Student accommodation providers are waiving up to £773m of outstanding rent owing to the coronavirus crisis.
According to Cushman & Wakefield data, 97 university landlords have waived £347m of third term rent bills, and nine private sector landlords have waived more than £385m.
These nine landlords are offering to release students from contracts or provide some kind of rebate across 150,000 beds – just under half of all private sector provision in the UK.
Rent waivers have been made in response to on-campus teaching being suspended as of the 17 March owing to the spread of coronavirus.
Last week, industry body Universities UK warned that institutions would lose an estimated £790m in revenue in the 2019/20 academic year.
According to C&W, around 44% of this figure would be due to accommodation rebates.
David Feeney, partner in Cushman & Wakefield’s student accommodation advisory team, said: “Universities and private sector accommodation providers across the UK are supporting students through the current situation by offering unprecedented relief from final term rent obligations.
“Our findings highlight the ability of universities and larger owner-operators to quickly make decisions to support students and absorb the financial impacts of releasing students from contracts. This has proven to be much more difficult for smaller owners and those with more complex ownership structures, with potential reputational impacts among the student body.”
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