Students are among the most likely renters to leave their properties in an inadequate condition at the end of their tenancies, and therefore are more likely to lose part of their deposit, it has been claimed.
Research carried-out by the Deposit Protection Service (DPS) shows that less than one in three students – or 27.5% – receive 90% or more of their deposit back at the end of their tenancies, compared to more than 57% of renters as a whole.
The DPS said the need to clean a property after it had been vacated was the most common cause of deductions to tenancy deposits among students (32%), followed by repairs (27%), redecoration (20%) and the replacement of lost or damaged items (19%).
It issued 12 tips to students which, if taken on board, could help students get their deposit back in full.
DPS managing director Julian Foster said: “Students must be aware of their responsibilities as tenants and act accordingly throughout their tenancy – or risk losing money when they move out.
“As well as asking their landlord to confirm where their deposit is protected, taking simple steps such as checking household inventories and communicating regularly with landlords can help ensure that deposits are returned in full.
“Deposit protection means both landlords and tenants can have peace of mind that the money is safe – and that there is a free, impartial adjudication service if the tenancy ends in a dispute.”
To coincide with the beginning of term time, The DPS has created a video aimed at students, highlighting the risks if they do not take steps to reduce the risk of losing their deposits.
It can be seen here
The car most likely to tail gate me on the motorway is a BMW 5 series.
The message to students needs to be less subtle than this.
“If you treat your rented accommodation like you do your bedroom in my home, you will lose the deposit I have given you. If you lose that deposit I will not be giving you another one. Now you are an adult off to college or university the very first lesson to learn is how to behave responsibly and act like an adult, the money stops here”
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You are of course right Robert. However in today’s society it will inevitably be the evil landlord who refuses to give little Johnny or Katie their deposit back even if the room needs a complete refit, “Wear and tear innit, my kid done no wrong!”
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Yeah, there are (a lot!) of bad students – I don’t think anyone would dispute that. I went to some fantastic parties.
There are also good students who don’t know their rights. A lot of student houses come with incredibly poor quality furniture which breaks very quickly and are in a poor state to start with. Few understand their rights.
My sister even arrived at her house in the middle of summer when noone was there (they were paying rent!) to find the landlord’s son in her bed with a girl. Rented through an agent, who made some daft excuse about it being the landlord’s house and the landlord even admitted it. I really wish she’d called the police. A more adult response would have been to take him to court or get some rent back.
However, revenge took the form of warning every single viewer for the next year in the agent’s face that they considered the landlord’s behaviour unacceptable. Caused a void and the landlord ended up selling up, offering them money to leave a month early in the summer holidays – when they wouldn’t have been there anyway. He still tried to claim for some “damaged” decade old carpets anyway from the deposit scheme.
Many landlords see students as a soft touch and I think this is reflected in the figures. Many parents don’t know anything about renter’s rights either. I’d like to know the number appealing to the DPS as well – I imagine very few do.
I think some more respect in both directions would be great.
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Tenants need to understand that if they break things… then there will be deductions out of their deposit.
As a collective, landlords have been looking at students as ‘good investments’. It’s amazing how many landlords take the ‘Students are young and naive, so let’s get away with as much as we can’ card.
We all know it happens, some landlords over-charge, they charge for wear and tear and basically do everything they can to increase those profit margins.
So for just a minute, can we address the issue of substandard housing and stop passing the blame. Take a look at some of these new sites, like Move’m *, where tenants review landlords and agencies.
*www.movem.co.uk
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