University is an expensive time. With a low income that students must pay back, low pay for those who do work and institutions frowning on students having jobs, they are struggling to make ends meet. While some look to set up small businesses selling arts, crafts and photography. Perhaps in an attempt to reduce their annual costs, it seems that students are finding ways to stretch their cost of living by subletting without the property owner’s permission.
Air BnB Makes Renting Easier
AirBnB has made subletting rooms and second homes cheaper and easier. It has taken advantage of the growing “staycation” market for people unable to afford city centre hotels but want city centre stays. It has, however, created a number of problems for landlords both in and out of the student market. It’s cheap to list rooms or properties without the normal restrictive costs and is easy to do so. That’s why students have taken to doing so. In many cases, they are renting out their student accommodation during the Christmas and Easter breaks. This is not only in breach of their contracts it also opens you as a landlord up to some serious problems.
In many ways, it seems the ideal solution for everybody – the student makes extra cash to stretch their budgets. Somebody is in your property for a month, meaning a lower chance of a break in. But there are problems with these arrangements.
Are You Insured?
The reason that most property owners stipulate no subletting is that this is a condition of insurance. Letting out to another person, even without your knowledge, could potentially invalidate any policies you may have on the property. If anything happens while the subtenant is in the property, you may not be covered.
The Danger
As a property owner, you don’t know who your students are letting into your property. If they cause damage or make copies of keys and come back later to remove items from the property, not only will you not be insured but there will likely be masses of paperwork and police reports to fill out; all because the student tenants sublet without your permission or knowledge.
How to Ensure Compliance
The first thing to do is to ensure at the beginning of the year to your student tenants that they should check with you first before changing the terms of the agreement. If you have decided that there are no conditions under which you would permit it, it’s important not only to put it in the contract but to discuss verbally too. They may already have an idea of renting out rooms at Christmas or Easter and you should ensure they understand that they cannot do this without your permission. With next year’s students already looking, it’s a great time to update your contract.