University students across UK protest against ‘extortionate rents’

Students from across 25 campuses are planning rent strikes against an almost 20% increase in rent prices in two years. On the weekend of 16 September, workshops were held in preparation.

Student rent has increased by 18% in two years across the UK, according to the Guardian, fuelling fears that the rising cost of accommodation is making higher education unaffordable.

Shelly Asquith, vice-president for welfare at the National Union of Students (NUS) explained: “Extortionate rents, coupled with course fees and other rising living costs, are now preventing lots of working-class students from attending university altogether, especially in cities such as London.

“According to our own figures at NUS, over 50% of students say they can’t afford their basic expenses of rent and other bills.”

The weekend of rent strike workshops, called the Rent Strike Weekender, from 16 – 18 September in London was built on the success of UCL’s rent campaign, which saw 1,000 students withhold payments.

The Rent Strike Weekender said on their Facebook event page: “Rent from student accommodation is a powerful enabler of the continued marketisation of higher education, and now profits from student rents are integral to the new financial strategy of universities.

“The housing crisis is not specific to students – rent is everyone’s problem suffocating the lives of millions and disproportionately affecting women, the disabled and black and brown communities.”

Daniel Dawson, a Masters student in social work at Goldsmiths University, attended the workshop events in London. He said: “Together we formed an idea of what the Rent Strike would look like this year, making it more than just about withholding rent but really looking at what it means for people to live together in soulless accommodation with each other’s well-being at the centre of everything.”

In regards to the possible consequences of the event, he added: “I think this will be a year of many successes made up by people across the country who now refuse to allow that alienation to be a part of their uni experience.”

According to Sky News, although student accommodation in London has exceeded inflation, this is not only a student concern and has affected all of London’s property market.

George Spencer, CEO of Rentify, an online letting agency for private Landlords, said: “We’re seeing 40 and 50% increases in [student] rent since 2010, but ultimately the rents are starting at a much, much lower level than they are in the private sector.

“These are students who are unwilling to pay their rent, not unable to pay their rent. If they were unable to pay their rent then the market would correct itself, and we’d see more affordable accommodation built.”

Alice Harriet, a fourth-year English and Creative Writing student at Warwick, hoped that future protests will be as successful as those at UCL were. She added: “The rent prices at Warwick are appalling. I’m paying the same as my partner in the cheapest option for finalist students and he is studying in London.

“Warwick are shutting down cheap housing to build fancy housing that only international students can really afford. Warwick needs to think about the needs of poorer students or they will inevitably face a student backlash.”

However, Peter Dunn, Head of Press and Policy at Warwick, said: “We maintain a ladder of rents that ensure affordability.”

Earlier this year Warwick’s Students’ Union did succeed in preventing a number of the University’s new rent proposals. These included a rent freeze for all rooms in Rootes, reducing Cryfield rent to amend for an increase in let period and a bigger discount in rent for postgraduates living in Claycroft.