Students in 80% of our privately-rented homes

Four in five privately-rented houses in the district are occupied by students, the report finds.

There are also more than 7,500 purpose-built student bedrooms in Canterbury, housing a large portion of the student population.

But a huge number also live off-campus in rented accommodation, with around 3,800 of the 4,800 rented properties home to students.

The prevalence of shared student housing means there are fewer families living in the city wards than anywhere else in the district.

In 2011, statistics showed a fifth of households in the St Stephen’s area were occupied by students but the St Michael’s Road Area Residents Association estimates it can be almost half in some streets.

According to figures from Canterbury letting agent Sally Hatcher Estates, from January to April this year, of 249 three-bed houses in the CT2 area, just 14 were rented to families or professionals – the rest were students.

However, a new government rule called Article 4 now states that a landlord has to get planning permission before turning what was previously a family home into a house of multiple occupants (HMOS) for students.

While it means there will be a gap in the market for a growth in purpose-built student accom- modation – already there are 609 such bedspaces in the pipeline – the result could be homes sitting empty due to lack of demand from families to buy these properties in student areas.

Since Article 4 was implemented in February, only 11 applications have been submitted to the council to change a house into an HMO.

In a survey, landlords were asked what they would do with properties if they struggled to rent them to students and two of them said they would be likely to lease them to the council for refugees.

Four others said they would leave them empty.

Student accommodation in Canterbury