Renting to students

If you are looking for a buy-to-let property and are unsure about where you should buy, it might be worth considering a University town/city and renting to students. Investing in a student property can be a very profitable investment and even with recent announcements regarding tuition fees there will always be a need for student accommodation year on year.

 Advantages of renting to students

• Students usually like to live in large groups but will pay rent on a per room basis, so if you purchase/have a large house you could be getting multiple rental payments from one property making it an extremely worthwhile venture.
• Furnishing your property can be affordable. Whilst you should approach renting to students as you would renting to anyone else you can get away with more basic furniture. Many students will bring their own home comforts and will appreciate not having to worry about breaking expensive furnishings/appliances.
• Students get a bad reputation and some will undoubtedly fit that bill but the majority will be conscientious and laid back tenants. Professional tenants can be busier people so often need repairs doing that minute, usually at evenings or weekends, where as students can be more flexible with their time.
• Rental contracts will most likely all be of a similar length (an academic year) so you can make plans around this (i.e. renovation throughout summer). You also won’t be tied to any long-term contracts.

Disadvantages of renting to students

• The old cliché of messy students. Living away from home for the first time, house parties and having multiple people sharing living facilities all add up to a messy house. However if you enforce regular checks you can ensure that the property is kept in good condition.
• Students can drop out. With only University studies keeping your student tenants living in your property there is always the risk that they will drop out and go home.
• You will need to keep a closer eye on your property. Heavy usage will mean that your property is more susceptible to damage and students are less likely to report these niggly faults.
• There will be times when the property is left unoccupied. Very few students will stay over university holidays meaning the property may be left empty. 
• Competition. There will be a lot more landlord competition as landlords compete for the best tenants.

What to look for when buying a property to let to students?

Old properties are usually the most suitable for conversion to student accommodation as they have large rooms that can be turned into extra bedrooms easily. A property within walking distance of the University and/or nightlife is a huge bonus to students searching for student accommodation.

Many landlords of student properties fall into the trap of thinking “they are only students so I don’t have to bother”, but word of mouth is hugely important in the world of student accommodation so being a good landlord will pay off massively.

Rachel Bexon, PropertyPriceAdvice’s Marketing Manager remembers; “My friends at University had a great landlord who was friendly, helpful and most importantly would deal with any repairs/damage quickly and efficiently. As a result when my friends came to graduate their landlord had people queuing up to rent his property and actually had new tenants move in the day after my friends left. This was all due to recommendations my friends had given him at University, their landlord didn’t even have to advertise his property and he benefited from knowing he would have good, reliable tenants.

In comparison I had a terrible landlord. He took weeks to return phone calls and even longer to actually visit the property. He also insisted on doing repairs himself so we had wonky wardrobes, a shower that was fixed to the wall a foot shorter than everyone who lived there and all the electric sockets fixed to the opposite wall to the kitchen to name a few. Needless to say I warned everyone I knew against renting off him and when I returned to Leeds in the December after my graduation saw that the property still had a (slightly wonky) ‘To Let’ sign hanging outside.