Student letting agency behaving fairly?

Annabee

My student daugher and her friends have arranged to rent a house though a letting agents for the next academic year. It is a shared house and they are 'jointly and severally liable' (as am I, as gaurantor - not very thrilled about that, but what can you do?)

They are having to pay half rent for July and August even though they will have no access and are not even allowed to leave their things there. All the agencies in the town (Canterbury) are doing this, according to daughter Does anyone know if this is normal for a student let?

Also, the agency are insisting that they all take out individual policies with Endsleig, strongly suggesting that it is through them (so they get the commission I suppose). Some of them have already paid. The agent has forwarded details
of the policy, but it seems to be more suited for HMO, or university accommodation. Also doesnt' mention accidental damage being covered, which is what the agency keep talking aboiut. I looked on Endsleigh's website, and they have a 'house sharer's policy' which seems more suitable and there would only be one premium to pay between them, which would obviously be cheaper.

As there are 5 of them sharing, should it really be classed as HMO?

Also, the LA are insisting that the policy starts 1 July ('as that is when your tenancy agreement starts') but how can this be right when they are allowed absolutely no access until 1 September?

Are the agency mis-selling these policies?

jjlandlord

If the tenancy agreement starts 1st July, and rent is paid from then on, they cannot prevent the tenant from accessing the property.

In addition they cannot force tenant to get an insurance a specified insurer.

Seems that letting agents' practice in the students market is even worse than 'normal'...

Annabee

But they are only paying half rent for July and August (apparently this is a 'concession'!) so does this make any difference? Some of my daugher's friends in other houses have had to pay full rent for July and August, but at least they are then allowed to use the place ove the summer, even though a lot of them may not need to.

Daugher and her friends were originally told they could leave a box of things each, but were later told it was not possible.

lowlitmemory

I've heard anecdotally that charging half-rent over the summer is pretty standard for university towns. The alternative is having access but paying full rent... not very useful if you aren't living there. Many landlords will let you store your stuff there over the summer too.

jjlandlord

The amount paid does not matter.
If you have a tenancy agreement for the period and rent (any amount) is paid and accepted then legally the landlord hasn't a leg to stand on: Either they allow access, or they repay the money + potential losses due to breach of contract.

Annabee

It seems to be a standard practice with Student lets, though, as lowlitmemory says, so if the agency are challenged on this, perhaps the house will suddenly no longer be available to my daugher and friends? Can't risk this.

Any thoughts about the insurance policy start date?

jjlandlord

Annabee wrote: »

Any thoughts about the insurance policy start date?

As you said: You can't risk it, right?
So if you're happy paying rent for nothing, you surely can also just pay the extra £10 a month that the insurance costs...

Annabee

Well when you put it like that.... yes, you're right of course.

They are also being charged £50 +VAT for a check-in, check-out charge EACH. Nice little earner for the LA. And have been told they can't have overnight guests without checking first, which I know to be rubbish, isn't it?

We are renting ourselves, and are so, so SICK of dodgy letting agencies. When are they going to be properly regulated?

edgex

lowlitmemory wrote: »

I've heard anecdotally that charging half-rent over the summer is pretty standard for university towns. The alternative is having access but paying full rent... not very useful if you aren't living there. Many landlords will let you store your stuff there over the summer too.

its pretty much standard practice at the end of the first year of letting, if you want to stay in the house for a 2nd/3rd year, that you pay some amount of rent over the summer.

princeofpounds

It is quite normal to pay these summer retainers in university lets. The reason is that students are competing with 'normal' people for use of accommodation.

If a landlord lets to students and is faced with a 3 month void every year then he is going to ask a higher price per month of actual occupation almost by definition, or he would never consider letting to them. He would just go and get a 'normal' tenant.

Now what happens in practice is that extra cost instead gets spread over a summer to lower the headline rent figure and the landlord gets some time for repairs and re-painting.

Student letting tends to be a bit more profitable than 'normal' lets as you can typically pile more people into a property and spend less on maintaining it (unfortunately), and it is not always easy to attract 'normal' tenants into student-type housing, so basically the compromise typically ends up as a headline termtime rent and a retainer for the vacant period.

The right way to view it is to compare the cost of letting over the adademic year, so if there is a summer retainer, simply add it to the monthly rent when comparing it to houses that don't charge one. If you don't like it, you can always try to find a cheaper landlord.

So whilst a summer retainer seems unfair, it's really just part of the cost of renting prices from the open market. This is a (rare?!) instance where it is not landlord greed but the simple operation of the market - students have to compete with 'normal' people who don't disappear for 3 months for housing.

Now, having said that if the tenancy actually begins on the first day of the summer and the retainer period is not set up properly outside the tenancy then the landlord legally cannot deny entry. But you have to ask whether that dispute is really worth it given the landlord will not renew a tenancy, will not give a reference, and might even exercise a break clause if they have one.

As for the insurance, unfortunately agents can abuse their monopoly position as middlemen to inflict spurious charges. Landlords don't seem to realise that these are just indirect costs of housing and ultimately come out of rent budgets, so they don't crack down on the pratice. You just have to either view it as part of the rent cost or work around it somehow.

In the case of insurance, you can take out your own policy though distance selling, show it to them, then cancel it if you like during the cooling off period. That's the normal workaround to such stupid requests.

Endsleigh do produce suitable policies but it sounds like buying the agent's policy might be inappropriate and if you can avoid giving them the commission all the better.

If the tenants do not have possession of the house then either the tenancy has not started or the landlord could technically get in trouble for not giving access (but as noted above, legal disputes might not be worth pursuing practically).

Furthermore, the tenants will likely not have an 'insurable interest' in the property during the period they occupy it for all sorts of reasons and so the policy would never pay out. Even when they do occupy it the only things that normally can be covered are contents and accidental damage they do themselves. So it's worth nothing. But that's not why the agents are interested in selling it so they don't care and never will.

As for mis-selling, they are certainly selling something they shouldn't but I have to admit I am not sure what the regulations are around insurance.

It is likely the house is an HMO, but see your local council's guidance to be sure.

butler_helen

You mention getting a reference, when I rented straight from uni I needed nothing but proof of income to rent a "professional" flat. The second house required neither and is a reputable let too... So I wouldn't necessarily worry about a reference at the end.

Although this isn't gospel and no doubt there are LL's and LA's who want references.

We got clobbered at the endof our student let for "undisclosed cleaning" so make sure your daughter photographs it empty with date stamps etc. we didn't