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 January, 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.

Length of tenancy

Students who are studying in Southampton are unlikely to live in Southampton all year round. Some landlords may assume that it will be difficult or unlikely to achieve full rent for a property during the long summer holiday. This is not the case, we will set up tenancies that will run 12 months of the year from July to July. Marketed correctly at the right time of year Tenant Direct can keep your student property full with no voids year in year out, this alongside the higher rents achievable renting to students are all factors which make Student letting one of the most secure and finically rewarding methods of property investment.

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. This is clearly not what you want so make sure remarketing your property for the next academic year is always a priority earlier rather than later.

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. This way, if just one of the tenants wishes to leave, the remaining tenants have to either pay the remaining shortfall of rent or find a replacement tenant, leaving the landlord secure in the knowledge that his rental income is assured for the term of the tenancy.

Tenant Direct will only set up 'Joint and several' student tenancies unless otherwise instructed by the landlord. This is the most secure way to make sure your investment runs like clockwork with a guaranteed monthly rental figure coming in for a fixed term.

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.

In the case of parental guarantors on joint tenancies, as is the case for student properties, although the tenancy is a joint and several tenancy each individual guarantor is signing to cover their own child's obligations under the tenancy agreement, i.e the first port of call in the case of rent arrears on a particular tenant will be the guarantor rather than the other tenants, this is to help avoid the obvious issues the joint tenants and their parents may have about covering another housemates rent should they fall short.

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.