Sector Realism, Rebooking Kicks Off, The Reputation of Renting And Ask the Expert Special on The Renters’ Rights Act - what you can do NOW to prepare

In this week's episode:
- The Class Foundation Conference round-up
- Sector realism
- The affordability slide
- Let’s get positive about renting
- Plus Ask the Expert on the Renters’ Rights Act with Amanda McNeil Partner, Head of Real Estate, Howard Kennedy LLP.

The episode covers data from St. James’s Place Real Life Advice 2025 report and the Knight Frank Student Accommodation Outlook 2025 Report.

Stay up to date on Housed podcast via its LinkedIn page.

Dan Smith is Founder of RESI Consultancy and Co-Founder of Verbaflo.AI Good Management.

Sarah Canning and Deenie Lee are Directors and Co-Founders of The Property Marketing Strategists - Elevating Marketing in Property.

Thank you to our season four sponsors:
MyStudentHalls - Find your ideal student accommodation across the UK.
Utopi - The smart building platform helping real estate owners protect the value of their assets.
Washstation - Leading provider of laundry solutions for Communal and Campus living throughout the UK and Ireland.

Chapters

• 0:00 Sponsors, Housekeeping, And Setup
• 2:12 Lisbon Conference Debrief And Sector Sentiment
• 6:30 Lessons From Europe And A Shift To Realism
• 12:20 Tech, AI, And Vendor Perspectives
• 16:20 Community Hubs And Inclusive Networking
• 22:30 Policy Focus And The European Student Housing Agenda
• 27:30 Parent Fears, BTR Awareness, And Renting’s PR Problem
• 33:40 Reframing Renting And Sector Messaging
• 39:20 Knight Frank Outlook: Investment, Mid‑Market Viability
• 45:30 Amenities vs Cost: What Students Really Value
• 50:40 Planning, Communal Space, And Affordability Design

Transcript

SPEAKER_06: 0:00

Hello everyone and welcome back to How's the Shared Living Podcast? It's our 80th episode today, which I still can't believe we've got to the right old page of 80, but it is so thank you for continuing to listen. We did think it was a 17th button flies when you're having fun and we actually missed a week out, so apologies if it looks like we have skipped what we haven't, we just can't help the weekend. So that's good. We are all a very busy trip to Lisbon for the past conference. Thanks again to Hellia and we have a great time.

SPEAKER_01: 0:57

I'm Dan Smith from Reddy Consultant team.

SPEAKER_06: 1:00

And I'm saying I'm accounting for the property marketing strategist. And first a quick word from our headline sponsor.

SPEAKER_02: 1:07

Season five of House, sponsored by MyStudentTools.com. List your properties commission free and reach thousands of students searching for their university home.

SPEAKER_06: 1:19

Dan and the team from MyStudent Halls have been supporters of House since the beginning, and we are incredibly grateful that they're here once again as headline sponsors of season five. Most of you working in PBSA are in the process of launching your leasing season, so if you aren't yet listed on MyStudent Halls, make sure you do get in contact with Dan and ensure you are visible. Also, a big huge thank you to Wash Station Utopia for coming back and sponsoring House once again. We'll hear from them later. We do usually say this at the end, but if you are enjoying House, please share the episodes with your colleagues and network. And if you could give us a review on your podcast channel of choice, we would really appreciate it. The wider the reach, the more conversations can happen that can move the sector forward. And that includes at UK Reef in May 2026. Media packs have now been sent to everyone that expressed an interest. So if you want to partner and get your brand in front of the key players in the real estate sector and you haven't received a media pack, do get in touch. Now we shall get on with the show. As I mentioned, we've all come back from Lisbon on Friday. We probably don't need to speak about that very long queue for passport control that we all found very painful. But we did get through it and we did get back. But how did we find the class? You know, what was our insights? What did we learn?

SPEAKER_05: 2:29

I think Dan is probably better placed to feed back on what was going on on his stage because Deany and I, we we were hosting the community hub stage all day, which was amazing. And but the content that we had on our stage was more operational, more discussion-based, more kind of troubleshooting across various different departments of the sector. So we were probably less privy to kind of the news and insight from the wider kind of European sector. So yeah, Dan, what's your feedback?

