There once was a time when student accommodation meant mouldy walls, a broken toaster and a leaking shower, a time when students had to wear multiple jumpers in the winter to keep warm.

Parents might have been appalled, but the dingy student grotto used to be a rite of passage: a rejection of home and clean sheets and spotless ovens. Not any more. The launch this month of several high-profile luxury student studios, with wi-fi, a flat-screen TV and even a dishwasher is part of a new trend in university living: accommodation for the posh student.

Whereas private accommodation providers made up about 2 per cent of the full-time student accommodation market a decade ago, today the figure is closer to 10 per cent. Unite, the largest provider in the UK, has been opening an average of 13 student residences a year for the past seven years has and created 2,856 beds this year alone.

Rents with Unite range from £79 a week in Huddersfield to £513 a week in Central London. While the high-end flats are cleverly designed, and often include extras such as a fortnightly visit from a cleaner, the annual cost can reach £26,000.

“Maybe it’s something to do with the PlayStation generation. Shared bathrooms is an anathema to today’s students,” says Philip Hillman, a partner at property consultants King Sturge and specialist in the student accommodation market. “When I was a student we didn’t think twice about mice in the kitchen or sharing a bathroom. But things have changed.”

Private providers tend to offer high-quality studio flats and hassle-free living as the price includes all bills. Hillman notes that companies have been taking advantage of a niche in the university market for better accommodation, particularly at a time when increased student numbers have not been met by a substantial rise in university-owned student accommodation.

Simon Thompson, the director of Accommodationforstudents.com, the UK’s biggest student-housing website, says: “Universities have not treated accommodation as a business but as a residence. They have tended not to move with the market, so they cannot put the same amount of money back in.” Meanwhile, owners of private accommodation have been targeting the students who don’t want to slum it.

Lowri Wynn Morgan, 23, paid £65 a week for a shared student flat during her undergraduate degree, but wanted something different when she moved to London to take the bar vocational course at City University; “I lived in basic student accommodation when I was at Aberystwyth, but I feel that at 23 I have gone through the halls stage and need my own place.”

Not knowing anyone in the capital, she wanted to stay near the university, but not surrounded by the booze-filled buzz of a freshers’ hall. Although she pays £363 a week for a studio flat in Unite’s Kirby Street residence in Farringdon, London EC1 — considerably more than the average student rent of about £63 a week — she says it is worth it. “We are paying so much anyway for the fees that the price is not really an issue. This year I really need to knuckle down and work hard, so it’s better that I can just shut the door and have my own space.” She says that a number of her friends are still looking for accommodation, even though the academic year has started in many universities.

One estate agent, Henry & James, says that it has seen a number of students in London entering bidding wars for properties as they struggle to find affordable housing.

In many areas, particularly in the capital, there is a serious shortfall in the amount of student accommodation available. Unite estimates that there are more than 250,000 full-time students in London, but only 46,000 purpose-built bed spaces.

The shortfall is in part due to a big increase in the number of students going to university: numbers have risen by 31 per cent over the past decade to 2.34 million, 1.43 million of whom are full-time.

But there has also been an increase in overseas students, many of who are prepared to pay for premium accommodation. At the Nido King’s Cross, a 1,000-student residence that opened two years ago, only 23 per cent of students are from the UK. The majority are non-EU students who will already be paying higher fees to study at UK universities.

But the “revolution” in student accommodation does not end there: the increase in the number of private providers is also pushing up quality in traditional student housing, still the choice of 51 per cent of students.

David Pank, the Yorkshire regional chairman of the estate agent Manning Stainton, said that now students have the option of highquality private halls, there is an increased pressure on landlords to raise their game.

“Private providers tend to charge more, but, before, students had nowhere near as much choice. Now they are demanding a lot more in terms of standards,” he says.

And for many, that is not such a bad thing. “The landlords that make no improvements are finding that their houses are still empty in September,” says Simon Thompson.

“Students can afford to pick and choose, and the days when landlords could just give a house a lick of paint every couple of years are over.”

Today’s undergraduates pay more in rent and fees and expect better living standards. Here are our tips for students looking for digs:

- Check whether your university has a list of accredited local landlords.

- Always ask whether utility bills (gas, water, electricity) are included in the rent. If not, work out how much it will cost and budget accordingly.

- Check if there are service charges for your flat — some may charge extra for cleaning communal areas or shared gardens.

- Find out what you are expected to look after in the tenancy agreement — you may be responsible for the garden and interior hallways, etc.

- Check for signs of damp or mould — mould is often peeled off and painted over.

- Stains or discolouration around the boiler are usually signs that all is not well — there may be a leak or fault that could be dangerous.

- Landlords are legally obliged to have the carbon monoxide levels checked each year — ask for a copy of the safety-check record.

- Make sure that the property is secure: one in three students will be a victim of crime, and student houses, which are often full of electrical equipment, are a common target for thieves. Check that there are good locks on the windows and on the front doors to shared flats.

- If you are staying in a private property, take photographs when you move in and agree an inventory with your landlord so you are not liable for any existing damage.

Sources: NUS/studentaccommodation.org

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