Students across the United Kingdom are rent striking.
We are not refusing to pay rent because we are being difficult, we are refusing to pay because we legally are not allowed to access the properties, yet being threatened with legal action to pay rent for properties we can’t access. They are not accessible, as travelling there would consist as being non essential travel, and moving in to these shared accommodations would go against social distancing measures. We are big PUNISHED for obeying social distancing measures – WE NEED GOVERNMENT SUPPORT AND CLARIFICATION!
Furthermore:
1) Landlords are refusing to enter any form of negotiation
2) Mass MP support being proudly ignored by landlords and letting agencies
3) Students and guarantors (some of whom have been made jobless) are being threatened with legal action and students are being told to pay using loans, which they must pay back, on top of entering a dead job market facing the worst financial crisis in over a DECADE.
4) These student loans often do not cover full rent payments
5) Students who subsidised rent and loans with jobs, can no longer afford to pay as they have lost their jobs
6) Landlords have suggested parents go on universal credit to pay – the full monthly amount for two adults often being less than some of our monthly rents
7) Landlords suggested students take out personal credit card loans to make up difference between maintenance and rent
STUDENTS SHOULD NOT BE FORGOTTEN OR PRESUMED THAT LOANS SHOULD COVER RENT FOR PROPERTIES THEY CAN’T LEGALLY ACCESS OR USE! THE MONEY WE GET IN LOANS IS NOT FREE!
We urgently need government support to clarify this situation for us!
