The naked tenant has been featured in the Bath Chronicle:

New website aims to reveal the naked truth to student tenants

Students in Bath can get free advice about the potential pitfalls of renting houses thanks to a new website.

The Naked Tenant has been set up, written and researched by two recent graduates who want to pass on their first-hand experiences of the student rental market.

Founders James Bryan, 23, and Malcolm West, 22, were friends when they were pupils at Kingswood School and stayed in touch when they went to Oxford Brookes University together.

Full article: http://www.thisisbath.co.uk/New-website-aims-reveal-naked-truth-student/story-13428967-detail/story.html

On the University of Lincoln’s Brayford Campus, 200 first-year students are faced with living in a newly constructed village of temporary accommodation as the institution struggles to provide housing for an unprecedented number of applicants.

This year the University received a record number of applications, with 3,000 students seeking to start their higher education prior to the increase in tuition fees at the start of the next academic year, when Lincoln intends to raise fees to £9,000 a year. However, only those who applied before 21^st August were offered permanent accommodation, with late applicants, including students applying through clearing, being offered a place in one of the hundred portable cabins in the new “Festival Gardens” complex.

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About 70 students have spent their first night at the University of Lincoln in portable cabins because of a shortage of accommodation.

The average weekly student rent is currently £67.11, up 3% on last year. London leads the way with a whopping £108.03 average weekly rent, up 5% on last year.

There have been some significant moves in the rent league table over the past year, with several cities showing 10%+ increases on last year. Leamington Spa (Warwick University) has seen its average student weekly rent rise 16%, from £60.24 to £70.47. Newcastle-under-Lyme (Keele University) and Sunderland have seen 13% increases, to current weekly rents of £64.65 and £61.05 respectively.

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Students in Wales are facing an increase of up to 11% in rental charges for private university accommodation

Four out of the six main towns and cities show students will have to pay more per week on average, Accommodation for Students website say. The biggest Welsh rise comes in Bangor where last year’s average weekly rent has risen from £59.22 to £65.87. The figures do not include university-owned accommodation.

But Newport students will not pay any more on average than last year while those living in Pontypridd will see a drop. Luke Young, president of NUS Wales, said a rise in the cost of accommodation was “deeply worrying” at a time when students are already feeling the pinch. “As the cost of private accommodation rises, students will be actively comparing prices to see what they can afford,” he said. “The immediate concern is that for some students it may mean choosing poor quality housing to keep budgets under control. “Students are already feeling the pinch, so we need to be aware how price rises will have an impact.”

Cardiff students will see an average £3.59 per week rise to £61.07 while those in Swansea will have to pay £2.42 more on average at £60.17. There is concern some students will choose poor quality housing to keep budgets under control. Students in Aberystwyth will have a very small rise at £62.01 per week with Newport seeing the status quo maintained at £60.93. Pontypridd rental prices have dropped from an average of £46.15 a week last year to £45.74.

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Any question or need advice? ask here

The average cost of university accommodation has risen by 22% in the past three years

The survey of 132 university and private sector landlords found the average weekly room cost had risen from £81.18 in 2006-07 to £98.99 in 2009-10.

The NUS blamed the private sector for pushing up prices of accommodation.

But property developer Unite Group said the private sector had invested more than £5bn in new student flats.

It said without that there would be a chronic shortage of accommodation.

The survey of 85 institutions and 47 private sector landlords was carried out between July and September 2009.

Rents are continuing to rise for tenants and more increases are expected in the coming months, a survey has suggested.

About 42% more surveyors reported a rise in rents than those who saw a fall during the three months to the end of April, the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (Rics) survey said.

Tenants’ rising costs are most marked in London and south-east England.

Some 33% more surveyors expect rents to go up than those predicting a fall………………

see the full article at

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-13710300

The importance of an accurate Inventory should never be overlooked – it exists for the protection of the Landlord but is of equal importance to the Tenants!

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