A new report shows 75% of students battle with mould and damp, and one third of students wouldn't recommend the Uni based on experiences of renting private accommodation
Union Officer Tom Phipps suggests there is a 'housing crisis', as rents are increasing while standard decreases. Over 90% of Bristol students experience problems with private accommodation, according to the findings of a student housing survey conducted by Bristol SU.
The damning survey found that one third of students would not recommend the University of Bristol to a friend, purely because of their experiences in the private sector rented accommodation. In fact, only two letting agencies gained an approval rating higher than 50%.
The report based its conclusions on the responses of 854 students, the vast majority of which were UK based undergraduate students. Amongst other issues, the main findings were that a significant number of student properties have serious safety concerns, with 75% of students finding mould or damp in their accommodation.
Students voiced their frustration at both the cost of letting agents and their lack of interest in resolving problems.
75% of students reported finding mould or damp in their accommodation.
‘I rented a 7 bedroom property through a letting agency last year, we were charged ridiculous fees and there was horrendous damp which they refused to do anything about.’ one student wrote.
As well as the potential health issues of mould, damp, and broken or leaking windows, home security was also flagged up as unacceptable. A quarter of students were unsatisfied with the security systems in their accommodation, whilst 9% of students in the survey claimed not to have a working fire detectors.
The report comes out at a time when the university have ended their guarantee of university advertised accommodation places for first year undergraduate students coming to the University on insurance offers. Student house prices are also on the rise; the average cost of upfront charges, including deposits, is £600.
These sorts of issues have left a third of students claiming that they would not recommend Bristol based on their experiences. This figure is far higher for disabled tudents at 47%, although the number of students in this category was very low.
Bristol SU Union Affairs Officer, Tom Phipps, expressed concern at what he described as a ‘housing crisis’, suggesting that rents continue to increase while standards fall.
‘Much of the housing available to students is in such a bad condition that it wouldn’t be rentable to non-students. The average annual rental cost for students is approximately £5000; well over the basic maintenance loan. These high rents make it increasingly difficult for students from low income backgrounds to live in Bristol. These findings should be a worry for universities in the city.
‘We will be working with the university and city council to implement the recommendations over the next year in order to improve living conditions for students in Bristol.’
The average annual rental cost for students is approximately £5000; well over the basic maintenance loan.
According to the report, international students are also hit hard by the financial requirements imposed by letting agencies. Of the students questioned, 80% had been asked to provide a guarantor; those unable to do so were sometimes required to pay as much as a year’s rent in advance.
Professor Judith Squires, Pro Vice-Chancellor for Education at University of Bristol, commented:
‘We are very concerned about the issues reported in this study. We will be working closely with Bristol Students' Union to see how we can best address these findings and ensure our students are not faced with unacceptable living conditions and costs.
‘The university continue to offer a residential guarantee to all our first year students (who submit their application by 31 July), and provide 24 hour pastoral support and security plus opportunities for personal and academic development through residence-based activities.’
‘You might also be interested to know that we have recently created a new post of Head of Student Residential Student Life (sic) to oversee our work in this area’.
A Union campaign called ‘Don’t Rent Yet’, aiming to raise awareness about student’s rights as tenants will be launched this November.The SU also found that students generally had better experiences when dealing with private landlords rather than letting agents, although this was only a marginal difference. UBU Lettings and Anthony James were the only letting agents that received an overall positive response, with more than half of respondents saying they would recommend them to a friend.
Other letting agents, such as Digs, fared much worse; less than a quarter of student tenants claimed they would recommend them. Of Digs tenants, more than 40% said they would not recommend the University of Bristol based on their experiences of privately rented accommodation, while 80% of those who used UBU Lettings who confirmed they would. When contacted by Epigram, Digs declined to comment.
Epigram also contacted one of Bristol’s letting agencies, Abode, who stressed that they ‘are actively striving to improve their service.’
‘I can honestly say that we treat all of our Tenants to be the same, whether they be students or professionals. We charge the same fee for both as we do not feel that they belong to two separate categories.’
This November Sarah Redrup, the new SU Student Living Officer, will be launching a campaign called ‘Don’t Rent Yet’, aiming to raise awareness about student’s rights as tenants, and highlight some of the issues in the Housing Survey before viewings begin.
Featured Image: Flickr/ Velodenz
