Student lets?

[Normandy Cow]

My son is off to university in September and we are looking for accommodation for him. If all goes to plan he will be at the Broadstairs campus of Canterbury university.
Given that he will be paying around £100pw I put my landlord's hat on and wondered whether we would be better off getting a buy-to-let mortgage and buying a 3-bedroom house and letting it to him +2 others.
I've checked Rightmove.com and there are 29 3-bedroom properties for sale in Broadstairs at under £120,000.

Have any other laymyhatters gone down this route?

Is there a student landlord version of LMH that I could look at?

I also thought about the possibility of doing (cheap!) holiday lets in Broadstairs when the students are away in July/August, but is this a ridiculous idea?
Could I cope with two holiday rentals - one shabby-chic in Normandy, and a shabby-shabby on the isle of Thanet?

[Hells Bells]

NC, not done the landlord thing, but I think new students are best in university accommodation for the first year. That is where they make their friends, have a social life etc etc. However after year 1 they will probably join with a group of these and rent somewhere, so yes, that maybe something you can think about.
From experience with my sons they both rented their property from July 1st to June 30th, so it was an annual let rather than one for just the academic year. Not sure if that is the norm though.
As for holiday lets, students make a mess. Would you have time to clean up and repair the property in between ed of term and your first group of holidaymakers?

[Nemo]

www.landlordzone.co.uk is the place for loads of rental property talk. It has a whole section for HMO.

I fancied the idea, but none of mine went to uni sadly; I still have one left, but I don't hold out much hope! I've suggested the option to help the eldest purchase & move out & rent a couple of rooms to others but OH isn't comfortable with the risks involved.

I think it can be stressful but a great way to keep their debts down & use other students to subsidise you. Not sure about letting it out in the hols, as lots of people use that as redecorating time. A lot would depend on the standard the place is left in and who can tell! They do say by fitting it out to a higher spec (within reasonable limitations of course) that it gets treated better, but only time would prove that to you.

I know some unis let out their rooms for conferences & group meetings during the summer, but they have a little more control over their accommodation.

I'm sure others here have done this though.

[lel]

NC It could be a good plan. I brought a house in Kingston on Thames when my daughter was there and that worked well whilst she was a student. As already mentioned the lease is usually an annual one so there was no summer gap.
However after she left Uni we rented at first to people who knew her and then to unknown students, which is when things became difficult.
It was never a source of income, the costs of the interest only mortgage and constant repairs/ renovations to a Victorian house saw to that. However one year the state of the house was so bad that I nearly had a nervous breakdown, the boys trashed it and left owing money, so we sold and fortunately, because of the area made a good profit.
If you do go ahead make sure that you have someone local who can sort out minor/major problems. boy locked in bathroom-climbed out of window and then broke down front and bathroom door, which needed immediate attention comes to mind!

Sorry that's all a bit negative, it could be good and will make life easier for your son!

[French Cricket]

I can resonate with your experience, lel, not as a landlord but as someone who used to live next door to what became student accommodation in Sheffield (and my friend/ex-partner still lives there). It started as a house for the owner's son and 3 others, then they all moved on and it became a general student let.

Well, it was a nightmare, both for the owner and as a neighbour. Over 3 years we watched the house being trashed, suffered with almost constant noise, saw the garden gradually disappearing under piles of rubbish, watched the owner getting more and more distressed with the whole situation and seriously thought about moving.

In the end the owner couldn't take it any more and sold to a 'professional' student landlord (of which Sheffield has many). He rules the house with a rod of iron, threatens eviction for any digression and (quite literally) will send round the heavies if things start to get out of hand. Things are quieter there now, but he packs 6 students into a 3 bedroom terrace - says he has to to get enough income to pretty much gut and refit the house every August

[booboo]

It does make one wonder..... if these cases are rare as there is so much student accommodation around, someone has to be making money somewhere???

Why does it have to be to students only? Cant it be shared with professionals???

I have not yet rented to students but have rented out my place in the UK for seven years now and not yet ( says she reaching out frantically looking for wood to touch) had any problems!

[Nemo]

Professionals would never want to share with students trust me!

Student letting can work, but there is a formula and as FC testifies it can go wrong if you're not careful. Whilst your own child is there, you have a greater input and interest perhaps which can be lost when they move on and strangers move in.

But there's nothing to say you couldn't buy for 3/4 years and then sell up; it just depends on the figures. I'm sure the ruling with a rod of iron, not being an absentee landlord unless someone else can regularly check for you and putting in place real comebacks if the place starts being wrecked.

All the successful landlords I've heard about, always convert part of the living accommodation into a bedroom as well, so the house is always over what you would consider max occupancy. I think that's when the sums start to add up.

[French Cricket]

And students would never want to share with professionals either

[Hells Bells]

it causes difficulties with council tax too, as students are exempt, but not when they share with non-students.

[Nemo]

A can of worms indeed, so between the three of us we've put that notion to bed!

[Sue Dyer]

The buy to let market has really dropped in Newcastle. The uni's have purpose built student accommodation quite near the uni's and the city centre. These come with huge tv's and wifi.

The house next to us was bought for a student and converted to 5 bedrooms. I think it has been sold one once but has stood empty and for sale for a couple of years.

[Annew]

NC - I've pm'd you! I'd say no no no....

[golfing girl]

Don't do it. whilst you have people you know it's not too bad, but once you are renting to students who you don't know it is nightmarish. My brother in law is an agent for student letting in Birmingham and he can tell you tales of students having fires in the middle of the bedroom floor! chaining their laptops to the water pipes, kicking the doors in , food fights up the walls, drunken bouts all over the carpets etc. Every Summer most of his houses, over 200 have to be gutted to some degree!
This is why we went down the holiday letting route.

[ccazes]

Would it make sense if you found a property that is suitable for your son + 1 or 2 others while he is a student and then could be rented to a family or couple when your son has moved on?

You would have to research if there is a market for rentals to non students and if the possible rental prices would be worth your while.