Student lets

There are more than 30,000 students residing in the city, with nearly half of these in privately owned properties - making studio flats and large houses for multiple occupancy a popular choice with local landlords.

When to advertise

Ideally, we like to start marketing student properties from early spring, as this gives the accommodation offices serving local students time to collate information and make it available to those who want to get things tied up early.

SASSH accreditation scheme

Southampton City Council has introduced the Southampton Accreditation Scheme for Student Housing (SASSH) in partnership with the University of Southampton and the Southampton Institute. To join the scheme, an application must be made in writing on the appropriate forms, providing details of the facilities within the accommodation and proof of compliance with safety regulations (among other things). While the truthfulness of an application is taken on trust, council officers do make random inspections to check that the information supplied is correct, and revoke the membership of any landlords whose properties fall below the required standard.

We recommend that our student landlords apply for SASSH membership, as it is a recognised scheme that is promoted to students via student accommodation offices, and provides reassurance for prospective student tenants (and their parents) that a property is safe and well maintained.

Length of tenancy

By definition, a student who is studying in Southampton is unlikely to live in Southampton all year round. This means that landlords will have to assume that it will be difficult or unlikely to achieve full rent for a property during the long summer holiday. When the student tenants are in their final year, it is almost certain that they will want to vacate the property at the end of the summer term.

A certain amount of flexibility is involved when arranging for student lets. Most have tenancy agreements for 9 or 12 months, depending on the arrangements that are agreed for the summer holiday. If a landlord agrees to charge students a reduced rent during the summer vacation, the students should be entitled to live in the property during the vacation. If instead the landlord prefers to take a retainer or a very nominal rent over the summer, the students would not have the right to live in the property during that time.

Financially speaking, it is better to arrange student lettings earlier in the year, rather than later. Those leaving it to July or August to advertise will be on the back foot in terms of their negotiating stance, possibly having to accept a deposit to secure the house with no rent payable until September or even October.

Joint or separate tenancies?

When the names of all tenants are listed on a single contract, it is classed as a 'joint tenancy'. This means that responsibility for the rent, and any rent arrears, is shared equally with the other tenants. So if one tenant leaves, or stops paying the rent, the remaining tenants are obliged to make up the lost rent and/or pay the arrears.

Under a 'separate tenancy' agreement, each tenant will have a separate contract that specifies the room he or she will be occupying, and the amount of rent that the tenant is individually responsible for.

The advantage to a landlord of a joint contract is that the full rent is payable regardless of the number of tenants remaining in the property. However, when the tenants give notice to end the tenancy, they will all leave at once. Depending on the time of year, this could leave a landlord with no rental income until another group of students can be found. If just one of the tenants wishes to leave, though, the remaining tenants have to be consulted about the replacement tenant, and it could take some time before agreement is reached, which can be unsettling for all concerned.

With separate tenancy agreements, individual tenants can choose to give notice at any time, and the remaining tenants are not responsible for making up the difference. On the other hand, the landlord is not obliged to consult with the remaining tenants when finding a replacement.

Parent guarantors

In April 2007, the government is introducing a Tenancy Deposit Scheme (see our Buy-to-Let Guide) which obliges landlords or their agents to hand financial deposits collected from tenants to a custodian company for the duration of the tenancy. Rather than handing over a financial deposit, some landlords are accepting 'bonds' from a guarantor, which amounts to a contractual agreement to pay for any damages or rent arrears associated with the tenant in question. In the case of students, the guarantor is often the student's parent.

If a landlord wishes to have a bond with a parent guarantor, instead of having a financial deposit held by a custodian company, it is important that this is discussed before we arrange for contracts to be signed, because the financial implications are different depending on the type of tenancy.

If we arrange for a joint tenancy, in which all occupiers of the property are listed on one contract, then the parent would be signing as guarantor for the debts of everyone covered by the tenancy agreement so the chances are that the parent would be very reluctant!

Instead, all tenants would need to be supplied with separate tenancy agreements for their share of the rent, so that a parent would only be standing guarantor for his or her child.

Household Bills

When household bills are not included in the rent, we check that utility bills are transferred into the names of the student tenants (as part of our fully managed service) to avoid any liability on the landlord at a later date.

Managing students

Many students will be living away from home for the first time, with little or no prior experience of taking responsibility for the day-to-day running of a home. At Tenant Direct, we always make it clear to students which maintenance duties are their responsibility and not those of the landlord or ourselves as managing agents.

For example, if a landlord has provided a lawnmower for the upkeep of the garden, we will make it clear that this is a job that the students should manage between them on a regular basis. We also work with landlords to ensure that student tenants have the information they need to maintain the property as they would their own home - such as the days when rubbish is collected, the location of the nearest recycling facilities, and where the emergency mains stopcock is located.

By providing as much information, guidance and support as we can up front, we foster good relationships with student tenants, and reduce the chance of problems further down the line.

Right of Access to your property

As a landlord, you have every right to inspect your rented property - but not whenever you feel like it! The rules are that any visit must be made at reasonable hours and with 24 hours notice.