Rent direct
A private landlord, not a letting agency
We own and look after the houses we let. There is no agency between you and us, which means no agency fees, and the person who shows you round is the person who fixes the boiler.
The difference
What 'private landlord' actually means
It is the most misunderstood phrase in student housing, and it is worth two minutes because it changes who is responsible for what.
A letting agency does not own the house. It is hired by whoever does, to find tenants and pass on messages. That is why a repair can take three phone calls to reach the one person who can approve it, and why the agency you signed with often has no power to say yes to anything.
A private landlord owns the property and lets it themselves. When you ask for something, you are asking the person who decides. We are the second kind. Phil and Inga have let student houses in Stoke-on-Trent for 18 years, they live here, and they are who you will deal with from the first viewing to the day you get your deposit back.
That is also why our houses are not on every portal. We would rather show you round ourselves than hand you to someone who has never been inside.
Cost
What you do not pay
Renting direct removes a layer of cost, and the law removed most of the rest in 2019.
Since the Tenant Fees Act 2019 it has been illegal in England to charge a tenant for viewings, referencing, an inventory, or renewing a tenancy. If anyone asks you for those, that is not a private landlord being old fashioned, it is a breach. Security deposits are capped at five weeks' rent, and holding deposits at one week's.
On top of that, there are no agency fees here, because there is no agency, and we do not take an advance fee or a holding deposit at all. The weekly price you see is the whole price.
One figure per person per week covers rent, gas, electric, water and WiFi. Nothing arrives later with a different company's name on it. If you want the detail of what that includes and what it would cost you separately, we wrote it up in our guide to all bills included.
Before you sign anything
How to check any private landlord is legitimate
Renting direct is better when the landlord is good and worse when they are not, so the checking matters more. This applies to us as much as anyone. Ask us all five.
- An HMO licence, if the house needs one
- In England a house with five or more people from two or more households needs a mandatory HMO licence. Councils have to keep a public register of the ones they have issued, so you can ask Stoke-on-Trent City Council whether a specific address is on it. A landlord who gets cagey about this question is answering it.
- A current gas safety certificate
- Every rented home with gas has to be checked by a Gas Safe registered engineer once a year, and you are entitled to a copy of the certificate. Ask for it before you sign, not after you move in.
- An electrical report no more than five years old
- Landlords in England must have the wiring inspected at least every five years and give tenants a copy of the report. It is the check people forget to ask for.
- Your deposit in a government scheme
- If you pay a deposit it has to be protected in one of three approved schemes within 30 days, and you should be told which one. Unprotected deposit money is the single most common thing that goes wrong in student lets.
- A name and a number that a person answers
- Not a form, not a ticket system. Ask who fixes the boiler at 9pm in January and see whether you get a name. That one answer tells you more about the next twelve months than any brochure.
If you want the longer version of the first one, what an HMO licence means goes through it properly. Parents usually want the page we wrote for them instead, which covers what a guarantor is actually signing.
Our houses
Direct from us, this year
Every one of these is ours. The price shown is per person per week with every bill in it.
Top homes
Are you a property owner rather than a student? We also offer property management for landlords, which is a different thing entirely and has its own page.
Come and meet the people who own it.
Arrange a viewing and you will be shown round by Phil or Inga, not by an agent with a clipboard and a set of keys.