Quality street or empty box?

摘要

The standard of student housing often comes under fire, yet as Robert Cogings discovered, there is relatively little hard information on the sector. A secondment to Staffordshire University to set up an accommodation register gave him the chance to take a closer look at the houses on offer, and what both students and landlords thought of them. Student housing immediately conjures up images of peeling wallpaper, damp and dodgy appliances - of hard-up students and difficult landlords. However despite the string of gas and fire tragedies reaching the national headlines, and despite the acute housing shortages experienced by the unfortunate fresher, very little concrete information exists on this distinctive market.