Students pay the price for isolation despite term end
City landlords forcing many to cough up
SCORES of university students who should be packing up to leave Birmingham this week are under orders to stay put after a surge in Covid cases.
Students who have tested positive – and their households – need to stay in isolation for ten days, under Government guidance.
But that means overstaying their private tenancies and some landlords are now pressing the students to pay significant fees for their extra days in isolation.
One lettings agent has warned student households who need to stay extra days that they will not be ejected but will need to stump up a £70 daily fee between them.
Some areas of Selly Oak and neighbouring parts of Edgbaston popular with students have seen big spikes in positive cases, bringing up the city’s overall infection rate.
A total of 197 new cases have been confirmed in Selly Oak, giving an infection rate of 1,106.7 per 100,000 residents.
Neighbouring Edgbaston South and University has recorded 45 new cases, giving an infection rate of 372.5.
Another city hotspot is Aston Park, where there have been 36 cases and an infection rate of 444.5.
The city as a whole has an infection rate of 181.1, with a total of 2,068 cases detected in the seven days up to June 24.
Birmingham City University Journalism masters student Nathan Clarke, 21, is among those
affected. He confirmed his landlord had approved an extended stay until the isolation period ends on July 3, but is demanding an additional rental fee.
Mr Clarke, from London, said: “We’re currently negotiating a reduction in that fee, given that all of us are pretty broke at the minute seeing as it’s the end of term.
“We’ll have to wait and see what happens but we’re being allowed to stay which is what matters.
“It is stressful for everyone.”
One lettings agent, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said some of their landlords were pressing them to pursue overstay fees from students.
But they said only a small number of their student let properties in Selly Oak were affected – around 15 households in all needing to isolate beyond June 30.
They added: “The problem is that June 30 is their set departure day, and July 1 is the start of the new tenancies, so we also have people waiting to move in. We are trying to juggle these different demands and it is stressful for everyone.”
A spokesperson for the National Residential Landlords Association (NRLA) said: “Where tenants have a confirmed Covid diagnosis or have been told to self-isolate by the NHS, landlords must respect the required isolation period during which households should not move. We also encourage landlords to show as much flexibility as possible to support their tenants and help efforts to halt the spread of the virus.”
A University of Birmingham spokesperson said just 18 of the university’s 30,000 student population had reported positive tests in the seven days up to June 29, with only four saying they had been on campus in the days beforehand.
The spokesman added: “We have been operating multiple lateral flow sites on campus as well as hosting a local testing centre for PCR tests, and from June 30th we will be providing a facility on campus which has capacity to vaccinate over 1,000 people a day, and is part of the regional and national effort to increase capacity for vaccinations against Covid-19.”
Students who want to get a first vaccine (or a second dose if more than eight weeks since their first) can attend the walk in clinics at the University of Birmingham and other public sites across the city without an appointment.