SPEAKER_01: 3:00

Well, we we all love this event. Uh it is uh I think because we all get to travel as well. So that that certainly helps to get people into new places and and I think this year was was arguably the best yet. Obviously, Lisbon is a fantastic city, but it just felt like there was some kind of I want to say renewed optimism, but I actually think it's more realism across the sector. I've just put a post up about about that on LinkedIn before we started recording because that's what I'm being asked all the time. Every single call that I'm having, whether it's a Verb flow demo or a general consultancy call, is oh, what was the sentiment? Like uh what were people thinking, how are how are people feeling about PBSA in the UK and Europe? And and I think it's I think it's realistic. And and I think that was I was I was hosting the catalyst stage, which I was really pleased with because it's the one where you should have actions to take away from that. Like that should be really impacting the sector in a positive way. So I I think Thule from Student Crowd and Paul, and then Dan Swan and Caroline from Student Roost, they did a really interesting panel on the lessons that Europe could learn from the UK. Now I think we we're quite often a little bit arrogant in the UK about well, it's UK and Europe when it comes to PBSA, but but you know, Thule did a really good job of of saying, look, it this should be broken out by every single country now. Uh and then Osborne Clark, the the lawyers who took the graveyard shift, which is a terrible place to put five lawyers on stage just before everyone's desperate to go to the bar, said exactly the same thing that you know we really have to start treating Europe as separate countries now. But I think some of the lessons that can be learned from the UK are already being learned. There is a more realistic and almost a more cautious approach to development in PBSA in Europe, from what we're seeing, and that the student crowd data kind of backs that up as well. And I think there's a real focus on how not to make the mistakes of certain cities that appear to be oversupplied. Now, I I don't necessarily think they are oversupplied, whether you're talking about Sheffield or Nottingham or Coventry or wherever else. I think they're at different cycles of uh different stages in the cycle of maturity. And I think that there is a yeah, that there's a real focus on how we can make sure that we drive affordable accommodation. That was clear, and the only way to do that is by building more. So I think that some of the key threads were affordability and flexibility. On the Catalyst stage, there was a bit of a focus on tech. We had YADI on stage, YARDI sponsor the event, and and so they were on stage talking about AI, which Meggie did a great job, actually. She did a really good job of walking us through where YADI are up to with AI for each of their clients. But obviously, I was I was sat there going, I I'm desperate to put my hand up here, I'm desperate to be on that stage and talking about what you know the real world impact is, not just for specific clients of a PMS, but for you know, across the board. So I had to sit on my hands and bite my tongue for doing that. But I think AI wasn't mentioned too much because I think some of these events can be a little bit overkill. So, you know, one quick mention of of AI, a decent session from Meggie, and then we just had the Verbaflow booth set up just off of the uh off of the dining area. So yeah, overall, I think it was, you know, I I caught the catalyst stage primarily, but some of the other sessions that I did see were just very realistic. I I think people have stopped drinking the Kool-Aid when it comes to what agents are saying and where to build and what to buy, and and I and I do think that investors are being a lot more realistic. So I was really positive. I didn't feel like I was swimming against the tide in some of the things that I was saying on the stage or to you know clients or or whatever, because I I do get accused of being bearish at times. And I and yeah, I am on certain markets and and definitely on certain assets if you're gonna price them wrong, or they're you know not in the not in the right location or not the right amenities or services, etc. But overall, just really good to see some some realism, and and I think long may that continue. Hopefully, it's feeding through into the pricing that we're seeing being set for this year, because you know, we do need to cancel the cashbacks if I can get something trending, if cancel the cashbacks, we don't want to see those again this year. And all of the operators that I spoke to were saying that they'd had a flying start. They'd done, you know, they'd been launched, they'd launched their prices not necessarily reasonably early, but you know, in October and obviously in into early November. And they'd actually had a concerted rebooking campaign. And I think this is the first time where uh for clients of mine, we've not had any pushback from investors who have basically been saying in in previous years, oh, we don't want to give any extra discounts to rebookers. Let's just, you know, um let's just give them maybe£100 cash back or something. And then further down the line, obviously, they're gazumped by the massive cashbacks that might be on offer. So I think that there are better rebooker offers out there to so this could be I'm gonna call it now. I'm hoping that this is the year of the rebooker. So you know, anyone who's doing quite well, it does seem to be that they've got their rebooking campaigns done well. Uh Sarah, what did you uh what did you think?

SPEAKER_05: 8:37

Regarding the class conference, yeah. I mean, I I I love the event, and Deanny and I are asked to help support the team um on their tours and hosting the community stage, and and we love that. It's it's great to meet so many fantastic presenters and speakers and and the audience. I mean, for some of our sessions, we didn't have enough seats, we've requested more next year because such is the demand for these community hubs. And the community hubs are an extension of the virtual hubs that we talked about on one of the podcast episodes with the class conference with the class foundation over the summer. Um so this is kind of bringing it in real life. So a lot of those people had met virtually before and had been part of these hubs, which is fantastic, and hopefully they will continue those relationships through the year. And for me, um, I mean, I've I've been posting about the key takeaways and the content on LinkedIn this week, but I think for me, what we saw in every session was once it ended, people carried on the conversations, they didn't move away from the stage. Um, and that's what it's all about, really. It's those, it's those conversations.

