It’s unlikely that the image of a shabby, cold and crowded student flat would be a shock to anyone. People love to reminisce about their shoestring lifestyles when they were at uni. But when does it go too far? When students can’t afford to turn their heating on? When they’re barely able to study because they have to work so many hours to pay the bills? When they’re turning to foodbanks? The reality is that grants are a thing of the past for the majority of students. Maintenance loans, meanwhile, have risen below inflation for years, while the maximum that can be borrowed is reduced by any family income over £25,000 – the same threshold as in 2007.
| Academic year | Maximum loan (£) | Max. if risen with CPI1 |
| 2021/22 | 9488 | |
| 2022/23 | 9706 | 10351 |
| 2023/24 | 9978 | 11107 |
| 2024/25 | 10227 | 11385 |
| 2025/26 | 10544 | 11749 |
Table 1 Maximum maintenance loan for full-time students in England (living away from home). Source: UK Government; 1CPI is annual rate. Source: ONS.
At the same time, the cost of living has been increasing for students just as it has for everyone else. Housing costs, in particular, have spiralled in recent years, meaning more of students’ dwindling money is being spent on poor-quality homes. And they are poor-quality. The NUS’s recent accommodation survey found that half of students have experienced mouldy homes, while a fifth had had pest infestations. Overall, 84% of student renters reported issues with their housing.
In England, the Renters’ Rights Bill will make the lives of some student renters easier when it comes into force, with more protections against evictions and an end to bidding wars when a property is being let. Tenancies will also become periodic, meaning we won’t be stuck in homes that turn out to be sub-standard while the fixed term is in place, and at less risk of being kicked out when it ends. Analysis of the 2021 Census shows that around 64,000 students were living on their own in privately rented housing in England, with almost half of those aged 25 or over.* Meanwhile, around 53,000 students are living in homes with one other student. These students stand to benefit from the tenancy reforms in the same way as private tenants in wider society.
However, many of those living with other students won’t be seeing the benefits of the Bill when it passes. As we reported in March, landlords will be able to evict students in houses in multiple occupation (HMOs) at any point between June and September. This will affect around 300,000 students. At the very least, this is annoying for students who don’t want to move home in the middle of their course. But many students need to work over summer, are estranged from their families, or want to stay in their home after finishing their degree. And the kicker is that the National Residential Landlords Association (NRLA) wants even more students to be at risk of eviction. They’ve been pushing for this new eviction ground to apply to those in two-student house-shares, as well as those living on their own.
So, what’s this new eviction ground based on? The idea is that if student tenancies become periodic (i.e., with no fixed terms), those flats and houses will be ‘lost’ to the student rental market if the occupants want to stay put after finishing their degree. If they later moved out, it might be outside of the student lettings cycle and so they’d still be lost to the student market.
Not convinced? Us neither. First of all, only 30% of students want to stay in the current home for a second year. Most students in the private rented sector are also in HMOs – it’s unlikely that whole houses of students will stay on after their course finishes. For example, Centre for Cities found that 67% of the students who went to study in Manchester left after graduating. In Birmingham it was 76%. Meanwhile, many people want to move during the academic year anyway, meaning there will always be a need for homes mid-year.
Another group that is set to miss out on new protections is those in student halls. Most university-owned halls are already exempt as the students living in them do so with licence agreements, rather than assured shorthold tenancies. While universities should be signed up to a national code of practice for how these halls are run, students in them are afforded far less security. Fixed terms will continue, for example, while universities still won’t be required to protect students’ deposits or give more than a month’s notice of eviction.
But that’s not all. In its current form, the Renters’ Rights Bill will make students in private halls (often called Purpose-built Student Accommodation, or PBSA) lose out on new protections, too. This is because their tenancies will become licences, rather than assured periodic tenancies, just like those in uni-owned halls. According to the Census, there are 433,000 students in halls who will have fewer rights than other renters, although the figure is likely higher (as the Census took place during the COVID-19 pandemic, while student numbers have also since grown). These students will be locked into fixed terms and there won’t be a restriction on the amount of rent they’ll be forced to pay upfront. While these providers will have to follow a national code of practice, there are different codes for private and university halls, meaning rights and conditions will vary between them.
We need to be strengthening the rights of renters and stopping landlords profiting from cold, mouldy homes, not eroding protections. The Renters’ Rights Bill recognises this and is set to make things better for many tenants; it should be doing the same for students.
*ONS Census 2021, using household type, household size, tenure and occupation status variables.
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