The Christmas break is a good time for property owners to spruce up student accommodation, as most tenants will be returning home for the festive season.
A poll by YouGov reveals 78% of UK students who live in rented accommodation during term-time will spend Christmas at their family home, while 6% take a holiday elsewhere. Only 16% stay on campus, allowing landlords to carry out property maintenance and refurbishment without disturbing the occupants.
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Why refurbish your student properties?
With more than 2.9 million students in higher education in the UK, including 2.3 million full-time, this can be a lucrative market for landlords. Growth has been largely driven over the past decade by an increase in overseas students studying on post-graduate courses.
There are almost 760,000 overseas students in the UK, revealing a growth in numbers for the tenth consecutive year. The University and Colleges Admissions Service estimates the number of international applications will have increased by 60% by 2030.
However, a joint survey by UCAS and Frank Knight estate agents revealed 21% of students sharing a house in the UK private sector felt it was poor value for money. The majority cited broken facilities that reduced the quality of their accommodation and problems getting timely repairs.
Attracting tenants means keeping your portfolio in good condition, in terms of carrying out repairs and routine maintenance and providing high-quality furniture for student accommodation – while no-one expects luxury penthouse standards, it must be fit for purpose, in good condition, comfortable and comply with safety standards.
Christmas student property maintenance
Look out for the most common signs that your university accommodation needs a spruce-up over the Christmas break and carry out the necessary work while you have the opportunity. Worn furniture, faded or damaged decor, tired communal areas and evidence of general wear and tear would suggest some work is required.
Decor upgrades improve the overall atmosphere of a student property: a well-decorated property contributes to tenants feeling at home during their stay. For some, it will be their first time away from home, so providing homely accommodation will enhance their quality of life and help them make the transition to living independently. They will be more likely to stay in your property for the duration of their university course, which will save you the hassle of looking for new tenants every year.
In years gone by, there was a general feeling that students didn’t care too much about where they lived during term-time, but those days are gone. A study published by Just Landlords revealed today’s students expected their rented accommodation to be fully furnished with good quality furniture, but 69% felt the furnishings let the property down and didn’t reflect the rent they’re paying.
Landlords are required by law to provide furniture that’s safe, meeting legal safety standards including making sure electrical appliances are PAT tested and that flammable items meet the Furniture and Furnishings (Fire Safety) Regulations 1988.
Out with the old, in with the new!
A professional supplier of bespoke furniture packages will take the hassle out of a refurbishment over the festive period, as you can be assured everything will meet the highest standards.
Here at Let Us Furnish, we work with you to book your desired delivery slot. Assembled when applicable and placed in the requested rooms, all furniture we provide is covered by the current fire safety regulations. We will also remove all waste packaging, and we can even take your old furniture away for recycling – £15 per item to take away one-off items, or £25 per sofa, on a like-for-like basis when delivering new furniture.
Our aim is to make things as simple as possible for landlords, especially at this busy time of year, when everyone is preparing for Christmas.
Safety and maintenance checks
For most of the population, the Christmas holiday is a welcome break from the routine. However, for landlords, it’s not a 9-5 job and the work seldom stops.
Regular maintenance ensures the safety of student tenants and avoids future repair issues that could disrupt their lives once term starts in the new year. Be sure to carry out winter checks on student properties, as you would on any of your buy-to-let homes, including a safety check of the central heating system, looking for loose roof tiles, clearing the gutter of leaves and debris and making sure pipes don’t freeze in sub-zero temperatures. Leaving central heating on at a low temperature on a timer can help prevent this.
Minimise the risks of burglaries over the holiday, as there are always opportunist thieves looking for empty properties. Check that catches and locks on all doors and windows are secure and that the security and external lighting in the communal entrance area of your HMO are in good repair.
It might be worth supplying smart plugs for the properties so the lighting can be set to go on and off at various intervals, giving the impression someone is at home – this could be enough to deter a would-be burglar.
Penalties for failing to care for student properties
Like any other tenant, in that landlords can face prosecution if they fail to care for the property, penalties can be severe, as students can apply to the Private Rented Housing Panel to investigate issues. A panel can impose an order demanding the landlord makes all necessary repairs. Failure to comply could mean they are reported to the local authority, and tenants can apply for a rent repayment order – they may be entitled to a refund of up to 12 months’ rent. In addition, the landlord can be subject to a court order to complete the repairs and may be liable to pay compensation to the tenants and pay some, or all, of their legal costs.
In 2019, Megan Cole, a student in Selly Oak, successfully took her landlord to court over unfit housing after she and seven housemates moved into a student rental property from halls of residence. They discovered notes from the previous tenants advising them to look out for issues including a problematic boiler, leaking showers, poor Wi-Fi, damp, mould and an ants’ nest. They contacted the landlord, who promised the problems would be rectified in due course.
In 2020, they took the landlord to a tribunal and one month later, they learned they had won their case and were entitled to one year’s rent, totalling £35,000 between eight tenants. The case became famous when Megan made it the subject of her dissertation and published details on social media as a warning to other students. Her post received more than 115,000 likes in just a few days.
A happy house
As a responsible landlord, sprucing up your student housing now means there’s less chance of experiencing conflict with dissatisfied tenants and starting the new year with problems. Once the jobs are completed, whether it’s repairs or routine maintenance, you can start to relax yourself and enjoy the festive season.