SPEAKER_01: 9:38

I so I totally agree. I I mean, kudos to to Kellyanne and Frank and the and the entire team app at the class conference. It's it it really is fantastic. And I think the the layout really helps, the fact that it's headphones also helps because you don't feel like you're you know you need to be quiet in a in a you know a dusty old ballroom. They're always pretty innovative in terms of where they hold it, and and it's it's sort of silent disco format, if anyone uh hasn't actually been. But you're right, it's those conversations that were happening straight away after. And I think what what they've written they've done is really good. Yes, of course, you have to give the sponsors air time. Verbflow was also a sponsor, just to put that out there now. Uh, and I'm yeah, who knows? I may have been drafted in to do the um uh to host the catalyst stage, but I think it helped that Verberflow sponsored as well. It did not help me, I did not have any time to do to do demos, but but still. I think what they're doing really well at the Class Foundation is politics. So I think that how focused they are on improving policy and standards for the industry across Europe in particular is is pioneering. And I think Kelly Ann brings that because she's got that experience with Unipol. Obviously, that's that's definitely helping there. But the way they're organizing, it's not just a big party in a European city anymore. And and I think it it's really fulfilling those goals that's that that Frank and Charlie originally had back in the day when they founded this. And and I the last session was just brilliant, absolutely brilliant, on policy and what it, you know, what the next step is for student housing within Europe, with the uh with the new European student housing policy that that you know Class Foundation are really trying to push. I have to say a quick quick shout out to Romy as well, who Romy Levin, who just did an incredible job. It was like she it was like she's been on stage all her life. I reckon she's had some kind of acting training at some point, but she was incredibly natural helping to host the day. And your sessions would the had rave reviews. And I I I went to take a few photos. I've got a few photos actually, I haven't shared them with you yet. I should have done. But yeah, it was standing room only. So yeah, well well done to you guys um on curating that and and hosting that because it clearly really worked. So yeah, I think it's a great formula, it's a brilliant event, it's well worth going to Amsterdam next year. That was the big announcement. So so yeah, I think um get your tickets in as soon as possible. Deany, what did you think?

SPEAKER_06: 12:22

Yeah, I agree with everything that you've said and just wanted to say about the community hubs. I think what is I think it comes across in everything that Class does. It is fully inclusive and it everyone's got a voice. And I think what the community hub, the community stage does is enables everyone to have that voice. And we had feedback across the day from all the different hubs that that um the team kind of hosted and facilitated and worked through. And that's great because it is a collaborative sector, everyone wants to bring it forward, and everyone has a view in that and how we do that. So I think that was the really great thing around being part of that community hub stage is that whoever you are, whatever you do, you can come and share your views and have a discussion and and build on all our all our kind of insights and learnings across the sector. And I think that also goes into actually just the general feeling that you get when you go to class. You know, as Sarah said, we were facilitating the community stage, so we were there all day. So actually, we didn't really, full disclosure, get to see any of the other kind of stages or insights or or learn anything, but you get that through osmosis. I think because you have everyone's in the same room, there's not a closed-off room with doors that people can go to. So when you're having those conversations, you're that those conversations are are following on from what other people have learned in that stage, other conversations they've had. And and I think it I think even it's always been about networking. I think that's always been why I've really liked it because it feels easy to network, it feels friendly, I think it probably helps that everyone's not the UK sector is not in the UK, and we're all in a different country, and it kind of lightens the mood. But I think it was even more so this year. And I think what I found really good was that that networking was it was completely there was no hierarchy in there. There wasn't a operators, developers, investors, and suppliers. It was very much a view that actually we're all part of the same sector, we're all stakeholders in each other's business, and actually, if we all work together, we can make improvements for the greater good of the entirety of all of us, and I think that came across more so than than ever before, really. But yeah, it you know, I think it's one of my favourite conferences. I think if you haven't been before, you should do, and I think that inclusiveness, and I think Kellyanne said before the the conference happened, I think 56% of speakers were women speakers, and I think that shows that that everything that threads through class is about inclusion and making sure everyone gets to to speak and have their voice and and share their insights.

SPEAKER_01: 14:56

Every single person on stage was utterly credible and deserved to be there and was adding massive value. And I think that's yeah, the the feedback was overwhelmingly positive and genuinely the only negative feedback was Lisbon Airport, but we we don't need to go into that. Yeah, it was it was genuinely I'm I'm still very jaded from it because I haven't had much to drink in a year. And this isn't like a big, it doesn't have to be a big boozy affair. There are lots of people there not not really drinking. I only had a a few drinks, but you know, unlimited wine at the at the awards due. Yeah, I was I woke up and I was I was struggling a bit. So I think you know, to pull me out of my funk in the in the morning to help me host the catalyst stage, it was it was just really good to see everyone there, being so positive, really enjoying it. And um, and yeah, I I I I am really looking forward to uh to Amsterdam next year for sure.

SPEAKER_06: 15:50

Definitely. No, it it was a great conference. And and if you want to be part of the community hubs as well, please do go onto the Clouds Foundation website and find out more about that because it is a great network to be part of. And yes, if you are not already thinking about going to Amsterdam next year, please make you do. And a public service announcement for everyone. If you do go to Lisbon, leave yourself about three or four hours to get through passport security. Two hours is not enough unless you want to be completely un British and push in, which we all had to do, which we all feel guilty about. So that that is a piece of advice for you all there. So before we carry on, we're gonna have a quick word from one of our sponsors. This episode is brought to you by Utopia, the smart building platform that helps real estate owners protect the value of their assets.

SPEAKER_01: 16:36

From ESG compliance to energy efficiency and resident engagement, utopia turns real-time data into action, making buildings better for people, planet, and profit.

SPEAKER_05: 16:45

If you're in asset management or operations and care about performance, utopia is your essential partner. Find out more at utopi.co.uk. That's utopi.co.uk.

