Resooma Student Living: Our Guide to Student Tenant V’s Landlord Disputes

You’ve gone from the comfort of your own home and living at home to suddenly being thrown into a student tenancy dispute with your landlord at your new student house. You didn’t sign up for this?

Don’t worry, we’re here to help.

Disputes can occur for any reason, most of the time it’s a product of a bad relationship with your landlord or the agent that is responsible for managing your property.

Of course, the better your relationship, the easier it will be to live in the property. This is the first, and most important, step that you can make when trying to avoid a dispute. However, that doesn’t always prevent disputes from occurring, we know that this is no surprise.

Another way that you can avoid a dispute is by choosing the right property. This will be your home, you should make sure it’s perfect for you. The best ways that you can do this are by:

• Giving yourself enough time to choose
• Research every possible choice thoroughly
• Abiding with your budget
• Verify the property beforehand either with a viewing or using a virtual service like Resooma offers.

Once you’ve picked your property, it’s time to make sure that the landlord or agent is perfect for you. We’ve listed the best ways to do this below.

Check their accreditation and membership

Checking which accreditations or membership your landlord or agency has is super important. They’ll give you a great indication of will deal with disputes, or manage your property.

Like with everything, this won’t ensure that you won’t have any troubles, it will lessen the risk, though.

We say look out for one of the following:

• Unipol accreditation – this ensures that landlords have to meet certain criteria, this also provides resolutions to disputes.
• National Code for assured accommodation – This is run by Unipol, too. This is for private halls of residence, and is, again, well-regarded.
• The Association of Residential Letting Agents
• Safe Money
• The Property Ombudsman
• Keep your eye out for these, if you see a new one – research it beforehand.

Check the paperwork

We know, reading the fine print can be annoying. However, it’s worth it, especially if you run into something unexpected.

You’ll have to sign a tenancy agreement, it’s super important that you read all the information in it. In particular, read all the information about what they will require you to do. They will also highlight the responsibilities that the landlords have.

It will also highlight the inventory, which will basically highlight the condition of the property, and everything in it. This will inevitably help you when you come to move out. If you don’t have an inventory list, make your own way and send it to your landlord.

Just a little tip; if you’re not in the property when your landlord inspects it, make sure to take loads of pictures. This just makes your statements reliable.

Things you should/shouldn’t do

Always make sure your house/flat is clean and tidy.

Don’t put up shelves, pictures or any type of decoration that will damage the wall. Unless stated otherwise.

If you do damage something, make sure to tell your landlords as soon as it happens.

If you do have a dispute, make sure to resolve it through the dispute resolution service that your tenancy provided. Many of these disputes can be avoided through good communication, reading all the paperwork, and keeping good care of your property.