Claire Dickson

As the beginning of the university year dawns once again, students in Belfast are faced with a sizeable gap in accommodation availability. Letting agencies have spoken of the struggle landlords are engaged in to try and obtain Houses in Multiple Occupations (HMOs) for their properties within the student area of South Belfast (licences which allow the property to be let out to three or more tenants from different addresses). Many have been refused due to what the Belfast City Council committee making the decision described as ‘overprovision of HMO properties in those areas.’ Commenting on the issue, Alliance Councillor for Balmoral in South Belfast, Mickey Murray, voiced his concern that ‘HMOs have priced out private rentals.’ But how do the students caught up in the midst of it all feel about the year ahead?

One undergraduate Pharmacy student from Donegal – a two-hour drive away from Belfast - started her search for houses around February. The main barrier she and her Canadian International student friend faced was what they saw as a preference given to students from within the United Kingdom: ‘We were left disappointed by a rule enacted by some letting agencies which dictated that the guarantors provided by students had to be homeowners within the UK’. The sole alternative to not having a guarantor who met this criteria was to pay double the required deposit – something that she described as difficult to comply with due to the limitations of a student budget'. She also spoke of finding it unusual that in the same area as a university which takes in a high proportion of students from the Republic of Ireland and International students, a rule such as this would be commonplace.

Another issue which she brought to light lay in travelling from Donegal to house viewings over the Summer holidays, as still at this stage the pair had yet to find a suitable house. What’s more, even if she made the journey to attend a viewing it would not be guaranteed that the landlord would get back to her with a result. Despite eventually finding a house on August 22, the process was clearly far more gruelling than this particular student had originally expected it to be.

Similarly, Masters student James McGrath has also been looking for a student rental for himself and a couple of friends. James, who’s house search began in February, highlights that the main problem was that several letting agencies were highly unresponsive – particularly to emails: ‘Many of the properties which we sent in applications for were decided on a first come, first served basis, meaning that those who didn’t attend the initial viewing were unlikely to be considered.’ The group of students are currently in a position where an application was sent to a letting agency for a property around a week and a half ago, but a response has yet to be given.

In relation to the current crisis, SDLP Councillor for Botanic Gary McKeown has said; ‘we have seen a complete failure of government departments to plan for the future to ensure we have sustainability, liveability and long-term quality in our housing in this part of the city. It’s students, young people and residents who are paying the price both figuratively and literally.’ With this in mind, perhaps the time has never been more pertinent to ensure suitable housing is available to all students in Belfast – not least amidst the current cost-of-living crisis.

Claire Dickson is Deputy Head of News at The Scoop and a Politics student at Queen’s University Belfast

Belfast’s housing crisis impacting on students as the new year begins