SPEAKER_06: 16:58

And thank you once again to Utopi for continuing to support um House. We do really appreciate your um support and engagement. So we've got a piece of research that was issued by St James Place around financial advice for parents. Um and in that it was discovered that the greatest fear for parents being surveyed is that their children will never own a home. 40% of parents now believe their children will never achieve this traditional cornerstone, cornerstone of financial security. And a third think their children may need to live with them as adults or move back home. Um, I guess the question for us is what we discussed before, is is there enough knowledge of BTR? Is there enough knowledge that actually they can go and rent somewhere and not have that risk of being kicked out? And does it matter or is it not about rental security but having an asset? So, what were your thoughts on the piece of research?

SPEAKER_05: 17:57

I mean, we have discussed this before, and my my view is, and I will keep talking talking about it, is um we need to take the pressure away from young people about home ownership. And if you know, 40% of parents um believe their children will never achieve this traditional cornerstone of financial security, you know, are they talking about it all the time? Are they putting pressure on their children for that? Um, I was discussing it with my partner last night actually. And I was saying, you know, I do not want our kids, love them, but I don't want our kids living with us until they're 40 because they're saving for a deposit for a house. I want them to be using that money to go and live, to go and enjoy somewhere, to go and rent somewhere wherever they want to be, and not have that financial burden of saving for a deposit over their head, because it probably will take until they're 40, unless any young people are fortunate enough to inherit money or have some kind of trust fund or something. But for the vast majority, it's just not going to be a reality and we need to reframe it. It's not a failure. You know, renting is not second best. Yeah, and I and I do wonder about that. I don't have the answer, but I was thinking if more of the public knew what a great thing BTR brought to the sector, that it's well managed, it's secure, that maybe that would shift people's views of renting because you know, renting has has had negative connotations, and for some of it, quite rightly, hence the Renters' Rights Act. But actually that is changing and we need way, way, way more positive PR about renting.

SPEAKER_01: 19:34

I think that is where our EUK and a specific rental uh body within that, uh, or the uh Association for Rented Living, uh Rental Living will help. It's it's on them to really be singing the praises of renting. We have to change hearts and minds to the fact that renting isn't a dirty word, and therefore that landlords aren't, you know, I'm just gonna say aren't dirty, but that landlord isn't a dirty word. I I don't think I don't think enough is done in that sense. But maybe this is a chance for co-living to really come together. There's you know a new co-living body as well, and BTR, and really state the case. But I think with with a honestly a decent PR campaign. I I I just think that that would that would go a long way. So, yeah, write the reports, the white papers, make sure the news stories are out there, get a decent PR uh campaign behind renting as a concept. And I think that that will start to change things. It's the same with later living. We you know, we've we've spoken to Arna Barra in the past, and more recently I spoke with Marcus Hodges, both from Birchgrove, a later living um rental operator, where we know that that will definitely benefit the housing system to have more seniors in rented accommodation and and uh and uh assisted living in that sense. So I do think we have to throw away any kind of baggage that we have and legacy of you know renting being being the sort of uh of renting being the poor person's option, to be completely honest. I um you know I was trying to dance around words there, but but actually that's I think that's what people think. Well, ah, okay, you can't afford your own home, therefore you have to rent and pay off someone else's mortgage. And I think that's the that's the major issue that we've got. It is a PR problem. We need to learn from Europe and start thinking about how we can increase the rental economy.

SPEAKER_06: 21:33

Agree. I mean it's it's it's marketing communications and it's it's or what I said about class is that actually it's about sector coming together and actually realizing we're all stakeholders in the same message and we've got to work to sell that message. And I think it's similar to what we discussed with Brendan when he was on the on house a few weeks ago, is that everyone needs to rent at some point in their lives. There's very, very few people, there's a kind of elite people that can go from a home to a home they own. Most people have to rent at some point in their lives, and I think this idea that it's one or the other that actually renting is a part of life, and maybe life changes happen and you might decide to buy, but actually renting can be that long-term thing. It's not, it's not, it doesn't have to be, oh, I'm renting now and that's my only options. You just at that point in your life, if that's what you're doing, and you can stay there as long as you want. So I think we we just need to, yeah, change change the narrative around homes. And I think it comes down to also that you know, one of the lessons that we've learned in PBSA is that we probably haven't educated students enough about housing options when they go off to university. And I think that extends across all housing options that actually there isn't enough education around types of housing, where you can live, how you can live, how you can fund that, how that works, which I guess comes down to the lack of kind of financial education that we generally have, um, which brings in um housing too.

SPEAKER_05: 22:58

I was um we're we're going to be launching um a property marketing strategies use forum shortly on the cost of living. And I was reviewing some of the focus group videos yesterday, and the students that we interviewed kept saying when I was looking for a room, when I was looking for a student room, when I was looking for, you know, a room. And I just thought, even that I think we're miscommunicating. Why are we marketing rooms? Like we said this before, it's not a room, it's a home, it's a flat, it's accommodation. And you know, you're right, Dan, you know, you're you're belittling it. If if you're reducing renting to a room, then of course it's not gonna have the the respect it deserves, really. It's it shouldn't be about rooms. We need to stop talking about about rooms. I don't I don't want my kids renting rooms. The room might be part of what they're renting, but actually, you know, doesn't everybody want their their loved ones to be renting a home? Um, and that might be that you know they don't rent the entire property, but that doesn't mean it's not a home. So I think even when you're looking at student accommodation, you know, those conversations that are being had at 16, 17, 18, we're already creating negative connotations about renting.

