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Student debt to BTL
The private rental sector plays an important role in allowing people to go to university or move from home to find the work they want...
The private residential rental sector has long looked to students and young professionals as a key element of its client base.
Many landlords depend on clients from this section of the demographic, who have traditionally almost always rented their living accommodation as they either study for a degree or take their first steps into the working world and so eventually on to property ownership.
However, the relationship between landlords, students and young people is a symbiotic one, according to one residential lettings industry body.
Huge amount of flexibility
The National Landlords Association (NLA) - which protects and promotes the interests of residential landlords - observed earlier this week that the private rental sector plays an important role in allowing people to go to university or move from home to find the work they want.
"That is definitely an area that the private property sector has helped out in - it is enabling people to achieve their ambitions of going to university," said spokesman Richard Gard, adding: "Not just the student market - the private rental sector provides a very useful role in increasing mobility and allowing people to move away from home."
And he added that the sector was also important in allowing the government to meet its targets of increasing the number of people that enter into higher education. The NLA pointed out that the government itself is engaged in projects to increase the amount of affordable accommodation available to students.
Mr Gard noted this and commented: "It has been acknowledged by the government, that the sector does allow a huge amount of flexibility that otherwise wouldn't be there at all."
FTBs priced out
Earlier this week, the government was asked to abolish the tax relief available to buy-to-let landlords. The Chartered Institute of Housing (CIH) said that the practice was contributing to residential landlords pricing first-time buyers out of the market.
CIH president Paul Diggory said: "Buy-to-let owners have a financial advantage over those trying to buy their first home, as well as the unintended consequence of pushing house prices even higher," an allegation that was hotly refuted by the NLA.
The tax relief given to buy-to-let investors allows them to offset the interest on their mortgages and the cost of maintaining their properties against the tax they pay on rental income. According to the Guardian, this allowed buy-to-let investors to reclaim £2 billion in 2006.
The private residential rental sector has long looked to students and young professionals as a key element of its client base.
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