Hundreds of students due to study at Glasgow University have nowhere to stay due to a shortage of available homes – and a proposed rent freeze will only make the crisis worse, warned the Scottish Association of Landlords (SAL).

Glasgow university even suggested that students should ditch their studies if they can’t find anywhere to live, reported the BBC, which said the college is advising people not to complete registration – or even travel to Glasgow – until they have found somewhere to stay.

While the university acknowledged that demand for rooms ‘continues to be substantially ahead of expectation both in Glasgow and more broadly across the UK’ and has previously said there was not enough space to accommodate new students in halls of residence, it added that the number of available private flats in the city had fallen so much that there is a gap between supply and demand.

NUS Scotland said it is also getting harder for students to find accommodation in other parts of the country, such as Edinburgh and St Andrews, and backs up what private landlords have been warning of for months.

The accommodation crisis may deteriorate further when the planned rent freeze and evictions ban in Scotland, due to last until March 2023, takes effect, said SAL.