RELEASE LIVERPOOL STUDENT HOMES E-ZINE Issue 3 Autumn 2017
2016/17 annual review Market overview .
Rent levels Busy start to the academic year Supporting student communities Burglary reduction campaigns EPC minimum rating requirements
WELCOME to the 2017 edition of the LSH e-zine for registered providers of student accommodation in Liverpool.
The 2016/17 yearly review We have nearly completed a full cycle of registration and can use this as an opportunity to provide an overview of the student housing market registered through LSH. The student housing market in Liverpool continues to be as competitive as ever, enquiries from new investors and both small and large are a regular occurrence. As with previous years larger developments are seeing their market share challenged by new developments released on a year by year basis, while the traditional housing sector continues to compete within its sector with high levels of standards and growing demand for well managed and maintained properties.
The continued growth in the larger development sector was evident this year with the release in September of St Luke's View with 776 bedspaces and The Ascent with 198 bedspaces. The growth of purpose built student halls continues into 2018 with the release of the Lime Street Gateway project comprising of approximately 412 bedspaces and with further developments in planning or part way through construction for 2019. The increase in bedspaces from new build in the city centre has in part been absorbed by the two largest universities increasing their intake through the clearing process.
Managing student's expectations in terms of accommodation standards and levels of management are becoming key indicators of the success of a student housing provider.
Market overview Figures obtained from the LSH database give an overview of the registered and advertised properties during a registration cycle. The accuracy of the ďŹ gures is dependent upon our registered landlords/agents maintaining property records in their online accounts. Your co-operation is crucial to enable us to deliver a more exact picture of the sector. The simplest way to ensure your advert remains on the website when it has been occupied is to set the advert as 'Let Agreed'.
This will enable us to correctly gauge how areas have performed and what rent levels where achieved by those taken.
24,307 Bedspaces Advertised by LSH, across the sector, during the academic year 2016/17.
The breakdown of these figures into larger developments and the traditional houses/flats sectors is shown as:
Bedpaces advertised through the service Despite initial concerns regarding the number of vacancies in larger developments during August, the increase in 1st year students through the clearing process provided a buffer for those with vacancies. The performance of the traditional houses/flats sector is more difficult to determine accurately because of the number of adverts that remain live on the website when they may have been taken.
Bedspaces remaining in September 2017 Following the commencement of the new academic year, we can establish the number of vacant bedspaces advertised on the LSH website.
number of bedspaces remaining in September yearly comparison Historically the bedspaces remaining in the traditional sector are at the lowest point since 2011, which includes houses and flats.
number of properties advertised by size
RENT LEVELS Area
This year we have seen an increase in rent levels across all key student locations. The table that follows captures rent levels during the September period. There are some large variants in the table and consideration should be given to areas which have larger developments located in them which include L8 and L7.
L1 - City Centre
Per Person Per Week Min Average
Per Person Per Month Max Min Average
75
125.77
350
0
538.11
69.23
86.41
95
300
374.56
L15 - Smithdown/Wavertree
55
85.45
130
238.33
366.36
L16 - Childwall
55
63.75
75
238.33
276.25
L17 - Aigburth
65
85.8
95
281.67
371.8
L18 - Mossley Hill/Allerton
65
83.27
100
281.67
360.91
L19 - Garston
80
80
80
347
347
L2 - City Centre
85
85
85
368.33
368.33
L3 - City Centre
80
126.71
180
346
546.66
L5 - Breckfield
99
104
109
429
450.67
L6 - Fairfield
65
78.17
90
281.67
338.72
L6 - Kensington
65
83.25
95
260
359.7
L6 - Tuebrook
80
80
80
346.67
346.67
L7 - Edge Hill
63
110.46
200
273
478.05
L7 - Kensington
60
80.49
105
260
348.59
L8 - Georgian Quarter
90
95
100
390
411.67
L8 - Toxteth
55
95.28
177
238.33
412.86
L15 - Picton
BUSY START TO THE ACADEMIC YEAR The LSH team has had a busy couple of weeks at the start of term attending welcome events and fresher's fairs across all three universities. The events offer our service a prime opportunity to share information about our service and establish brand recognition with new students to the city. The main focus of engaging with students at this stage is to make them fully aware of the LSH service and to ensure that they search for accommodation with a registered provider. In addition, all LJMU first years received an information leaflet about our service in their welcome packs and the LSH logo was included on wall planners and calendars produced by Liverpool SU.
Supporting student communities For the past two years we have funded two Community Reps (now renamed Outreach Workers) through the Liverpool SU scheme. The student reps are employed to promote community cohesion and share best practice information in the key student housing locations of Smithdown L15 and Kensington L7.
Community cohesion and responding to concerns from neighbours and residents is an essential responsibility of all with a vested interest in the student market. We provide a multi-agency approach to reacting to complaints of noise and anti-social behaviour in a bid to ensure a joined up response between the registered landlord, Liverpool City Council, universities and where necessary Merseyside Police. Co-operation and engagement by all is essential in an attempt to resolve issues promptly. The Outreach Workers have assisted in the circulation of the LSH Moving into Your Community Guide which was posted to all registered properties and can be seen on the LSH website.
