With traditional rents increasingly beyond undergraduate pockets, a property movement is growing that is taking matters into its own hands

The start of the academic year will see five students move into Sheffield’s first student housing co-operative: a property with cheap rent, no letting agent fees and no landlord. It sounds appealing, and the founder members of the Sheffield Student Housing Co-operative (SSHC) are pitching it as a way for a handful of students to not only escape sky-high costs, but to make a student house a real home where democracy rules. Housemates living in the co-operative will manage the property themselves and pay £69 a week – around half the rent charged for some university-run accommodation in the city.

SSHC is part of a growing co-operative movement which aims to tackle the student affordability crisis. In some areas of the country living costs are outstripping student loans, and Shelter says half of students are struggling to pay their rent. According to student housing charity Unipol, student rents rose 25% between 2010 and 2013 as universities sold off their own low-rent stock and private companies built luxury accommodation, while the National Union of Students has described the cost of housing as being at an absolute crisis point.

A housing co-operative isn’t a new idea, but they are still relatively rare. And student versions even more so: the Sheffield one is thought to be only the UK’s third, following similar set-ups in Birmingham and Edinburgh.

The co-op, an incorporated body at Companies House, controls the property, and for the time they live there residents become members of it. Effectively, the housemates are both landlord and tenants, living in the property but also collectively managing it, setting the rent, managing the house’s finances and making democratic decisions about the property’s upkeep. There is no profit – the income from rent goes towards paying off the mortgage and maintenance costs.

SSHC was set up by Roy Clutterbuck, James Risner and Rosie Evered with the objective of providing cheaper and better accommodation than private landlords. What started as a dissertation project has taken three years to become a reality, and none of the founder members will be moving into the property - they have all graduated and moved away.

The members will have to work closely together to build up information systems to pass on to the next members Roy Clutterbuck

The trio have spent the past year handing over the co-operative to housemates who will move in to the five-bedroom terrace at the beginning of the new term. The rent is roughly in line with that charged by private landlords in the area, but there are no other fees to pay and full control over the property.

“We are being extremely careful with our estimates and projections,” Clutterbuck says. “The most important thing is to prove that we are financially sustainable, so we are playing it on the safe side by setting extra money aside in anticipation of unexpected costs.”

One of the key benefits of a co-op is the transparency of the finances. The members manage the house’s finances themselves, and the long-term plan is for other properties to be purchased later on. However, the advantages of living in a co-operative aren’t just financial. Democracy rules, and members have a say in how the house is decorated, furnished and maintained.

To get to the point where students can move into the house, SSHC has needed help from various bodies. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the group weren’t able to get a mortgage. Instead, The Phone Co-op, a telecoms company owned and run by its customers, purchased the house and is leasing it to SSHC. The long-term plan is for it to build up its own financial track record then purchase the property from The Phone Co-op. North West Housing Services is helping with the financial side of property management, although the co-op has full control and autonomy over spending decisions.

Unlike non-student co-ops, where members generally stay for a long period of time, SSHC has worked hard to design a structure that works for a transient population, as most members will stay only one or two years. “The members will have to work closely together to build up information systems to pass on to the next members,” Clutterbuck says.

The Sheffield co-operative’s house.

“This means extra work, but is central to our vision. We want the co-op to be specifically for students and we want as many students as possible to take turns living in the house and experience first-hand what communal, democratic, not-for-profit living is like.”

So what are the alternative accommodation options for students in Sheffield? The university itself offers self-catering accommodation for £96-£136 a week for en suite rooms, and up to £155 a week for studio flats. Unite offers halls from £85- £144 a week. Students also have the option of renting from private landlords who typically charge £65-£75 a week.

Mike Shaw was involved in setting up the Edinburgh Student Housing Co-operative (ESHC) and has been living in one of its properties for the past year. ESHC took over two neighbouring blocks of student halls, containing 106 beds in 24 flats, previously run by a private company. It lowered the rent from £470 to £305 a month including bills. Leased from a housing association, the buildings are entirely self-managed with members democratically controlling the finances and doing a lot of the repairs and maintenance themselves.

“We wanted to demonstrate what student living should be about – affordable, secure and good quality accommodation that is democratic and self-managed,” Shaw says.

ESHC had 40 spaces available for this year, and received 230 applications. These were assessed by a panel on a “blind” basis, with applicants explaining what they would bring to, and get out of, community living. “The set-up means we all get to know each other from living and working together, so it’s very social – we also organise events and parties,” Shaw says. “We aim to build an institutional memory to pass on knowledge about how to run things to new people.”

It is hugely positive to see students rejecting profit-driven housing in favour of mutual and affordable alternatives Shelly Asquith, NUS

A smaller set-up has been running in Birmingham since summer 2014. Like SSHC, the Birmingham Student Housing Co-operative has worked in partnership with The Phone Co-op, which acquired an eight-bed property in Selly Oak on the co-operative’s behalf.

All three co-operatives are members of Students for Cooperation, a national body created to develop and support student co-operatives across the UK.

Shelly Asquith, NUS vice president for welfare, says: “It is incredibly positive to see students rejecting the status quo of profit-driven housing in favour of sustainable, mutual and affordable alternatives such as co-ops.”

However, she is cautious about them as a mainstream alternative to typical student housing. “Co-ops can take a significant amount of time and investment to establish, and the number of tenants they are able to accommodate is limited. To address the affordability crisis we need to be seeking alternatives to the housing market as a whole.”

Where to go for a cheaper room

■ Cass and Claredale (London)

The Cass and Claredale Halls of Residence Association (left) is a not-for-profit charitable housing association that offers affordable rents to students on 39-week fixed contracts.

Rooms are let on a commercial basis during the summer holidays to subsidise term-time rates. Both halls are in east London. Term-time rents start at £133 a week including utility bills, internet access, and room contents insurance.

■ Unipol (Leeds, Bradford, Nottingham)

Unipol is another not-for-profit housing organisation. Some of its property is owned outright by the association, while other accommodation is leased from housing associations and local authorities.

Unipol also manages property on behalf of several private landlords. Rents in Unipol-owned property in Leeds typically start at about £85 a week with shared facilities.

■ Viridian (London)

Viridian is a social housing association with properties in Camden, Bloomsbury, Wood Green and Earls Court.

Rents vary depending on location. Wood Green Hall is cheapest with prices starting at £139.90 a week including utilities and internet.