Rate your Landlord was a survey based on students’ experiences of renting private accommodation compiled between October and December 2011 by the Students’ Unions Welfare and International Officer, Suzi Burtenshaw.
For many of us, university is the first experience of living away from home and the first time we are looking for a house. Many of us have never read a contract before, nor do we know what key elements to look for in a house. The Rate your Landlord results will help you decide which letting agencies to look at and ensure that your landlord/letting agent lives up to their legal responsibilities. Most of all it will give you the confidence to know what to look for in a house and how to deal with any situations that may arise in your accommodation.
Finding your accommodation
• The majority of students found their accommodation through a lettings agency, SU Lets (our Students’ Union lettings company), the internet, word of mouth or through street signs.
• 60% of students found their accommodation in the Autumn term, between September and December. 48.2% of students felt rushed into signing their agreement, many made comments such as :
o ‘The student body is too panicked, especially those going into second year’
o ‘Everybody felt rushed to buy accommodation around Christmas time’
o ‘We were told if we didn’t sign within next 3 hours the house would go to someone else as they were still showing people the property’
o ‘If we were able to pick a property just before the summer rather than just before December, it would have given us more time to decide who to live with’
• 24.6% of students only viewed 1 or 2 houses before signing, but statistically you are more likely to find better accommodation if you view more than 4 houses
• Only 35% of respondents got their contract checked before signing it
• Only 76.9% of respondents got a receipt from their deposit, and only 46.2% got their landlord’s contact details
• Only 36.9% of deposits were protected (47.2% didn’t know). ALL deposits should be protected and your landlord has a legal obligation to inform you about which protection scheme is being used
You should never feel pressurised into signing; a contract is a legal document that requires time and consideration reading it before signing. Just remember that there is plenty of accommodation in Leicester; it will not run out! If you are a first year signing up for a house in the first month of University life, you’ve only known your future housemates for a month. Are you sure you want to be signing a legally binding contract with them already?
Moving into your accommodation
• 16.8% of students don’t know who manages their property day by day
• On a scale of 1-10, with 1 being poor and 10 being extremely clean upon moving into their house, 47.5% of respondents rated it 1-5 with the other 52.5% being 5-10
• 63.5% had problems with disrepair
• 48.1% had problems with damp or mould
• 51.1% had problems with heating/insulation
• Other problems included other tenants, neighbours, lack of facilities, bills, deposit and rent
• 50.8% of landlords/letting agents solved the problem
• Only 9.9% had NO problems whatsoever
• 57.2% would recommend their accommodation; 42.8% wouldn’t
Prevention is better than cure. Therefore, do as much research as you can before signing your contract. Talk to the current housemates without the landlord being present so you can find out how easy it is to get in contact with them, how easily they respond to problems, and what problems (if any) they have with the house. Chances are, if they already have problems with damp, mould, heating or insulation, these problems will continue on into the next academic year. Ensure that your property is run by someone who cares about you and your house and not just about profit!
Individual letting agent scores
Letting agents which had 3 or more responses were given a percentage based on the following criterion: the state of the house upon moving in, the ease of contact with the letting agent, overall quality and condition of the accommodation, value for money, service provided, speed of repairs, and whether the student would recommend them.
LLC 68.0
Abode (SU Lets) 62.0
Nicholas Humphreys 59.0
Barkers 58.5
Priya 55.0
Parmars 46.5
Belvoir 43.0
Habitio 41.5
Westmanor 37.0
First 4 Lettings 29.0
IPS 25.0
Jalaram 25.0
Hopefully this table gives you an indication of those letting agents you may want to rent with.
Students’ Union Action Points
1. We will contact individual landlords and letting agencies with their results and recommendations to improve their accommodation
2. We will create a house hunting information pack and provide more accommodation talks for students
3. We will improve our own service, SU Lets, to gain a better service for students
If you would like any more information about anything to do with accommodation then do not hesitate to contact the Welfare and International Officer, Suzi Burtenshaw, on su-wiofficer@le.ac.uk. Happy househunting!
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