A former lettings agent who’s turned poacher is now claiming students are faced with what he calls “rip-off renting”.
Ajay Jagota, who recently sold his north of England lettings agency, now runs what he calls a “student support service” called Very Wise, which claims the average student rented property has risen in cost b y 16.1 per cent in the past year.
“There’s striking evidence that student tenants can’t cope in the cost of living crisis as it is and rent rises are making the situation even worse. That leaves student tenants very vulnerable to uncaring and unscrupulous landlords and letting agents – but in the current climate they clearly cannot afford to lawyer up in order to protect their rights” says Jagota, who has not disclosed the sum he received for his lettings firm, which was taken over by a larger agency group.
“Very Wise Student helps all student renters get access to legal justice. Whatever the problem is with their rented student housing we will take up the issue directly with their landlord or agent – and if all this extra pressure is really getting on top of them, we can help with emotional support too.
“We want universities, higher education colleges and student unions to partner with us to offer this lifeline to their students so we can help protect and support students through this difficult time.”
Very Wise says it offers tax advice “including student loans” and claims calls to the service are handled by qualified solicitors with at least five years of post-qualification experience.
Very Wise is part of the similarly-named Veriwise which says it “takes on housing disrepair and deposits that have not been registered claims on behalf of all renters, negotiating with councils, private landlords or letting agents to get property maintenance issues fixed quickly or ensure the regulatory responsibilities of landlords are adhered to and if applicable can make a claim for compensation for tenants.”
In cases where the landlord does not comply Veriwise claims to have a “panel of solicitors who can take the case to court to ensure the landlord or agent complies and pays any compensation.”
Want to comment on this story? Our focus is on providing a platform for you to share your insights and views and we welcome contributions.
If any post is considered to victimise, harass, degrade or intimidate an individual or group of individuals, then the post may be deleted and the individual immediately banned from posting in future.
Please help us by reporting comments you consider to be unduly offensive so we can review and take action if necessary. Thank you.
.jpg)
.png)
Join the conversation
Jump to latest comment and add your reply
Student rent increased by 16.1%, well we can take more than 10% off that straight away as inflation so that part of it isn't a rent increase, the other 6.1% we can lay at the governments door for the increased costs and red tape the government are imposing on us.
As for maintenance issues that's something quite different, if the landlord isn't attending to these then I would back ''very wise'' up.
Now let's be honest here 90% of students only go to uni for the jolly up and to put off work for 3 - 4 yrs, generally any degrees gained have little or no use in the work place.
I have both student and regular residential. The wear and tear, outright damage and lack of cleaning is much greater with students than families. That has an associated cost. Additionally, I have to spend time chasing late payment from the students, time therefore money. all reflected in the rent.
I once lived in student accommodation. They lived like pigs and I was only student who knew what a bin was for.
Should be 60 pc not 16! Richard
Would never rent to students, my target market is NOT young people due to the issues mentioned. He appears to be the student version of ‘ Shelter’, nice little earner having just sold up 💰💰
I did rent to students for a while in the 90s, never again, over 25s only now, and over 30s better still.
A student house in Nottingham that would rent for £850 as a family home is up for £1500 for students. Having let to students before I agree the maintenance & upkeep is higher but I also agree that many are ripped off because it is easy do so. Students & their parents are 'niave renters' with this often their first experience of renting & with the desire to live with their friends in a key location the over-riding factor. As a result they are ripe for exploitation & often get ripped off.