Burglary reduction campaigns Now Lock the Door and Now Secure the Window Student properties are often an easy target for burglars. Ensuring that tenants follow basic preventative messages has become a whole new challenge. Throughout the year we have our active 'Now Lock Your Door' and 'Now Secure Your Window' safety campaigns raising awareness on a regular basis. LSH can provide you with leaets and stickers to be placed on internal doors and windows if you haven't already done so. The intention of the stickers is to provide a permanent reminder to tenants to keep windows and doors secured.
The stickers are placed internally at the locking point of both windows and doors. We appreciate it can become frustrating as providers when you have taken many steps to reenforce the safety message. Please communicate with your tenants the importance of securing their dwelling and regularly review the security provisions in place. If you would like FREE door and window stickers, plus 'Now Lock Your Door' key fobs, please call or email our oďŹƒce.
NEW PROPERTY STANDARD - Window restrictors to ground floor windows We have received reports from Merseyside Police of an increasing number of burglaries within student properties where entrance is gained through an open window. Very often these opportunist thefts occur even when the students are in the property. We are also aware of the importance air flow and ventilation play in keeping condensation, humidity and resultant mould growth to a minimum within student properties in particular. In order to try and resolve the potentially conflicting solutions to these problems the Management Committee of Liverpool Student Homes has decided to introduce an additional property standard. For the registration period starting 2019/2020 we will ask that all openable ground floor windows should be fitted with a window restrictor. Restrictors and their fittings should be suitably robust to prevent vulnerable and determined adults from forcing them open beyond the restriction and only removable with a special tool or key.
We believe that for a minimum outlay landlords and letting agents registered with Liverpool Student Homes will be able to make a significant contribution to the reduction of burglaries within Liverpool. This will have the additional benefit of reducing the number of occasions the devastating effects these break-ins can have on students and thus reenforcing the message to your prospective tenants that their safety is your primary concern. The universities and student unions will be able to use this additional safety measure to re-emphasise their message that their students should only rent from an LSH registered landlord or letting agent. However we have recognised the logistical issues involved in implementing this requirement and have therefore agreed it will only be introduced for tenancies starting from July 2019, thus giving landlords and agents over 18 months to comply.
Work with Merseyside Police We have collaborated with Merseyside Police to send all registered properties notification of a burglary reduction campaign that the police are operating in student locations. During the campaign Merseyside Police will be visiting key student areas and talking to residents with regards
to safety measure such as locking doors and securing windows, help us with this campaign by keeping the safety message going throughout the year. Key times are always when students move in, Christmas and returning after breaks.
NEW No To Let Boards Campaign If you own or manage rented properties in the Smithdown Road area of the student market you will be familiar with the pilot scheme agreed locally to stop 'To Let Boards' being displayed. Whilst a large percentage of landlords/agents view this as detrimental to their marketing activities it would be hard not to agree that the area as a whole looks and feels like a more established community without streets of advertising boards. The endless 'To Let Boards' where deemed by local policing as highlighting student properties as an easy target for burglars.
LSH have now launched the 'No To Let Boards' campaign which is aimed at highlighting landlords/agents who are committed to not displaying to let notices outside of the their dwellings. One of the largest portfolio managers of student properties in Kensington, has stated that they are reluctant to use to let boards in the area for the very reasons identified by the police, and feels this has not had a negative impact on their letting capabilities.
Letting boards... love them? OR loathe them?
STUDENT PROPERTY
4 laptops 5 tablets 5 mobile phones 3 games consoles 4 televisions
do you really need to use letting boards to advertise your accommodation? LSH is launching a campaign for students to be able to identify whether properties on our website will have letting boards displayed outside or not. The perception of letting boards in an area are:
They provide opportunist burglars with an easy means of identifying student accommodation. Numerous boards have a negative impact on the street scene.
Many landlords operate successfully in the market year on year without the use of letting boards.
lsh Registered landlords/agents
LSH has introduced a new No To Let Signs mark which can be displayed on property adverts if you already don't use letting boards or are happy to stop using them.
EPC minimum rating requirements As of April 2018, all privately rented homes must have a minimum Energy Performance Certificate rating of E or it will be illegal to rent them out. The rule applies to new tenancies and renewals only, but will be extended to existing tenancies by 2020. This means any homes rated F or G must be improved or taken off the rental market. You therefore need to tackle any issues within your properties as soon as possible or may have to take it off the market, with real fears that tradesman will struggle to cope with demand for improvements as the deadline approaches. Around 330,000 PRS homes are rated F and G and will be affected by the changes – mainly Victorian and Edwardian homes. In total 18% of PRS homes were built before 1919 prior to the introduction of cavity wall, meaning they are hard to insulate. Any landlord or agent applying to advertise a property with an F or G rating will be advised that their advert will be suspended on 31 March 2018 until a new Energy Perfomance Certificate is supplied that indicates an improved rating of E or above.
Invite to take part in research on experiences of renting housing to students We are helping NUS to conduct research into the experience that landlords have of renting accommodation to students and we are getting in contact to request your participating in the research. This survey is being run nationally across the UK; through it NUS are trying to understand the rental market, and your experiences of having students as tenants. The survey is completely anonymous. Please click on the link below to go to the survey website. It will only take about 10 minutes.
Survey link: please click here Your participation in this survey is entirely voluntary and all your responses will be treated in the strictest of confidence. Please answer the questions as fully and as honestly as possible. We appreciate your time and consideration in completing survey and thank you very much for helping us and NUS with this important research.