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What do students want from accommodation?
What do students want from accommodation?
Despite uncertainty around Brexit, the student property market has shown rapid growth over the last decade meaning the sector is now valued at more than £50 billion, which represents a 72% rise in value since 2014*.
Towergate conducted a study** of 500 undergraduate students across the UK to find out how landlords can succeed within the student property market. Results revealed certain mismatches between how landlords are conducting their businesses and how students would prefer them to.
The survey revealed that the average student in the UK pays between £300 and £499 per month to rent a room in a property they share with at least two other tenants. But just how should a student landlord go about finding a student property and subsequently maintaining good communications with student tenants?
Key property features valued by students
Results showed that large bedrooms are the most sought-after property feature for students – so much so that landlords could be forgiven for converting the living room into an additional bedroom, given that students say they value a fast internet connection as much as a comfy living room.
Student tenants may be more budget-conscious, but most would pay more money if their landlord provided cleaning services as part of the tenancy contract.
Although the student property market is fast-moving, with a high turnover of tenants, 68% of students would prefer to remain in the same property throughout their time at university.
Surprisingly perhaps, most students (64%) would prefer to live close to a supermarket than restaurants, bars or even their university campus. Less than half of students (43%) can commute to their university campus within 15 minutes, and some 28% rely on public transport to get to lectures and seminars.
Good communications between student landlords and tenants
Although face-to-face and telephone contact between landlords and tenants is the most common, students would rather use email to communicate with their landlord than any other method.
Only 5% of students have communicated with their landlord through an instant messaging app like WhatsApp, but 15% say they would prefer this to telephone or email.
Although just 15% of students are dissatisfied by their current accommodation, one-in-five (20%) say they have had disappointing experiences with landlords.
When asked about what behaviour frustrates them the most, 73% of students said a landlord who is slow to respond and deal with any issues they report is their biggest gripe, closely followed by landlords who visit unannounced – which is, in fact, illegal.
Student landlord insurance from Towergate
We provide student landlord insurance through a panel to find cover based on your specific needs. See our student landlord insurance page or call 0344 892 1664 for more.
** Towergate survey conducted with Maru/Usurv in January 2019 among 500 UK-based undergraduate students
Date: May 17, 2019
Category: Landlords
