2nd year accommodation, is it common to have to pay for 52 weeks a year in york?

[AceKitten]

2nd year will be even more expensive than 1st year then

I thought you probably only had to pay for 40 weeks

OK thanks for the advice, it's all good to know

I figured that’d just be first year. Then it’ll be £££s in year 2/3. Unless you share a room and live further out.

York has a private accommodation housing fair tomorrow on campus.
https://www.york.ac.uk/study/accommodation/private-sector/events/housing-fair/

Yes to this. They're making far more renting to students than they would a family. My dd's 2nd year house was 7 bedrooms in what was originally a 4 bedroom house. They were getting almost £4000 per month. You'd think they could have easily afforded for it to be empty for a month to make sure it was clean and in good repair for the next years students.

This. DD in York, 6 students, total yearly cost to landlord is £57,000 (obviously then minus bills etc). House was apparently gifted to landlord by his parents. It’s old, cold, damp and mouldy. He turns up occasionally to check things out in his brand new Merc.

I know accommodation is hard to come by but why would you accept something "old, cold, damp and mouldy"? Report him to York council who are very hot on this sort of thing, and to the uni too. I wouldn't be paying an annual rent of £9,500 for that sort of house.

DD did first year in private halls (uni had a contract with them to get a preferential rate) which was a 43 week contract - and she finished about 8 weeks before it ended. Now shes in a 2nd year house, which is a 52 week contract. (Not in York, but i think fairly normal)

Overall a similar cost because the house is cheaper per week (and a lot crappier!)

The renters bill is technically changing this I believe. I think I read it will apply to students.

Students in non-exempt private rentals (e.g., standard shared houses not covered by Ground 4A, or properties from landlords not in an approved code) will gain the full range of new protections, but may also face the risk that one housemate giving two months' notice can end the tenancy for the entire household, creating potential summer voids for landlords.

We may have a problem this year as 2 of my DC’s housemates are finishing their 3 year degree in June but the other 3 including my DC are half way through a 6 year degree and their 3 rd year doesn’t finish til mid July. The other two could give notice to vacate in June which means the 3 other students will be left homeless!

To be fair the damp and mould have been reported so apparently something is being done. Not much can be done about the cold. The house is 200 years old and heating just doesn’t cut it. The radiators work but even on full they’re not heating the house the same way ours do in a fairly new build house. (One reason I’m not a fan of old period properties). From what I can gather, and DCs previous houses, most properties are similar in York - very old and probably not particularly well maintained or insulated.

DD is yr1 at York, not contracted for next year yet. DS is yr2 in private accommodation (not York) and his is 50 weeks, which I suppose allows a break for maintenance.

This is right. Landlord associations lobbied for a separate category of fixed term student tenancies but did not get it.

Their concerns were:

• if students chose not to leave at the end of the year, they could not make them. So would have nowhere to house the students who had signed a lease for the following year.
• With a joint and several tenancy if one student drops out early on and chooses to leave the contract is ended. It may well be that the landlord and other tenants agree to a replacement, but they could find themselves out on their ears.

It does mean that the students in York can give notice in May and leave in June even if their lease is for 12 months. Fixed term leases will no longer exist.

I can see more landlords letting as traditional HMOs ie by room, where you move in with whatever randoms are already in the property. Rents might go up in part because of the risk of voids over the summer, and because of landlords exiting the market. I would expect a rise in the number of private halls of residence (which I think do have exemptions.)

Student rents are often more expensive that normal rents. Students do not always look after properties and are around during the day so more sear and tear. After lockdown, when DD was returning from an intercalation, DD found none of her friends were moving. Instead she rented a one bed in Bristol city centre as if she were an ordinary professional. (Being a bit older and a medical student helped.) It seemed extravagant at the time but she then found that some of her friends in shared houses were paying more.

London has not really tended to operate a separate student market so you look on Right Move in the summer ready for the next term. This means that it can be cheaper than places which ask for 12 month tenancies.

Yes mines in y3 at York this is how its panned out for us
1st year = 9190
2nd year = 9620
3rd year = 9828 189/week

Look at the private halls options for shorter lets eg
44 weeks, which may work out similar to a 52 week house rental. Groups can apply to be in the same flat.

Why would a landlord want several weeks without rent? Unless they need to do MAJOR repairs? It's very unlikely that students won't want to leave their university town over the entire summer, so unless the landlords are wanting to gut the place and start again, surely they'd just pop in a paint or something when the tenants choose to be away!

I can see both sides of it, and I dont know how you get around it. Someone loses, either way.

Of course LL dont want their houses empty and weeks without rent
...But the student (or in a lot of cases) parents are paying for weeks, if not months for a room theyre not using....(DD will likely finish in May, her contract is until September)

In DDs current house the previous students left in July, her cohort moved in September ...and they did maintenance causing days of disruption, in October!

Not York but another major city - one contract was 11 months, the other 50 weeks.

My DD has just arranged a house share in York for next year and the landlord is offering a 50 week lease only. I think they rely on the fact that most people will indeed move out earlier than that, which gives them time to clean / fix whatever is needed.

I know the private halls have a few options, 44 wks or 51 wks.