Landlords should 'still consider student lettings'

News Category: Industry News

Private landlords and smaller letting agents looking to capitalise on the student letting market should concentrate their efforts providing quality accommodation to other students, an industry expert has claimed.

Chris Town, a spokesperson for the Residential Landlords Association, explained that the major property providers had the market for first-year students covered, but other letting agents could easily target the older students.

"There are a lot of large providers coming into University towns now, so you have to be aware of that – but there's still a good market for quality property, definitely," Mr Town added.

Mr Town said that many universities themselves worked with the larger property providers to supply first-year accommodation, so it was doubly hard for smaller agents to attract these tenants.

Despite this, Mr Town explained that small letting agents and private landlords could still return a profit "provided you do your homework".

"You need to have a really good look around, find out what's happening. Talk to as many people as possible – the University if possible, or if they have a letting arm certainly have a word with them.

"Talk to landlords, anybody who's got an interest in that sector, before you take the plunge. There have been quite a lot of people who've jumped into the market and found it very difficult to sustain," Mr Town concluded.

Recently, the RLA launched new website which aimed to provide landlords with more information about the legislation surrounding things like student lettings.