SPEAKER_01: 24:17

Certainly agree. And I think what we need to do is to, you know, the REUK, the new sort of BP, the conjoined BPF body and ARL, probably need to learn a thing or two from Ben Beadle at the National Residential Landlords Association, who is always in the headlines, always on the news. Now, partly because he's representing your typical kind of HMO residential landlords, and they're usually the ones in the news more than anyone in PBSA or BTR. But whatever he's doing, it's working because you know the messaging's getting out there, he's involved in uh uh in parliament and in a lot of these select committees. And I do think that we need to really consider quite how much the rents are compared to mortgages. And and when I say consider, that's on landlords to do that, to make renting more attractive. And I think we're getting rid of the majority of rogue landlords. We need to institutionalize BTR, co-living, HMOs as well, make sure that we have professional operators and landlords running those. And then I think with time we will start to change hearts and minds, and you will start to see more people happier to be renting, to get a foot on the ladder, not necessarily to um uh to get a property, but to improve your credit rating, to then you know live independently. And then who knows, maybe, maybe someday you could buy a house. But I think that will become less and less important.

SPEAKER_06: 25:42

I mean, I think this is a topic that we will continue to come back to time and time again, but the the call is out there that we do need to up our game on supporting the reputation of renting in this country, definitely. Um we'll just have a quick break to hear from our sponsor.

SPEAKER_03: 25:58

Washstation proudly sponsor this episode of Housed. We provide best in class laundry solutions that complement your buildings. Washstation. Smart, green, clean.

SPEAKER_06: 26:09

And thanks again to Wash Station for your ongoing support. Um, as ever with all our sponsors, we really do appreciate you um engaging with us across Housed. So, also out recently was Night Frank Student Accommodation Outlook Report 2025, authored by Katie O'Neill. What were the key headlines and thoughts from this report from you both?

SPEAKER_05: 26:34

It's uh it's a mix of kind of investment sentiment, um, but there's also some student sentiment, which is fantastic to see. There's some things I think probably we all agree with, and there's some things that might be contradictory to what we've previously talked about. So a couple of those things that I've highlighted as kind of I guess question marks or discussion points, one of them is it states that the UK has captured a large share of global PBSA investment. Around a third of all global PBSA since 2019 has gone to the UK. It's slightly different to what we heard in the investment hub at the class conference last week, in that their view are the experts on stage view was it's cooling in the UK. And actually, there's a lot more untapped markets in in Europe. So that may well be the case since 2019, but I think we will start seeing investment being deployed in different ways. You know, namely it's it's it's long and it's expensive to invest in the UK and to get buildings through the planning system gateway, etc. So I think that might be a backwards look rather than a forwards look. The other thing that I thought was interesting, we have talked about this before, is they have stated that university-owned accommodation stock outperform private direct let stock. University stock rents rose 4.8% versus 0.3% for private direct let. As we've said before, that's headline rents that doesn't account for occupancy. Um, so whilst it looks like the rents rose, we know that there avoid beds in university accommodation. Um, so kind of their bullish approach to increasing rents isn't that necessarily the full story.

SPEAKER_01: 28:23

Uh it's not just that, it's the it's the non-on-suite rooms. Uh so there that there has been a an increase in the non-on-suite rooms. That's primarily the university stock. There are massive voids at universities. And the the Cubo keynote that I'm doing in at the end of November is going to be really interesting because I know that I know how a lot of universities have performed, in particular the sort of tier two universities. So so yeah, this was it's interesting to separate that to say, look, universities are performing better than PBSA. I I would seriously question the end results so uh and and the occupancy overall. So you're right to to flag that you know that is um that's the advertised rents, not the not the final occupancy. Yeah, I mean uh overall this is a this is a really good report. I I think uh you know Katie O'Neill does a great job uh and very is very good on stage. It doesn't feel like it's been overly influenced by anyone from the sales team ultimately, and that that is a real measure of of the markets. I think that the word is getting through that you cannot just you know use the wrong student to bed ratios or not go into the detail or just be blindly optimistic. But I I do think that we still need to be mindful of the fact that whilst they are saying that there's going to be opportunities in the sort of mid range, I we can't build in the mid range. I think that's that's one of the issues that that we have. We're building premium stock, filling that premium end, and then Realizing that actually we're, you know, we need to drop prices in the premium end, even from mobilised buildings, so that we can hit 100% occupancy, there is just an affordability crunch. That's what's happening. Everyone's sliding down this affordability scale. And I think that's where talking about the mid-range, yeah, great, but I genuinely don't it's so difficult to build in that range and make it viable. So I think if they're you know looking for more de you know, if people are looking for more development, I can't see it coming. So I think there's some serious questions that will that will need to be asked there.

