Can a student rent a luxury flat?

TheEffect

To keep it simple, if a university student wanted to rent a £800/m flat on the beach, would the landlord/letting agents outright refuse it? Do they require proof that the tenant is working and can afford the monthly rent?

I'm curious!

thegirlintheattic

When I was a post-grad a fellow post-grad had a luxury penthouse her mum paid for. I think with a guarrentor, big deposit and above-asked rent most LL could be talked into it but you would be paying above the odds for it.

tbs624

Some LLs would not let a "luxury" property to a student full stop.

MusicalLawyer

I found it hard to rent my flat I'm in which is FAR from luxury, because I didn't earn the amount required (30 times the rent per year) to be able to rent. Luckily my OH has a very good job - I had to get part time employment. They wouldn't count my student loan as 'income'.

TheEffect

So the flat would be hard to rent even if your parents were a guarantor and say you gave 2 months rent as deposit?

rentergirl

They want to see an income, even a student loan and maybe you are working? They will be suspicious. They will want bank references and a guarantor. But they might let you in, if they like the sound of you.

smala01

Some landlord insurance policies do not permit students or housing benefit claimants.

This may be why some properties are a "No" regardless of guarantee

Smala01

Lit_Up

They won't rent to the student but they will rent to the student's parent whilst their child lives in the flat. Same difference.

chewmylegoff

There are plenty of students renting far more expensive flats than that in London. When I was at uni in London 10 years ago there was a guy on my course from thailand who was renting a flat for £1,000 per week...obviously his dad was super rich.

Basically if you've got a bottomless pit of cash you can rent pretty much anything you want, regardless of what your employment status is.

Emmzi

I can't imagine why a normal student would want to. If they are super rich then daddy will buy them a flat. if they are normal they'll want to minimise the amount of student debt they have so will live with a small room in a house share.

So - not an intelligent student, I'd say.

pinkteapot

You can sometimes avoid the income requirement by paying the full six months rent for the initial AST up front.

Won't help if the landlord is simply anti-students. Can also be risky if they turn out to be a dodgy landlord who doesn't do repairs etc and you want to have a go at breaking the tenancy early.