850 complaints made about rented properties in Canterbury

852 complaints have been issued to Canterbury City Council (CCC) over the state of rented accommodation in Canterbury between 2011 and August 2016. This figure equates to an average of 15 complaints made by tenants each month.

According to Home Stamp, a student accommodation website for Canterbury, estimates 324 current student properties in the area.

Canterbury is not made up entirely of students, but if it were, more than half of student properties would be subject to complaints each year.

As it is, students of Canterbury’s various universities make up roughly 40,000 of the city’s 151,200 strong population. This means students make just over a quarter of Canterbury’s population, making up 26 per cent. If the city’s permanent population had the same proportion of rented properties as the students, this would lay 46 accommodation complaints per year at the feet of students. As it is, the permanent population of Canterbury is likely to have a higher rate of home owners, increasing the likelihood of students making complaints to Canterbury City Council.

Home Stamp features statistics which show that on average, students pay £335.85 per month on rent excluding utilities. The most expensive area to live in in Canterbury is the Whitstable Road area which charges students an average of £414.58 per month, while the cheapest location is the London Road Estate which costs almost £200 less at £215.00 per month.

In 2015, InQuire investigated how much it cost to be a student at the University of Kent, and subsequently gathered data on student accommodation costs. An InQuireLive poll of 132 students, asking how much students spend per month on rent, food and living expenses, found that the majority (33%) of those who took part, pay more than £500 each month.

The Council recommends that should students find issue with the condition of their rental property, to contact the landlord in writing and allow a reasonable amount of time for the issue to be resolved. If no progress is found, CCC invites tenants to report the disrepair of a property on their online form. The Council will then visit your property to assess whether there is a problem, and if so, the landlord will be contacted and advised of work that ought to be carried out.

Have you been affected by poor accommodation while studying in Canterbury? If so, tell us about your experiences here.