Student letting sign concerns

A Leamington councillor has called for a limit to the number of ‘To Let’ signs on student properties in the town.

Councillor Jerry Weber argued that the signs were an “eyesore” and and urged Warwick District Council to limit the number they licensed to be displayed outside student properties.

He commented in the Leamington Observer: “This isn’t about being anti-student, its about keeping our streets looking the best they can. The signs have become a real eyesore to residents over the last few years.”

“The students themselves are worried that making an area obviously student populated would draw some attention from thieves who target students, who normally have a lot of valuable equipment.”

Third-year undergraduate of Theatre Studies, Rachel Tanner, told the Boar that most residents of Leamington already have a fairly good idea of where the student areas are without the letting signs.

She continued: “To say they are unattractive is such an insignificant point.

“It can be really difficult and stressful finding a student house, especially as a first year when you’ve never had to undertake something like this before, and the easier method is walking around the streets of Leamington knocking on doors.”

Ms Tanner currently lives in a student house in Leamington Spa, and added: “We don’t have a to let sign anymore, it was taken down a couple of days after our house was taken – and to be honest, I barely noticed it was there!”

Cllr Weber continued that, not only were the signs unsightly, they were not very helpful to students in finding a property: “Students live in a more digital age.”

This view was echoed by first-year French and German undergraduate Ryan Harris, who plans to live in a student property in Leamington next year: “Everything is online now. It’s more efficient to use the internet and all students know how to use it.”

He continued that the signs didn’t offer students the key information they needed to decide upon viewing the property: “If you see a to-let sign, you don’t often know how many bedrooms there are, and they sometimes stay up even after the property has been let.”

The problem is allegedly at its worst in autumn, at the beginning of the academic year. The councillor hopes that the regulations would be in place by next autumn.

A Leamington landlord was fined nearly £3,000 for not obtaining permission to put up signs outside student properties