student properties
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Housing Market
Student property outperforming all investments, says research
A survey by Knight Frank and AccommodationforStudents.com highlighted growing demand from university students for high-quality, purpose-built accommodation, representing a terrific opportunity for investors in the student property market – and a compelling commercial opportunity for brokers of property, too. Even the reforms to tuition fees in 2012 failed to halt the rental growth for student properties and demand is now at record-high levels, delivering strong yields for investors. Students across the country are prepared to pay a premium for high-quality, purpose-built residences, according to the research. However, despite these rental growths and strong market performance, many students are still paying for accommodation that is rated as low-quality. The vast majority of students in the UK live in old-fashioned, often run-down Houses in Multiple Occupation, but that is changing with a new approach from developers who are identifying and meeting the real needs and requirements of the modern student – and therein lies an opportunity for property brokers. How can a broker get involved? Case study: specialist developer in the market, Select Property Group, is creator of market leading student accommodation provider Vita Student, contractually assure investors minimum seven per cent return every year for the first five years. It is…
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Features
Protecting student deposits
Anyone living in a university city will be aware of the yearly transition of first year students from halls of residence to privately rented accommodation for the remainder of their studies. Not surprisingly, my office receives an increased level of complaints from students and landlords several months after this transition occurs on the top of protecting student deposits. The current trend is for tenancies to be agreed months in advance of the start date, often with significant sums taken upfront to reserve properties, as students want to secure a property for the next academic year prior to their end of year exams. In the past, under the previous tenancy deposit protection arrangements, where a security deposit was taken, the agent had been able to retain these monies before registering them shortly after the commencement of the tenancy. However, the Localism Act, which came into force on 6 April, changed Tenancy Deposit Protection legislation and now the deposit holder has a 30 day period to register it with a tenancy deposit scheme and provide the prescribed information effective from the date those monies are received. This is an absolute time limit which allows the tenant to make a claim, if needed, 31 days after payment regardless of whether the requirements relating to deposit protection have been met. The penalties for not registering the deposit and providing the prescribed information can be severe; the…
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