NUS urge students to wait to rent

The NUS are encouraging students to wait to find  properties for when they actually need it and to take prices into account.

They believe that estate and letting agents are exploiting students to rent properties before they begin their next year by creating a fear of not having a home when they return after Christmas.

Many students rent properties up to seven months before they move in, having to pay a lot more than required.

In many cases, finding a property can be a daunting experience and students tend to leap at the opportunity to rent a property quickly.

 Colum McGuire, NUS Vice President, said: “We have long seen a student housing industry which preys on students who are desperate to find a great place to live.

“Letting agents get away with the type of scare tactics and aggressive marketing which wouldn’t be legal in any other industry.”

Many students are first-time-renters and do not realise the added pressure that landlords and estate agents put on them in order to secure a deal.

However, the NUS said there is a surplus of housing in university towns and cities such as Kingston, so the property market is great for students.

Aurea Sa, criminology student, said: “Renting for the first time was scary; I didn’t know much about the market or how much a property should be in this area.

“A lot of what I learnt was through research I did on my own and didn’t find that the estate agents were helpful, but kept telling us that we had to move quickly as many people were interested but some of those houses are still on the market so we learnt that they were just trying to pressure us.”

It is very common for students who have committed to signing a contract to feel dissatisfied with their decision.

“The people I live with are great, which makes the house a lot better, but I do think that if we waited we could have found more for our money and closer to the university,” Charlee Taylor, psychology student, said.