Safeguarding Student Standards in Private Accommodation
A quarter of all students in Nottingham live in large blocks of private student accommodation each year. Approximately 90% of accommodation providers are members of The National Code (for non-educational institutions), which is a Government ‘Approved’ accreditation scheme designed to ensure a suitable standards of management in student accommodation.
The Renters Rights Bill is currently going through parliament and, once passed, this will give members of this National Code a special exemption from elements of the Bill, meaning the Code needs to be strengthened so that student occupants don’t lose out.
The changes are summarised in the Consultation Guidance Document, but the main ones are:
🔹 Giving student occupants the ability to withdraw from their tenancy agreement if they permanently withdraw from their course or suspend their studies due to significant ill-health
🔹 Guaranteeing continued protection of deposits through Deposit Protection Schemes
🔹 Requiring compliance with updated building and fire safety legislation, and with the government’s guidance regarding damp and mould remediation.
Unipol are encouraging students to read more about the changes and submit their thoughts here: https://www.nationalcode.org/news/consultation-on-the-non-educational-code-launched
The consultation form itself is quite long, so we are encouraging students to email any thoughts to our VP Community & Welfare, Olivia Brooks to feed into the joint organisational response UoNSU’s advice team will be submitting. You can also use this to send through ideas to improve any aspect of the code, as the next full review will be in 2027.
PLEASE SEND ANY THOUGHTS THROUGH BEFORE 20th May
Our initial thoughts are that the changes are broadly positive, adding clarity to areas of the Code and updating language, as well as making sure occupants in private Student Accommodation don’t lose rights enjoyed by the rest of the Private Rented Sector (PRS).
However, there are some areas we think it can be strengthened:
Decent Homes Standard for Private Student Accommodation (PBSA):
Whilst not the norm, or as bad as the PRS, many students have experienced poor standards of PBSA, whether it is disrepair due to the age of a building, low quality instillation (especially with plumbing) in new builds or lack of adequate maintainance, this cannot be the standard that is acceptable in accredited accommodation. Non-educational establishments should ensure their properties meet the Decent Homes Standard so students in PBSA are not left behind, and take steps to rectify issues quickly where circumstances lead to accommodation falling short.
Compensation:
Whilst the clauses for compensation where student are unable to occupy a room – whether due to late opening or significant repairs – are welcome, we think it should go further to a) reimburse students who have had to put up with standards that are below what they expected or paid for and b) to act as an incentive for developers to be proactive and act as a punishment short of losing accreditation.
Damp/ Mould Repairs:
The length of time between a provider being made aware of an issue of mould and resolution in the case of a ‘hazard [which] could pose a significant risk to the health or safety of an occupant’ could extend to 21 days which seems too lenient in the case of a significant risk, as significant damage would be done whilst the tenant is paying to live somewhere unfit for purpose. We think there should be protections to ensure private providers don’t just take the 14 days for the sake of it.
