In September Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner introduced the Renters’ Rights Bill to parliament and the Bill could become law by the summer of 2025.
The Bill will improve the rights of renters, but under the current proposals, some of the new protections will not apply to student renters. We want to change this.
On Wednesday (23 October) we joined the National Union of Students and Students’ Unions from across the UK and headed to Parliament to speak to MPs about strengthening the Renters’ Rights Bill to protect students.
There are two key parts of the Bill we want to see improved. Firstly, banning no-fault evictions for students and secondly, banning landlords from being able to ask tenants to have a guarantor who owns property in the UK or demand rent up front.
More on those below.
We want to hear from you and understand your experiences. Renting in London is likely to be your biggest single expense after paying fees, and despite paying some of the highest costs in the UK, properties are often of poor quality.
Our mission to make renting fairer for students:
Abolishing Guarantors and Rent Up Front
Landlords and estate agents often ask prospective tenants for a UK based guarantor before they offer them a tenancy. It is common for landlords to have stringent criteria as to who can be a guarantor, including their level of income and passing credit checks. If tenants cannot provide a guarantor, it is common for landlords to require significant amounts of rent to be paid in advance.
Students from low-income backgrounds, care leavers, those estranged from their families and international students are all far less likely to be able to provide a UK based guarantor. One UCL student told us about the financial toll this took on them and their flatmates: “My agent rejected several of my friend's proposed UK-based guarantors on the basis of annual income and whether they owned a home in the UK. Because of this, we were forced to end the tenancy application process from our side, but were faced with exorbitant agency charges for processing, document handling, and management. These fees amounted to (~£1200). In addition, we had already paid 1 months' rent upfront (£3495) and had already lost the 1 week's holding deposit (£806). It has been months since we ended our application, yet we still have not got our money back and the agency still demand we pay the £1200 agent fees.”
UCL can step in and act as Guarantor through the Accommodation Office. Last year they received 267 applications, of which 209 have been granted. However, over 50% of students attempting to utilise the scheme have had UCL rejected by landlords or estate agents as a guarantor and only 98 guarantees have been issued. Four estate agents responded to UCL’s Accommodation Office stating that they cannot accept UCL as a guarantor and it is likely the number rejecting the scheme is much higher. The system isn’t working.
Research by NUS in 2019 found that 61% of students were asked to provide a UK-based guarantor. At UCL, our Advice Service have managed multiple cases where students were unable to provide a UK based guarantor. In the case study below, this led to homelessness.
Advice Service Case Study: The Impact of Not having a UK Based Guarantor
“A part time Masters student had recently been granted refugee status, leading to the withdrawal of Asylum Support (hotel accommodation and payments). This meant they required stable alternative accommodation to continue their studies.
Receiving income from a combination of student loan and Universal Credit, they were also entitled to local authority assistance in the form of help with advance rent payments. They had no saved funds due to their background and only had only just been granted the right to work. Prospective landlords were insisting on a UK based guarantor due to their status as a student and benefit claimant, which as a recent migrant to the UK they were not able to provide.
The student faced homelessness twice due to this requirement for guarantors, once soon after their refugee status was granted, and another after a contract ended. At one point they were staying in hostels whilst trying to find accommodation. Both times the university had to adapt its usual policy of only accommodating full time students, to provide them accommodation.”
NUS is coordinating with MPs to introduce an amendment to the Renters’ Rights Bill that would ban landlords from requiring tenants to provide a guarantor or rent up front. This would help tackle student homelessness, and the exploitation of students, particularly international students and those from marginalised backgrounds in the UK, who are otherwise pushed towards loan companies or more precarious housing.
Abolish No Fault Evictions
Under UK law there are two means by which Landlords can evict tenants on assured shorthold tenancies, the most common form of tenancy. These are Section 8 and Section 21 notices.
- Section 8 notices are when tenants have broken the terms of the tenancy, for example not paying their rent on time or ‘anti-social behaviour’.
- Section 21 notices are ‘no fault evictions’, where at the end of a shorthold tenancy a landlord can evict their tenants without having to give a reason.
The Renters’ Rights Bill aims to abolish Section 21 ‘no fault’ evictions for most tenants. However, students will be excluded from this protection.
Purpose-Built Student Accommodation (PBSA), housing that is designed and managed specifically for occupation by students, has been removed entirely from the scope of the bill. The Bill also includes a concession to landlords whereby landlords renting houses of multiple occupation (HMOs) to students will be able to ‘gain possession’ of their properties between June and September each year in order to be able to rent the properties again to the following year’s students, often at increased rates.
The student exemption relies on the view that students view their term-time accommodation as transitory, often returning to their parental/guardian homes, and are happy moving to a new property at the start of each academic year. However, research by NUS and SOS-UK shows that students’ living conditions are far more diverse, with many students viewing their private rented accommodation as their primary, multiyear residence.
NUS and SOS-UK’s Homes Fit For Study 2023 survey found that 27% of students lived in mixed student/non-student households, 23% lived only with their partner, 11% lived alone, and 8% lived with dependent children under the age of 18.
Our Advice Service has received multiple cases of students experiencing Section 21 evictions that negatively impacted students’ welfare and academic experiences.
Advice Service Case Study: The Impact of Section 21
A student received a Section 21 notice, giving them the minimum two months required notice to vacate the property.
The student believed that the landlord’s motivation for evicting their tenants was so they could convert the property to include an additional bedroom, and therefore receive increased rental income. They decided to issue a Section 21 notice rather than complete the works with tenants in situ.
The student was advised they had no grounds to challenge the notice and therefore was left with the choice of leaving on the required date or waiting for the landlord to complete court action.
Help us make this change.
We have written to 44 Members of Parliament who represent London constituencies where students live calling on them to strengthen the Bill and protect student tenants.
The Bill is moving through Parliament now and is being considered by the Public Bill Committee, a scrutiny committee made up of Members of Parliament. We will be writing to them on your behalf setting out the evidence for a need to abolish no fault evictions and the need for guarantors.
We want to include student stories of renting in London and the impact that asking for a guarantor has on your choice of accommodation, your finances and your wellbeing.
We also are gathering feedback on your experiences of s.21 notice evictions. We want to hear your stories!