Student accommodation (also known as a student let) is a type of rental strategy where a property is rented to students (normally university students) using either one (or multiple) assured shorthold tenancy (AST) agreement(s).
It is likely that you’ll be renting your property to 3 or more unrelated students. Therefore, you’ll have to make sure your rental property complies with your local council’s rules around houses of multiple occupancy (HMO). The property is typically fully-furnished. This rental strategy is often a higher yielding strategy compared to a traditional single let.
Who is student accommodation for?
Student accommodation is a versatile rental strategy that can work well for a variety of landlords and property types. The key criteria is that your property is located within a university town/city and is approximately no more than a 30 minute walk from the university campus.
Properties which are particularly suitable for student accommodation include:
3+ bed town houses which have a large living room and kitchen. The more bedrooms the better. As student accommodation is typically rented out room by room, you can rent the property for much more per month than if you just rented it out as a single let.
1 bed apartments or studio apartments can also be popular amongst students, especially post-grads such as PHD students.
How does student accommodation work?
Student accommodation has similarities with a house of multiple occupancy (HMO). It is advertised by the room with a room rent. Each student rents a room and shares the common rooms with their housemates, such as the kitchen, living room and bathrooms. If there are 3 or more unrelated students renting the property, it would class as an HMO and your property would need to comply with the local council’s rules on HMOs.
The type of tenancy agreement used between students and a landlord is an assured shorthold tenancy (AST) agreement, with a tenancy period of ~44 weeks (the duration of the academic year). A group of students renting a property for the academic year are either issued a single assured shorthold tenancy (AST) agreement which they all sign or are issued individual ASTs which they each sign. If all the students sign one AST they’re jointly liable, whereas if they sign individual ASTs they have individual liability.
Benefits of student accommodation
Student accommodation is a popular rental strategy amongst landlords in university towns and cities for a variety of reasons.
Most notably, it is often a higher yielding rental strategy compared to traditional single lets. In university towns there is high demand for this type of accommodation!
Secondly, landlords have to worry less about voids and finding new tenants. Students rent accommodation for the entire academic year, as a result, tenancy periods are approximately a year. In addition, students typically start looking for accommodation for their next academic year (starting in September) in January, giving landlords more certainty of occupancy for the next academic year (often student accommodation is booked a year if not two years in advance).
Where can I find someone to help with student accommodation?
If you have a property in a university town/city and would like to either get advice on running a student let or find someone to manage a student let on your behalf, use Doormarked to find an independent property advisor (IPA) who can provide you with either student accommodation advice or letting management. Alternatively, if you would like to become a student landlord, find a deal packager in a university town/city of your choice and discuss the opportunities available!
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