Finding and attracting the right student tenant for your house depends primarily on two factors:

• 1.The property.
• 2.You!

The property

Getting the right tenant will be mainly determined by the type of property you have. A two-bedroomed city apartment may do the trick in attracting the affluent students but could put limitations on the competitiveness of the property in the student market.

What I have found to be most adaptable and suitable are two-bedroomed, three-bedroomed and four-bedroomed houses and in some cases, even a five-bedroomed or more house. My reasoning for this is simple – if I can’t find students to let it out to, then I could just as likely let it out to a family who are looking for such a property to rent.

The most popular, it would be safe to say, is the three-bedroomed terraced house which becomes a four-bedroomed property once the living room or dining room gets converted into a bedroom.

You

When I heard the word ‘students’, I used to automatically have an image of three chain-smoking, beer-swilling layabouts who would never pay me the rent! How accurate or not I was in my generalisation is not important. What is important is how I want to run my property and what types of student tenants I want in there.

First and foremost, you have almost definitely bought this book as you are comfortable with letting your property out to predominantly 18-22 year olds.

Secondly, the kind of stereotype described above is in all honesty outdated and similar pictures could be painted of people from different walks of life!

Let’s not ignore the fact that if you let out to students, then you must be comfortable with the idea that three, four, five or even 12 or more (!) students in one house will inevitably lead to more wear and tear. You may have to refit the kitchen and bathroom every three to five years and lay new carpets every two to three years. The washing machine will be subject to heavy use and will need upgrading regularly.

Finally, bearing in mind that there is no longer a one-size-fits-all way of life within the student market, you must have a good idea of what type of student you want as your tenant. In general, student rent fluctuations are pretty flat compared to residential and professional lettings and it is fair to assume that the standard prices of rooms vary from £40 to say £80 a week.

Advertising

The best way of advertising your property is by:

• using online accommodation websites directed at students;
• liasing with and providing your information through the university housing office;
• contacting and advertising your property through the Students’ Union (a list of these is provided at the end of Chapter 7) and through the local newspapers.

Another more creative way of promoting your property is by sticking up information about it throughout the campus, but check to see if this is permissible with the university authorities first. Maybe the university library has a noticeboard or something similar whereby the students can take your contact details from a handy A4 piece of paper.

Every university has an accommodation office that will help students to find suitable privately rented accommodation. They also have other useful local information. The best way to find out how things work for each university area and private tenancy is to get in contact with the specific university’s accommodation office and get more information. All contact details have been provided for each university.

Some universities offer an affiliated landlord scheme. What this means is that they will let out your property as a university accredited building – giving the student a sense of security. For you, this is a definite plus in obtaining a student tenant – but will also be at a cost or fixed fee. It does not necessarily mean that they will collect the rent for you, nor will they show the prospective tenant around the house. For these kinds of services, look at ‘letting agents’ below.

Every student union also has a housing officer who is equipped to deal with everything from unhappiness with the room offered to problems with rent and advice on contracts or other legal difficulties with private landlords.

Advertising in the local and university press

This is an effective way of advertising. It is best to advertise in a paper that is delivered free locally or is easily accessible to the student population. The main things you should include are:

• Area. You must state clearly where the property is situated. You don’t want annoying calls asking where the property is exactly and having to regurgitate the same information. Similarly, students will probably make less effort to contact you if they don’t know where the property is.
• Furnished. State what furnishings are included and mention important items like washing machine, dishwasher, hi-speed internet access availability, etc.
• Number of bedrooms. You must put the number of bedrooms the property has as then readers will know if your property can accommodate them.
• Price. You must put the price in any advert. I always quote my properties as weekly rent e.g. £80 per week. This way the tenant assumes that the rent is £320 per month (as they think there are four weeks in a month when there are actually 4.33 weeks in a month) when in fact it is £346 per calendar month. Your property will appear cheaper than other properties that are quoted per calendar month. If you price your property at £79 rather than £80 the impact is even more significant. You should also make clear what is included in your rent. For instance, some landlords include water rates or electricity bills, others don’t.
• Features. If it’s got a new bathroom then say so! Anything that is not standard in a property, like a garage, separate dining room, large garden or new carpets, will attract more interest.
• Telephone number. Do not give your mobile number only! You will get fewer calls as everyone knows that a five-minute call to a mobile costs a small fortune, especially to the people you are trying to target. Put a landline as well as a mobile.

To find out about the local newspaper in the area of the property you have bought or are thinking about buying visit www.newspapersoc.org.uk.

Student websites

A number of landlords advertise their property through student websites, many of which are available in the listings relating to that particular town or city. This is great as all students these days access the internet and their first port of call may be browsing the web to see if anything comes up.

In addition to this, the students’ union of each particular university may be able to give you a comprehensive guide of where to advertise, or may even provide information on how you can advertise through them or their website links. A list of students’ unions has been provided at the end of Chapter 7.

Using a letting agent

Using a letting agent is quite a costly way to find a tenant. They usually charge one month’s rent plus VAT. However, they will show prospective tenants round, run credit checks, ask for references, arrange a standing order and do an inventory check on the property. I would recommend this if you work or live far away from the property.

The Bradford and Bingley VarsityLets Scheme

The most prominent and latest initiative in student letting services is the Bradford and Bingley Marketplace, which has introduced the VarsityLets Scheme. The new scheme is specifically aimed at buy-to-lets for the student market. Launched in April 2004, it aims to assist would-be landlords in their quest to penetrate this healthy market.

VarsityLets is a specialist lettings agency operating a management service to look after all the needs of a landlord. It claims that rental yields are on average 2% higher than the usual letting market and offers a unique rent guarantee insurance product.

Part of the product, Varsity SecureLet, covers landlords on legal expenses and provides free rent guarantee. It will cover the landlord for 365 days a year and will retrieve unpaid rent.