SPEAKER_06: 30:37

I mean, I do want to um come on to the student survey they did, because they did survey 2,500 students, and I think there's some interesting stats that we want to talk about. But I just want to come back to you, Dan, on the viability of mid-range, I guess, and we've discussed this before, is that viability on what the current product is, in that actually we can't build what we've always built. Um, because one of the many conversations I had at the class conference was very much about the time is now ripe for someone to come in and just kind of tear the rule book up and try something different. And I guess that that question has still not been answered to me about this viability question is actually if we build something very different, structure it very different across the board, is that how we make it viable?

SPEAKER_01: 31:22

It it is really tricky. And in a in a certain WhatsApp group, I I did see some of the reasons why a lot of these properties are completely unviable and it is more expensive to build than it's ever been, and that is that is the key issue. There's loads of different reasons for that, from Brexit to labour costs to utilities to the you know Russian invasion of Ukraine and various others, like it the everything has got more expensive, and that is that is making it a lot more difficult to build. So the only viable product is typically premium. Now, yes, it I think we're we're primed and ready for an affordable player, but I think what will happen is that mid-range players will slide into the affordable sector, and I think they'll have no choice but to do that, and we're already seeing that with certain properties and even certain operating brands having to move down the affordability scale. It is a sliding scale, so you know you you fill it more at the top, and then more mid-range properties have to go to affordable, the premium stock that's already there, that's maybe five years old, goes into the mid-range, and everyone's kind of slides down. And I would love for there to be an opportunity to just build affordable from scratch. But what I think you'll see is that universal I do think the affordable sector is exciting. I think there's massive potential there, but I think the massive potential will come from universities selling old stock and that sort of first gen stock that's that's the PBSA, traditional PBSA stock that's up for grabs. The likes of Sanctuary, so the Sanctuary PBSA stock that you go have bought or GSA have bought, that that's got an opportunity there for a sustainability play and amenities play. But if you're really investing in that CapEx, you're going to take that from an affordable product into a mid-range product.

SPEAKER_06: 33:15

We lost Dan there for a second, so I'm just going to quickly go back into the 2500 survey students they surveyed. Um, because I think there's some interesting stats in there, whereas accommodation is now a key part of university selection, where 50% said availability of accommodation influenced where they applied. Top factors when choosing accommodation was 88% said cost, 87% said quality, 86% bills included, and 85% facilities, but also 85% said value for money and 84% location. Whereas I think we generally have had a view about locations top, but actually that isn't the case anymore. 74% said peer reviews influence their decision, which is up from 64%, which is quite a big jump. And I think one of the ones that did want to talk about was amenities. While students expect good facilities, 83% said they prefer cheaper rent to a podcast room. And I think that is one of the biggest issues that we still have is we've got we're still building these amazing amenities, but actually, when 88% said the top factor is cost, we really need to think about what amenities are needed. And the final one is well-being matters, is 75% of providers should actively support mental health. And we have done some research on this on the youth forum, and that isn't kind of what people are saying. So I think it's about yes, of course, it's great if you can do it, but it's not about adding in additional cost to that. They don't want to be paying for it.

SPEAKER_05: 34:40

This this immunity thing is is is baffling me, and I'd love to get a definitive answer if I'm honest, because students keep telling us that they don't want all of the amenities, and from our point of view, we kind of think let's strip some of those out, put more rooms in, bring the rent down. But I get indications sometimes, not from everybody, that there are planners that put rules in place about the amount of communal space per student that is required. We have discussed this with people before, and I don't think any planner ever states that that communal space has to be a podcast room or a roof terrace or a bowling alley. So if there are rules in place, it's up to developers and architects to decide how they use that quota. But could it just be in flats? Is that not counted as communal space? Because definitely seeing a little bit of a shift towards kind of smaller shared kitchen living rooms, it doesn't necessarily, in my opinion, have to be those kind of shared ground floor amenity spaces that are taking up space. And and students are now resenting paying for them as well. It's not the fact that they don't even want them, but they're they're resenting them because they're not using them. So I think that's really interesting to explore is kind of within those parameters, within those rules, what can be shifted to best suit the student.

SPEAKER_06: 36:06

Yeah, I I totally agree with that. And I think that this is where my argument comes from is that actually is there a way to actually re-look about how we're building these from a structural perspective to make sure they align more with affordability and actually how people live in them. I'm pretty sure there's lots of build-to-sell flats out there that don't have loads of amenity amenity space built into them. So it's clearly possible under planning regulations. And we just need to to, I just think we need to go back to the drawing board and work out what what we can build and how we can build and and how we can do that across everything, across, you know, there's still the discussion around, I know they're looking for bills included, but I think that's because there's a general belief that if it's bills included, it's cheaper, which might not be the case. So actually, if we strip out bills, do we make it cheaper? I think it's that going back, there's there's more research out now, so it's going back to that drawing board to fully understand that. I'm conscious of time, so I think we are gonna have to move on, but I know that we will continually come back to this conversation because it's one that we need to solve because it's the only way we are gonna get the affordable beds that we need across the sector. So now we're gonna go on to our Us Expert segment on the Renters' Rights Act that it is now with Amanda McNeil from Howard Kennedy.