I'll take the £850 from the honest working family any day of the week
Having had 3 children go through university (yes I am lucky but to follow their chosen careers they had no choice) and there is no doubt that students are often treated as second class renters! We had to pay the deposit nearly a year in advance! Then often the condition when they moved into the property was poor - one even had a huge hole in the hallway from an unrepaired leak - which the letting agent didn't think to mention when we picked up the keys (it took 6 months before it was repaired!) . Every agent has tried to charge for repairs/cleaning - including the cleaning of 4 carpets - only 2 rooms had carpets! - which were the cheapest you can buy, a shower curtain that was probably 5 year old when they moved in, and I bleached clean! One agency sent us a bill of £1,500 for cleaning at the tenancy end! Fortunately I had taken a lot of photos before and after and was cetainly not paying for cleaning of an oven and hob that I had cleaned and was in better condition at the end of the tenancy than at the beginning. Yes, the other 4 housemates did not hoover under their beds at the end - fair enough but the £1,500 charge was reduced to £300!! I'm an experienced letting agent - I know how a house should be left andevery house that my children have lived in was left in the same condition that it was when they moved in (or better). One agent tried to charge for "dust" - they had the keys for 6 weeks before doing the check out - I'm sure there was dust in the rooms by then! I also see that whilst there are students who don't clean up, the majority are normal young people who pay an a much higher rent for often very poor accomodation. If you treat students with no respect , treat the accomodation that is provided with no respect by not maintaining to a good standard, then it is not surprising that students living in accomodation like that show no respect - they are just following the lead of the landlord and/or letting agent. Student houses earn a far higher income than if the same property was rented to a family - so yes that will come with more work. But yes, overall, I believe that students do get ripped off, which is a shame as that first interaction with private renting only works to create a bad impression of the industry. They believe that all landlords and agencies are there to rip them off.
I like student tenants. I've had student houses since 1999 and have never had a problem with them. In all that time I've only had one student house returned to me in need of major cleaning. Wear and tear has been no greater than in any other type of tenancy. Occasionally students do stupid things like set up a laundry business because they have a bills inclusive contract (they now have a fair usage limit) or have an orgy and improvise some of the props shown on the Ann Summers playing cards they'd used for inspiration. A hand basin is no substitute for a washing machine and pendant light fittings just aren't the same as a chandelier! The damage looked dramatic but only cost about £30 to repair.
Some of the rents being advertised for next year do look very high compared to the standard HMO rents. They always used to be broadly similar but I guess student landlords were very heavily impacted and criticised during the lockdowns so are now taking steps to cope with any future lockdowns. Not having any stability in the utilities market is making it very hard to price in inclusive utilities.
It is easy to tar every student with the same brush and so many student properties are incredibly poorly maintained. - cheap carpets, cheap beds, bodge repairs, badly fitted kitchens and often inappropriate bedrooms to bathrooms. I saw one property advertised for £3,500 per month on South Coast - 7 bedrooms. One bathroom and toilet. No communal space only a small kitchen! The new build student accomodation is incredibly luxurious but very unaffordable.
S S who are you? As you tar all student lets with the same brush. Further their is a big problem with students vacating and filling the local streets with rubbish.
Ajay, well done you got out in time didn’t you and you were a thorn in the side bashing us.
SS, Why would you pay a Deposit nearly a year in advance or what landlord would take it, a miserable 5 weeks max even 3.5k pm don’t reach the cap for that. How does a landlord Register a Deposit nearly a year in advance without having let the Property especially when it’s occupied by someone else.
I doubt if you paid the Deposit without seeing the property, it appears you accepted the Property with a hole in the floor, unless it was created during your Tenancy.
Michael - it's standard practice in student let's. They look now for houses for next September. They sign the tenancy now and pay the deposit. Some letting agents are only allowing online viewings and some students are abroad so can't do physical viewings. In some respects it's not ideal but in others it's very convenient.
Ok, but it’s seem strange to me you have only 30 days to Register a Deposit after receiving it and they want to know when the Contract started.
How do you do that when the Contract haven’t started and the screen goes red, no one wants to speak to you anymore.
What happens when existing Tenants decide not to vacate.
Otherwise a holding Deposit can’t be more than the equivalent of a weeks Rent.
That means for me there’s no such thing anymore as a
holding Deposit, are you going to compromise a property that cost you hundreds of thousands of £’s for a weeks Deposit on the wing.
It's 30 days after the lease starts, not after the lease is agreed which can be many months earlier.
This is no different from taking a deposit for a holiday, music festival or goods on a long lead time and separates out the serious from the tyre kickers.
I could think of one or two good swear words for the policy. I don't think it's beauroracy, I think its intention. so call Woke Levelling up.
Simon, you are bang on the money, you are very very wise a guy sees rich pickings attacking landlords with the Law completely on his side. as long as it damages Private landlords he’ll have 100% backing of the law, a blank cheque. It is a carbon copy of an existing organisation that does this and have all the anti-landlords legislation on the web much of which they invented.
We would be very very wisely to take this this pinch of salt.
Please login to comment