The British Property Federation has launched a student housing manifesto calling on the government to clamp down on councils setting sky-high Community Infrastructure Levy rates.
The manifesto, Making the Grade, urges the government to use its promised review of CIL to stop councils discriminating against student flats by setting much higher tax rates than for other types of development.
In Tower Hamlets CIL is set at £12,775 per bed, more than double the £6,300 per hotel bed.
It warns that the practice, which is particularly prevalent in London, threatens to hamper the growth of the UK’s higher education sector.
The manifesto adds that constraining supply will force students into the traditional private rented sector. It says a purpose-built student accommodation sector could release 77,000 houses to the market.
BPF chief executive Melanie Leech said: “A thriving student accommodation sector is integral to maintaining our competitiveness as a country that offers a world-class higher-education system.
“We intend this manifesto to highlight the benefits of student accommodation to local and central government, and encourage them to consider how to create a more supportive policy framework.”
