According to Mortgages for Business, the student buy-to-let market is a predictable sector that offers landlords a clearly defined tenant agreement.

The Residential Landlords Association (RLA) has said that the fact that students will require several years’ worth of accommodation in a single area makes them attractive prospective tenants for landlords with buy-to-let mortgages. The association has also advised that the set end dates for each tenant make it easy for landlords to schedule maintenance or home improvement works, though cautioned that there were also disadvantages.

“Damage is always a problem; that’s why you take deposits off students”, said Chris Town, spokesman for RLA. “As far as arrears are concerned, because students are young and don’t normally have a credit record, you generally take a guarantee from the parent.”