The government has been urged to do more to support the student rental sector in the aftermath of the latest hikes in tuition fees.
It was recently announced that tuition fees in England will rise by 3.1% to a maximum of £9,535 a year — this will come into effect from the 2025/26 academic year.
The National Union of Students (NUS) has condemned the hike and highlighted the impact it will have on the cost of living, with its own research showing 13% of students had experienced homelessness since 2022.
Alex Stanley, vice president of higher education at the NUS, made the argument for reform with the claim that students are left with 50p a week to live on after rent and bills.
“We do now need an urgent review and reform of the way that higher education and our students are funded,” said Alex.
“The last fourteen years of intense marketisation have systematically run down the UK’s universities. Students need a review that considers maintenance grants, international student fees and tackling the funding crisis that students and universities have been pushed into.”
From the perspective of the landlord, the National Residential Landlords Association (NRLA) has expressed concerns over the impacts this could have on lettings.
Conceding the tuition fees was a “significant moment” for the higher education sector, a spokesperson for the NRLA added: “We feel that a bigger concern for student landlords is the removal of the assurances that they need to continue in what is a highly cyclical market.
“Ultimately, we want a thriving private rented sector which is fair and works in the interests of landlords and tenants.
“With this in mind the NRLA believes the government must take steps that enable landlords to stay in the market so they can provide much-needed high-quality accommodation for students.”
However, some parties are unfazed by the changes. Empiric Student Property is an investor in PBSA assets, holding 80 at the end of 2023 which accounted for nearly 8,000 beds.
A spokesperson for the investment company said the group viewed the increase in fees “positively” for the funding boost it will deliver universities.
The Empiric spokesperson added: “We expect the change in tuition fees will have limited impact on affordability and students’ ability to attend University, but as seen over recent years we would expect it to contribute towards the flight to quality of undergraduate applications, increasing the dominance of higher tariff universities, to which our portfolio is already weighted.”
Unite Group, the largest student accommodation provider in the UK, was repeatedly contacted but unreachable for comment.
