Parents rage...but agents stay silent on clamour for refunds

PARENTS have contacted The Mail on Sunday in their hundreds to express their anger at the reticence of landlords – both big companies and private – to waive student accommodation fees this term.

By way of contrast, only a handful of landlords, or their agents, have been prepared to defend their taking of rents despite the fact that most student tenants have long gone home to continue their studies. Paul Parker, from Northampton, has only just paid the rent due on his daughter’s third term accommodation at the University of Liverpool, provided by Student Cribs. He paid because he did not want any adverse credit black mark against her name.

Yet it doesn’t mean he is happy with the way Student Cribs has behaved.

Paul says: ‘My daughter was told she had an obligation to pay the outstanding rent even though there was no chance of her returning to Liverpool to complete her academic year’s studies.

‘There is a right way of doing business and a wrong way – and Student Cribs has not played ball.’

Paul now fears that his daughter will be paying fees for new accommodation in September – with another provider – that she is again unable to use because of continued coronavirus issues. ‘It’s all rather unsatisfactory,’ he says. Student Cribs did not respond to The Mail on Sunday’s request for an explanation of why it was not prepared to waive a slice of tenants’ third term rents.

But its silence was not a lone one. Other accommodation providers including Campus Living Villages, Host and Mansion House refused to say anything. One private landlord did email, saying: ‘Don’t demonise us landlords.’