SPEAKER_00: 37:21

As one of the UK's largest real estate legal teams, Howard Kennedy brings deep industry insight and commercial solutions to support clients in an ever-evolving real estate landscape. We deliver tailored solutions that help our clients realize their goals, working in close collaboration to navigate every stage of the property life cycle.

SPEAKER_05: 37:40

And now we'd love to welcome back Amanda McNeil from Howard Kennedy. You were with us a few a few months ago now when the renters' rights bill um was was still a discussion point, and a lot has happened since then. So we thought that we would get Amanda back to now talk about what has become the Renters' Rights Act and everything that our audience should should be doing, could be doing, and hopefully will be doing. So welcome back, Amanda.

SPEAKER_04: 38:06

Thank you very much. So, yes, a lot has happened since we last spoke. As you said, the bill has now received royal assent. That was on the 27th of October. So it is now the Renters Rights Act, and it really is the most substantive and significant legislative changes to the private rented sector since I think probably the Housing Act 1988. So it is unclear when the Act will be implemented as secondary legislation is required. However, it's expected that the most substantial reforms will be implemented in or around spring 19, oh no, 2026. The government having indicated that they they want to have a smooth transition to implementation to allow the stakeholders to prepare. That said, the additional investigatory powers of enforcement to be given to local authorities, provisions relating to certain types of tenancies for students will come into force on the 27th of December.

SPEAKER_05: 39:14

Okay, so what does that actually mean for people that are working around kind of PBSA, student accommodation, bill to rent, co-living, um even universities? Um are there any implications for them before the end of the year?

SPEAKER_04: 39:29

Yes. So although the Act um abolishes assured shorthold tenancies, um, the act carves out um an exemption for PBSAs. So private PBSA providers will be exempt from the new assured periodic tenancy regime if a tenancy is let to a full-time student at a specified educational institution where that tenancy is granted by a specified educational institution or by a specified body of persons. Alternatively, tenancies won't be assured periodic tenancies where someone acting on behalf of the landlord is a member of a specified housing management code of practice. It's not clear how these provisions will operate, as although the act outlines this framework, there's a lot of detail that needs to be finalised. For example, what criteria will need to be met for an organization to fall within the category of specified body of persons. That's going to be contained in secondary legislation. But what the exemption means is that PBSA landlords will be able to continue offering fixed-term tenancies aligned with the academic year, and that exemption is going to come into force on the 27th of December, as I just referenced. So where a tenancy to a student doesn't fall within that exemption under the Act, it will convert to or be an assured periodic monthly tenancy. However, what the Act has done has introduced a new ground possession, ground 4A, and this enables landlords to seek possession of property let to full-time students where possession is required to let it to another group of full-time students. However, and importantly, landlords can only rely on ground 4A in relation to HMO properties, which are let wholly to full-time students. An HMO in relation to ground 4A means a property rented to at least three people who are in separate households. It doesn't mean that the property has to be a licensable HMO. There is, however, a potential trap for landlords in terms of relying on ground 4A, because once the Act is enforced, the landlord must serve a written notice on the tenants within 28 days of the date the tenancy converts to a periodic tenancy. And that notice must say that the landlord wants to be able to recover possession on the basis that the tenant is a full-time student, and the landlord in turn intends to relet the premises in the future to other full-time students. If no written notice is served within the 28 days, then the landlord won't be able to rely on that ground. And then just sort of fast-forwarding a bit, um, so the landlord's served that notice, and then actually to recover possession underground foray, he will then have to give four months' notice to the tenants. And it's also worth noting that unlike a traditional fixed-term letting to students, where students leave at the end of the academic year, which often sort of coincides with the end of the fixed-term tenancy, because these tenancies will be periodic tenancies, the tenants at any time can serve two months' notice to vacate. This is going to potentially cause a problem for landlords who provide student accommodation because they could be left with a void in the middle of an academic year with very little prospect of them being able to relay during that academic year.

SPEAKER_05: 43:22

Thank you, Amanda. And I'm just curious, is there anything that ended up in the final act around taking upfront payments or kind of how properties are advertised or how the rent is received?

SPEAKER_04: 43:37

Yes, so upfront payments are banned. You can take a holding deposit, but that holding deposit is then offset against the initial rent. In terms of advertising, what the provisions say is that you can't have a sort of a rent bidding war in the sense that if you advertise the property for a rent at a certain amount, that's what you have to let it for. You can't then sort of start sort of having other people effectively gazumping at a higher rent. That's prohibited.

SPEAKER_05: 44:11

So there's a lot of new rules here, Amanda. It sounds like it could be quite onerous for landlords and operators to navigate. What are the consequences of non-compliance?

