Student Only Properties?

[Applefruitcake]

Currently looking for a studio/1 bedroom apartment to rent. I've noticed a lot (and by a lot I mean at least 70%) of the listings are advertised as 'student only'. It is a city with a large university so it makes sense to have properties specifically aimed at students, but is there a reason why a landlord would want specifically ONLY student tenants?

They charge a lot more for a start…
If you are looking at studios there is a chance they are in a block which is student only so everyone in that building is a student but the individual flats are owned by different people, it’s not a hugely common set up but does exist.

I remember looking at a studio once and the landlord didn’t want to rent to me once he realised I wasn’t a student. He said because he would have to pay council tax for me. It didn’t make sense to me as I was expecting to pay my own bills and council tax anyway but there must be some benefit to renting to students.

They charge more - and sun let over the holidays - make a fortune - most include all bills and WiFi etc and it’s mainly upfront Easy money and they know tenant will leave at the end of the year. Plus, if the students leaves early they are still paid.

less council tax

Besides all the other things.. it’s easier to rent to one type of person. So imagine a person who goes to bed early and wakes up early living surrounded by students with the opposite schedule. Or on the flip side a student throwing parties while surrounded by a bunch of older people. Or a bunch of young families that all have kids and renting to a young professional.

less complaints, if everyone is in a similar stage of life!

DD graduated and started working before her flat mates and ended up responsible for the council tax for a 5 bedroom house! She did get the 25% discount for single occupancy because there was only one non student but still cost her over £200 a month!

I can think of several reasons.

Students are likely to move on in due course, which avoids a landlord's nightmare scenario of a tenant who stops paying rent or causes other problems while remaining in the property for many months. There's quite a backlog in the courts, so evicting takes a long time. Students often have somewhere to go to if they do fall on hard times (e.g. dropping out of their course and losing their maintenance loan), namely back to their parents' house.

Most students have little experience of renting and many are not savvy enough to check the property over properly before moving in, or to deal with landlords who don't do basic repairs. During lockdown, my student DC moved into a house which only their future housemate had visited, which stank of mould throughout. Housemate was unfamiliar with that smell. When I was a student, we went nearly six weeks without heating or hot water in the winter before we finally took action and asked CAB for help to force our absentee landlord to repair the boiler. So a dodgy landlord can get away with more.

They charge a set price for a year - usually guaranteed by parents - then increase the price and do it all again.

What could possibly be the benefit?