Private student accommodation - the start of a problem?

[HoratioCuthbert]

This was in 2007, just across from the Oval. I was at Kings College London.

 

[HoratioCuthbert]

Come to think of it it was better for me to go down there because my placement was 2hrs South from there, before that I spent a few months in halls in Hampstead. So my situation probs different from others, my memory is so shit though!


But yeah my memory is you weren't guaranteed accomodation so you had to look at options that went for everyone

 

[flypanam]

The place I work recently got student accomodation built by a private developer with a 35 year lease agreement. It's expensive. The college can't fill it because of the price per week. After two years it's already forced the college budget into the red to the tune of 150,000 per annum. The SMT response is to make cuts to academic staff on top of the already substantial cuts to academic support and admin staff.

 

[likesfish]

becoming an issue in Brighton and Hove as well although having the heart ripped out of the local estates with family homes replaced by hmo's isn't helping
the universities are becoming less of value and more a huge parasite destroying the town by forcing everyone who isnt a student or rich to fuck off.

 

[equationgirl]

I wish to point out I'm not a racist when I mention that Chinese students are the main focus of the marketing efforts for these types of accommodation. It's the children of the Chinese wealthy and elite that are coming to the UK to gain a degree. There are other blocks, particularly some owned by Unite (offers accommodation nationally) and Kaplan (might be local to Glasgow, not sure) that seem to attract a mix of students.

 

[not-bono-ever]

not racist at all, just facts- IIRC, there are more Chinese than EU students in UK higher education these days. It is where the money is at. The Chinese do however seem to head towards the higher end of the cost spectrum re accommodation and this can lead to blocks that are almost exclusively Chinese- and have been heavily marketed in the PRC

they do not usually however piss it up until 4AM and boot their takeaway cartons around the road as I have witnessed the brits doing in the so called student ghettos of major Uk cities

 

[scifisam]

I wish to point out I'm not a racist when I mention that Chinese students are the main focus of the marketing efforts for these types of accommodation. It's the children of the Chinese wealthy and elite that are coming to the UK to gain a degree. There are other blocks, particularly some owned by Unite (offers accommodation nationally) and Kaplan (might be local to Glasgow, not sure) that seem to attract a mix of students.

Kaplan is an English language college and in Glasgow it works with the University of Glasgow International College, so it doesn't have any British students (I used to work for them).

 

[cantsin]

There has been a large growth in the number of student accommodation sites, built by the private sector over the past decade. Whereas a university or college town or city might have had one or two blocks close to the campus areas in the past, there now seems to be an epidemic of such places or almost any site which has the merest whiff of a student pound.

For example, I used to live in flats close to the Glasgow uni campus and also close to the western hospital. Now the hospital has closed and the site bought by the University for redevelopment, yet with no university owned student accommodation in the redevelopment plans. With a half mile radius of my old flat, there were nearly 3000 student rooms built within a five year period.

Many of these rooms are priced well outside the budgets of most students, but seem a particular favourite of overseas students particularly Chinese students. The local area is changing too, to accommodate the needs of these students, with more Asian shops and restaurants springing up. But these blocks never seem full, and are built at the expense of housing for long term residents, families and the elderly. A recent new build of 700 student rooms had over 50 objections lodged, yet building went ahead anyway.

I found myself at the mercy of landlords who either wanted to continually put the rent up or sell the flat I was living in, pushing me away from the part of town where I (and others) had settled after moving to the city. I moved twice within a two year period. Others have left the area altogether.


What are your experiences and opinions of private student accommodation?

there seems to be load around Old Street now, quite flash looking, and the prices must be v high - am assuming it's aimed at overseas students, but still not sure why the developers are simply going straight for expensive private flats, is it a planning thing , ie : the council has a student accom. quota, so gives the developers incentives / sweeteners ?

 

[equationgirl]

I've had to call an ambulance for a Chinese student who drank themselves into oblivion (a few shots) and fell down the stairs in my block of flats. That was fun.

 

[equationgirl]

I'm not sure if there are quotas for accommodation, and given the sudden rise in the numbers being built there's certainly no cap.

Is it still the case that whilst there are caps for UK and European students for each university, there are no limits for overseas students?

 

[scifisam]

there seems to be load around Old Street now, quite flash looking, and the prices must be v high - am assuming it's aimed at overseas students, but still not sure why the developers are simply going straight for expensive private flats, is it a planning thing , ie : the council has a student accom. quota, so gives the developers incentives / sweeteners ?

No, there's no student accommodation quota. Like everyone's been saying, there are massive advantages to making accommodation for students only. No affordable accommodation requirements, lower safety requirements, guaranteed occupancy and rent, etc, etc.

