One in Three UK Students Have Gone Without Heating or Water

A recent survey has found that one-third of UK students have had no heating or water at their rented accommodation, while 35% are living with damp. The complaints rank among the top five maintenance problems reported by students, says the research conducted by Student advice website Savethestudent.org.

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Badly Maintained Accommodation at Unaffordable Costs

Of the 2,100 students participating in the survey, nine out of ten had problems with their accommodation, ranging from disruptive building work to rats and bed bugs. The same study found that half of the students found accommodation costs problematic.

The average upfront housing cost for students is £970 – far higher than the average maintenance loan of £541 a month, meaning that two-thirds of students have had to borrow from other sources such as banks and their families just to cover accommodation.

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There were around 1.8 million full-time students in 2018, according to a study by http://www.cushmanwakefield.co.uk/en-gb/research-and-insight/2018/uk-student-accommodation-report-2018 commercial property and real estate consultants Cushman & Wakefield, with 627,000 new dedicated bed-spaces having been provided in that year alone, and over half the market being supplied by the private sector.

Students have as much right to well-maintained accommodation as other tenants. Save the Student’s money expert, Jake Butler, said there was a belief that badly maintained accommodation was normal student life. He said that while new laws are improving the tenant’s lot, students need an easier way to sort out their accommodation problems.

Fortunately, the tech is available to help in this regard. But which businesses would use property inventory software?

Automated Accommodation Management

The answer to that question is anyone who manages a property, from an individual landlord to a property management company. Property inventory software does much more than count the cutlery in the kitchen drawer: it can manage tenant moves and multiple accommodation buildings, organise inspections and flag problems for follow-up. The more sophisticated software serves as a mobile office, with a facility for tenants to sign agreements and for landlords to create, print or email reports and follow up on maintenance issues.

With properly scheduled inspections, it can eliminate inappropriate landlord visits – a complaint raised by 16% of students – and arrange any loud or disruptive building work for a mutually convenient time.