It is a still a low risk play, compared to fighting it out in the extremely tough jobs market with others who are older, have more experience, and more connections. And even then you may not want to move out of your parents home with a job because the money is hard to come by and you want to squirrel it away, rather than hand over £500pcm for a damp flat in a scum area. If I was coming out of college right now, I would still take the university route and bypass the recession/depression.

I honestly can't tell if your taking the piss or not....?

[The Ayatollah Buggeri]

Simply selling off the land is unpopular. Since unis tend to be run by smart people, they realise that the short-term cash gain from a sale is not a good use of the land, and there is far more profit to be made from turning it into student accommodation. Even at their reduced rates, a new build student accommodation block probably pays for itself in well under 10 years, because the largest cost - the land - isn't paid.

The problem is that an increasing proportion of students are living at home and commuting to campus in a bid to keep costs down.

One of my students even lives in Dublin (200 miles away) and day commutes to campus two days a week on Ryanair. This reduces her outgoings by around half compared to living on or close to the campus. The number of home-based students has increased from around 5% to 20% in the last five years. At the last university I worked (Teesside), a large hall of residence was even closed down and demolished due to falling demand (though the UoT did have an unusually high proportion of day-commuting students, by national standards: the real story is that the numbers are growing in traditional universities).

The only way these expensive student residences are going to stay viable is if universities can continue to recruit large numbers of rich kids from the Surrey stockbroker belt, and international students.