SPEAKER_04: 44:22

Quite significant. So local authorities will have enforcement powers to impose penalties where there are breaches of specific statutory duties. Those duties will prohibit landlords and agents from purporting to let a dwelling for a fixed term, purporting to bring an assured periodic tenancy to an end by service of a notice to quit, or serving on the tenant of an assured periodic tenancy, a purported notice of possession. Contravention of any of these duties or the duty to give a written statement of the terms of the assured periodic tenancy before it's entered into could result in a maximum civil penalty of£7,000 per breach. If landlords or their agents invite, encourage or accept prohibited pre-tenancy payments of rent, civil penalty of up to£5,000 per instance. Additionally, a financial penalty of up to£40,000 may be imposed where a landlord relies on a ground of possession, knowing it would not be able to obtain an order for possession on that ground. And in response to receiving a notice, seeking possession on that ground, the tenant surrenders the tenancy within four months of that notice. The Act also extends circumstances in which rent repayment orders may be made, where a landlord knowingly or recklessly misuses possession grounds or breaches a restriction on letting or marketing, rent repayment orders will also be extended to superior landlords. So doubling the maximum penalty and effectively ensuring repeat offenders have to repay the maximum amounts. So really quite significant consequences of non-compliance.

SPEAKER_05: 46:22

Absolutely. And I guess that really indicates the power and the impact of this act. It was meant to shake up rentals and they they mean it.

SPEAKER_04: 46:31

Yeah, and and and you know, really importantly to address sort of the unscrupulous landlords and to ensure that they don't get away with uh sort of rogue uh practices.

SPEAKER_05: 46:45

Yeah, no, exactly that. And I'm sure the vast majority don't need to worry about any of this because they're either compliant already or will be compliant. Like you said, it's to it's to sift out the the ones that are causing a bad rental experience for tenants. And obviously, we've just before you we you leave us, Amanda, what would you say your top tips for landlords and operators would be? What should they be doing now, really?

SPEAKER_04: 47:09

Okay, so there's actually a lot which they can start doing. Most importantly, undertake a thorough review of your property portfolio now. Landlords currently have an opportunity to bring existing ASTs to an end if they don't wish them to be converted to assured periodic tenancies, but the window for doing so is short. So, in relation to existing ASTs, a landlord is still able to serve a Section 21 notice, you know, no fault termination. That's obviously if the current AST allows that because it's the end of the fixed term or there's a break provision. And so they can do that before the commencement date of the Act, and subsequently they can commence possession proceedings pursuant to those notices. The existing AST will continue in those circumstances even after the commencement date of the Act. If proceedings for an order for possession under Section 21 have been commenced in reliance of such a notice by the commencement date, those proceedings will remain valid and again the tenancy will remain an AST until the proceedings are concluded. Similarly, if Section 21 notice has been served before the commencement date of the Act, the landlord has a three-month window after the commencement date to issue possession proceedings. So that's that's the first thing that a landlord should do is to consider whether they want to bring any existing ASTs to an end. They also need to consider whether they are able to agree rent increases now, which will take effect before the commencement date. If they can, those rent increases will be unaffected by the landlord. The landlord needs to be alert to the fact that for existing tenancies, they will be obliged by the forthcoming regulations to give their tenants written information about the changes made by the Act. And that notice needs to be given within one month of the commencement dates. The regulations may provide for the information to be given in a prescribed form, we don't know at this stage, but really landlords need to ready themselves to be able to act quickly and to serve their notices. We referenced earlier this ban on bidding for rental properties, whereby uh landlords aren't uh are not permitted to invite, encourage, or accept an offer exceeding the proposed advertised rent for a property. And I think to prepare for this change, what landlords should ensure that they do is retain evidence of property adverts and offers of proposed rent which they receive for properties, which can be produced if necessary at a later date in response to any local authority request to demonstrate compliance with these provisions once they come into force. With the decent home standards and AWAPS law going to apply to the private rented sector, again, landlords should think about inspecting their properties now to identify and address any hazards and bring their properties up to the required standards and thereby hopefully avoid any future enforcement action. Additionally, landlords can start preparing new standard forms of assured periodic tenancy agreements, which will comply with the Act. And I think probably most importantly, landlords and their employees need to really familiarise and train themselves on the notice procedures, possession and rent increase provisions, and really ensure that their internal systems are aligned with the provisions of the Act. So I think there's actually quite a lot that landlords can do to do now to get ready.

SPEAKER_05: 51:21

Yeah, absolutely. So really that kind of wait and see kind of limbo is is over. There's no excuse for it anymore. We've got enough in the act to be getting on with um even before the commencement day.

SPEAKER_04: 51:33

So yes, absolutely, yeah.

SPEAKER_05: 51:36

That's so useful, Amanda. Thank you so much for being with us this afternoon. And obviously, this was a very, very kind of whistle stop tour around the renters, right? That there's obviously so much more in it. So we urge any of our listeners that that need advice on this to obviously get in touch with Howard Kennedy and to kind of thoroughly be prepared for what is about to come. Thank you very much, Amanda.

SPEAKER_06: 52:00

We'll see you again soon. Thank you very much. And thank you to my student halls for being our headline sponsor for the season. Your support is hugely appreciated. And of course, thank you to Utopia and Wash Station for coming on board again for season five. We're grateful for your support. Huge thanks to Amanda from Half Kenzie. Great advice from her, of course. Do get in touch with her leads and for the upcoming changes. We hope you've enjoyed listening to this video as much as we've enjoyed recording it. As ever, if you have any hot topics, logic ideas, what you want us to cover in season five across PBSA, VTR, co living, later living, nature mode, and universal population. Do get in touch at hellohouseclus.com. We will see you next week.