 

[cantsin]

ah, shld have read rest of thread, ta

 

[ddraig]

No, there's no student accommodation quota. Like everyone's been saying, there are massive advantages to making accommodation for students only. No affordable accommodation requirements, lower safety requirements, guaranteed occupancy and rent, etc, etc.

and they sometimes apply to change the use to be able to rent them as "normal" flats afterwards

 

[elbows]

given the sudden rise in the numbers being built

I feel like studying the exact nature of this rise. Havent looked at any data yet. Have just barely started by finding some random industry report from a couple of years ago:

UK Student Accommodation Report

 

[Dogsauce]

I think I read somewhere a while ago that pension funds and similar long term investments were getting into stuff like student flats as it gives a decent and fairly secure return, with a steady payout rather than depending on selling new housing units for a large amount of cash in one go.

I know the government also wants these type of organisations to put money into large-scale private rental residential schemes, anticipating this might be cheaper to rent due to economies of scale and the organisations not behaving as ruthlessly short-term as buy-to-let types - also wanting such developments to offer longer term tenancies.

 

[equationgirl]

Certainly in my part of Glasgow there seemed to be a sudden expansion - the smallest and oddest shaped gap site pressed into service as a small multistorey building. Larger sites derelict for years were broken up into smaller parcels of land for building on, and no space allocated for 'affordable' housing or social housing or even family accommodation. Private housing built is all 'luxury', if any is built at all.

 

[ddraig]

I wish to point out I'm not a racist when I mention that Chinese students are the main focus of the marketing efforts for these types of accommodation. It's the children of the Chinese wealthy and elite that are coming to the UK to gain a degree. There are other blocks, particularly some owned by Unite (offers accommodation nationally) and Kaplan (might be local to Glasgow, not sure) that seem to attract a mix of students.

you're not and it isn't racist, it's the same in Cardiff
and that was frances lengel back to troll with their ever so hilarious lolz

 

[elbows]

Certainly in my part of Glasgow there seemed to be a sudden expansion - the smallest and oddest shaped gap site pressed into service as a small multistorey building. Larger sites derelict for years were broken up into smaller parcels of land for building on, and no space allocated for 'affordable' housing or social housing or even family accommodation. Private housing built is all 'luxury', if any is built at all.

Looks like there was a short (and lazy) Scotsman piece about this in Jan 2017, which seems to be based on the same report I just mentioned in my previous post, albeit presumably the one they did a year later than the one I linked to above.

Rents cool as Glasgow student housing market booms

 

[equationgirl]

you're not and it isn't racist, it's the same in Cardiff
and that was frances lengel back to troll with their ever so hilarious lolz

Should have guessed, thanks.

 

[Sasaferrato]

It's odd. I wonder what the occupancy rates are like?

A little bit of me wonders if these are being built in the hope they can be converted into studio flats and sold off down the line.

Just for clarity, a studio flat is what used to termed a bedsit?

 

[Sasaferrato]

I'm not sure if there are quotas for accommodation, and given the sudden rise in the numbers being built there's certainly no cap.

Is it still the case that whilst there are caps for UK and European students for each university, there are no limits for overseas students?

Money.

 

[scifisam]

Just for clarity, a studio flat is what used to termed a bedsit?

Sort of. The term seems to be used for almost anything these days. At my daughter's college they use studio flat to mean a room with an en-suite bathrooms but shared kitchen, which is not a studio flat in any way really. Their rents aren't actually that bad for the cheapest rooms but she's not eligible because she's from within three hours' journey of the college.

 

[equationgirl]

Money.

Yes, I know that, thank you. But you didn't answer the question asked.

 

[Sasaferrato]

Yes, I know that, thank you. But you didn't answer the question asked.

There are no limits for overseas students because they pay, not having tuition fees loaned to them, but pay, cash on the nail. UK students don't, and given some of the courses, I would imagine that there are a lot of UK students that never will pay.

Were I running a university, I would only have foreign students I think.

 

[equationgirl]

There are no limits for overseas students because they pay, not having tuition fees loaned to them, but pay, cash on the nail. UK students don't, and given some of the courses, I would imagine that there are a lot of UK students that never will pay.

Were I running a university, I would only have foreign students I think.

And that wouldn't be discriminatory in the slightest.

I was hoping someone who currently works in the university sector would answer.

 

[chilango]

Sasaferrato

I'm a UK student and I pay my own fees up front.

...and have done for the previous 3 courses I've done.

Edit. No, sorry, that's incorrect. I didn't pay for my PGCE.

 

[scifisam]

There are no limits for overseas students because they pay, not having tuition fees loaned to them, but pay, cash on the nail. UK students don't, and given some of the courses, I would imagine that there are a lot of UK students that never will pay.

Were I running a university, I would only have foreign students I think.

Are you under the impression that it's the universities who loan the tuition fees?

 

[elbows]

Is it still the case that whilst there are caps for UK and European students for each university, there are no limits for overseas students?

Not sure if I understood the question right but this article from 2015 suggests a lack of caps in general?

The rise comes in the first year since the government lifted a cap on university places in England, allowing universities to recruit as many students as they see fit, leading many colleges and universities to increase their intake.

Record number of university admissions after cap lifted

 

[chilango]

The "dominance" of Chinese students in my current course has caused some disquiet amongst some of the home students who have complained about - for example - class discussion being hampered by limited English language skills etc.

 

[chilango]

I should add that it hasn't bothered me.