Having a portfolio of houses is great within the student housing market, because the demand for student housing is always high. However based on the results of our recent ‘What Students Seek Survey’ it is worth considering the size or your next property i.e how many bedrooms does your house offer? and the relationship you have with your tenants.
Generally, it is thought that students tend to live in larger houses with a number of rooms to accommodate larger groups of friends. However the results from our report show that the majority of students are currently sharing their property with between 3 and 5 other people. With fewer students living within the same house, it may reduce the mess and/or any damages to the property, because communication is easier when living with a small group of people and it’s likely they’ll be a closer group of friends so are more respectful of each other. Therefore when looking at your next property, take into account how many other tenants students prefer to live with in their student accommodation.
Further results from our What Students Seek piece highlight that having a good relationship with your tenants could also be of benefit to you, if you get a long from day one, it is more likely they’ll want to stay in your property for their remaining time at university, reducing any risk of your property being unoccupied at any stage.
When asking students about their relationship with their landlord, 4% of students had been given some kind of incentive to take their accommodation, 1.5% had received a cash incentive and 2.5% of students had been given some kind of non-cash incentive. 2% of students had been taken out for a drink with their landlord and 0.5% have even had help with their coursework. Although a huge 77% of students have had no such contact with their landlord and several students commented that they had never even met their landlord.
Having a good professional relationship may result in better communication and respect for each-others needs. Tenants with a good relationship with their landlord are also more likely to report any maintenance issues rather than leaving it for you to find when they have moved out, resulting in more costs.
Read the full ‘What Students Seek’ report via this link glide.co.uk/whatstudentsseek