‘I’m Paying £7,000 for Student Accommodation I’ve Never Set Foot In’

A student whose parents lost their jobs during the pandemic is paying over £7,000 for accommodation he has never set foot in.

In March 2020, Brendan Dooley, 20, signed for a room with Unite Students, a student accommodation provider that lets rooms to 76,000 students across the UK. Dooley signed a year-long contract for £564 a month at Lakeside Accommodation in Birmingham, near the University of Aston, at a time when UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson was stating the impact of the pandemic would not last past 12 weeks. 

But by September, when Dooley’s tenancy began, his family household had been advised to shield and only leave the house for essential trips due to his brother’s type 1 diabetes. His parents, who worked in retail and part-time construction, both lost their jobs during the pandemic. He was able to collect his keys but had to self-isolate before returning to his parent’s home. By January, he was advised by email not to travel to university or return to student accommodation. Government advice at this time also said students should not return to accommodation they were not already living in. 

“I thought, ‘it will be over by September, I can just move in then,’” said Dooley. “[But] then they announced the tiers around early October, and my brother had that autoimmune disease, so he was at the highest risk category. So I was basically told not to leave my house unless absolutely necessary.”  

Dooley has paid almost £5,000 of rent to Unite and is in debt for the £2,000 outstanding for his final term. 

In March, Unite students offered a 50 percent discount for up to ten weeks for students who had paid their rent in full. Dooley, who was unable to pay some rent due to the timing of his maintenance loan, says he was unable to access this discount. He reached out to Unite with a proposed payment plan via email, seen by VICE World News, but Unite reiterated that the 50 percent discount was only for people with a balance of £0.

Unite said it had spoken to Dooley, and that he was eligible for a 50 percent discount on three weeks of rent. After VICE World News reached out to Unite, it subsequently offered Dooley a 50 percent discount for 10 weeks, equivalent to £704 – under 10 percent of the total cost of his rent.  

According to its annual reports, Unite reported £156.2 million in revenue in 2019. It says it has provided over £100 million in discounts for students. 

Dooley is one of many students facing immense debt and paying thousands of pounds for rooms they were advised not to travel to. The National Union of Students estimates that students have wasted over £1 billion for empty rooms. Some students are facing risk of legal action, while others are facing bills or accruing debt for accommodation they have barely lived in.

“Quite frankly I feel like I have been taken for a scam,” said Dooley. “By the end of the year, I would have paid over around £7,000 for a room I haven't spent one night in.”

Dooley says he will likely have to live at home next year in order to pay back the money to Unite. 

A spokesperson for Unite told VICE World News: “We recognise this academic year has been challenging for many students. Throughout the pandemic, all our properties have remained open and operational.”

The spokesperson added: “While we were not obliged to offer any discount to our tenants we felt it was the right thing to do.”

It is not illegal for landlords to demand payment for rooms students were advised not to travel to. But the government has encouraged landlords to “show compassion” towards tenants. Many universities have provided full refunds or contract breaks for students who were unable to occupy their student halls on health grounds. The University of Aston does not have its own accommodation, so students must use private providers like Unite. The University of Aston declined to comment when contacted by VICE World News.

Dan Wilson-Craw, deputy director of Generation Rent said: “The government has left students completely in the lurch during the pandemic. They’re being asked to pay rent on homes they can’t live in and if they’ve lost part-time work, in most cases they have been unable to claim Universal Credit. The government owes it to students to lift the financial burden of the pandemic from their shoulders and bring in a COVID Rent Debt Fund to clear these unfair debts.”