Cancel Student Rent in Scotland

The Scottish Government has issued guidance advising all university students to refrain from returning to halls until the end of January. We are calling on it to cancel all rent due in this timeframe where students would have otherwise returned to their residences.

We all saw what happened to Glasgow in September, when the return of students saw the ‘second wave’ of the virus rip through the city, forcing it into tight restrictions which remain in place. The worrying new strain of Covid-19 identified in England will surely creep its way up the UK, and the real possibility of “many, many more deaths” is stark, according to Professor Andrew Hayward, Director of Epidemiology at UCL.

If the Scottish Government is serious about curbing this strain, and expects students to stay away from what is for many people home, and not just term-time accommodation, then it must cancel expected rental payments for January. We are not asking for public money to cover these costs, nor do we expect universities to shoulder the burden. We are simply asking that, in the interest of public health, the government relieves all student tenants, in halls and in private accommodation, of their responsibility to pay rent for the month of January and until public health experts deem it safe for them to return.

The reality of asking students to stay away from their own homes is not simple. Many students have left their homes, lives, and livelihoods behind to spend time with loved ones for Christmas (in line with government advice), and for many, keeping January’s rent will be necessary for coping with the displacement which they must undertake for the sake of slowing the spread of the virus. For many, the places visited by students over the festive period are not somewhere they had planned to be for such a long time, and all ranges of issues might make such a stay difficult. Expecting rental payments on top of this is too much to ask, and relieving this pressure on students will assist them in staying away from their cities and towns of study until a safe return is possible.

The University of Glasgow has already set a precedent by issuing a rent rebate for the entire month of January and beyond to all students in its University-owned halls. This move has been taken with an understanding of the real risk posed by students’ return, and the necessity of guaranteeing that students stay away has seen them in their capacity as landlords shoulder the burden. We ask that the Scottish Government pledges to extend this to all student tenants. One month’s rent for landlords across the country is an inconsequential small but vital contribution to the public effort at a time when so many people are making the greatest sacrifices for our public safety.

September’s calamity will be repeated (and potentially eclipsed) unless the Scottish Government disincentivises any return to term-time homes for students studying in Scotland by cancelling all rent until such date as students return.