Student Landlords Need Top Marks
Student landlords can sit exams of their own that will help give them an edge in the market.
Student landlords can sit exams of their own that will help give them an edge in the market.
Passing the tests and following a code of practice will let landlords pick up tenant referrals from universities and join an accredited marketing network.
The scheme is run by student charity Unipol and international online portal Accommodation for Students (AFS) – with the backing of the National Union of Students.
Membership is for three years – and requires landlords to follow strict fire and safety guidelines as well as passing the online multiple choice tests.
Properties will also be inspected to make sure they comply with safety standards.
Unipol chief executive Martin Blakey said: “For some time there has been a concern about the potential lack of quality control on some online accommodation websites and a few student tenants have suffered from inferior standards and, in exceptional cases, fraud.
“This has not been helped by the patchwork and poorly understood nature of many existing accreditation schemes. We have chosen to partner AFS because their website is the main one used by student landlords across the UK.”
Blakey explained that joining the scheme will give parents and students confidence about the professionalism of landlords letting them property.
“The AFS/Unipol Code puts in place a set of standards that is easily understood by both tenants and landlords and will reassure students and parents that the properties that they rent online have landlords with the requisite management skills and accommodation that meets the code benchmarks,” he said.
“Most importantly these standards are physically checked by visits from a team of independent professional verifiers as part of the initial application, and three-yearly thereafter, when membership comes up for renewal.
“All this provides huge peace of mind for student tenants letting a property from an accredited landlord – reflected in our ‘thumbs up’ logo.”
For more information about the scheme go to http://www.unipol.org.uk/afsunipolcode [Opens in new window]
