Student fury at digs rent order
Housing provider demands doctors’ notes to end contracts
The country’s biggest student housing provider is demanding doctors’ notes before allowing students to quit accommodation costing almost £500 per month – despite Covid-19 legislation protecting them. Politicians have branded Unite Students, a purpose- built student accommodation (PBSA) firm, “greedy landlords”, with experts warning it is acting unlawfully.
It comes after learners were given legal protection during the pandemic that should allow them to terminate agreements with 28 days’ notice. Undergraduates havhave seen their courses disrupted by the coronavirus outbreakoutbre and their return to campusescam after Christmas hahas been postponed untuntil next month aat the earliesearliest.
AndAn with classes liklikely to be done remremotely fofor the rest of the academic year, students are trying to quit PBSA contracts.
However, they say they are being blocked by leasing firms, including Unite Students.
The company prov i d e s accommodation for 74,000 students in 177 properties across 27 towns and cities, including Aberdeen, Edinburgh and Glasgow.
Last week, Unite Students, whose portfolio is valued at £ 2.8billion, said it had already sold more than half of its rooms for 2021-22. The FTSE 250 firm – whose latest accounts show its chief executive Richard Smith took home a pay package of £2.7million in 2019 – has refused to let students give up their rooms at Blackfriars in Glasgow’s Merchant City easily.
Administrators have told students that they won’t be allowed to quit their £118-a-week contracts unless “we can confirm the reason for doing so is in relation to coronavirus”.
A Unite Students official wrote to a Strathclyde University engineering student saying: “If your university are only saying that your teaching being fully online is a likelihood but not set in stone then we cannot accept that you are no longer needed in Glasgow and therefore no longer needing to fulfil your contractual tenancy.
“If, due to your medical history, you are at an extra risk due to the pandemic then a note from your doctor will suffice in allowing us to release you from the contract.”
The 19-year-old female student who
received the letter but wishes to remain anonymous said: “It’s outrageous.
“The last thing I’m going to do during this time is burden my doctor for a note to allow me to quit my student flat.
“I’ve given them 28 days’ notice so don’t think I should have to do anything more. It’s obviously an attempt to frustrate me into giving them more money for somewhere I no longer live.
“Like most of my friends, we’re all doing our classes from home.”
A business studies undergraduate from Cologne, Germany, who also wished to remain anonymous, said Unite Students was blocking his attempts to cancel his agreement.
He said he had already paid more than £2400 in rent to the firm despite not setting foot in Scotland because of the pandemic.
The 20-year- old said: “I’ve been trying to cancel since December but keep getting asked to produce evidence. The Scottish Government has done a lot to protect students compared to Germany but I’m struggling to get out of this contract.”
Before the Covid-19 outbreak, students didn’t have the same rights to quit PBSA as tenants in private rented properties.
But in May, the Scottish Government brought in emergency coronavirus laws that brought them into line. Fiona McPhail, principal solicitor for housing charity Shelter Scotland, said: “We see no requirement in the coronavirus legislation for tenants in student apartments to provide evidence, in addition to their written notice, in order to validly terminate their agreements.
“The approach of Unite towards students who are looking to end their agreements is concerning.”
Scottish Greens education spokesperson Ross Greer said: “The law gives students the right to terminate a lease due to Covid-related disruption, something every student in Scotland is experiencing.
“Trapping people into paying for rooms they can’t even return to is not only wrong, it’s plainly illegal.”
Matt Cri l ly, National Union of Students Scotland’s president, said: “It’s a real concern that many students have been unable to end their tenancy as they have a legal right to leave their accommodation, which all landlords have a duty to uphold.”
A spokesperson for Bristol-based Uni te Students said in some circumstances it asked for evidence that students were quitting PBSA due to Covid.
He added: “We have a strong track record of supporting students who need help and urge anyone who is struggling financially to talk to us and contact their university student finance team for any additional support.”
A Scottish Government spokesperson said: “We will take whatever action is considered to be necessary when there is evidence that private housing providers are trying to frustrate students’ ability to exercise their legal rights.”