News

University properties put back on the market in a bid to curb student influx

By Imogen Child
Published: 11/03/2010

Since 2004, the University has put 139 of its unused properties in the Crookes and Broomhill areas back on the market, many of which were costing the institution substantial refurbishment and maintenance costs.
The properties were made available only to families as opposed to private landlords, in a bid to limit the numbers of students in the areas.
Approximately 133 have been sold so far, with the money raised being put back into funding University land and building projects.

A spokesperson for the University of Sheffield said: “The University recognised the need to restore the local community balance in student-heavy areas of the city.

“All the properties were sold with restrictive covenants preventing the properties from being used in the future for multiple occupancy or student use.”

The key clause in the new housing contracts states that the purchaser will be required to sign a binding agreement with the vendor that the property is not used as a house of multiple occupation by students.

A spokesperson for Eadon, Lockwood and Riddle, one of the University’s estate agents, said that all buyers have been informed that their new properties were strictly for non-investment use.

They said: “People have to be told that it is for non investment use, the lawyers deal with it.”

Local resident and chairwoman of the Crookes Residents’ Association, Sue Beardshaw, said: “The fact that they’re being sold back to families brings us back to being a proper community again.

“It would be nice if we went back to being a residential area, we want a proper community back.”

The University’s Student Residencies Strategy, which is responsible for the sale of the University’s residential property, also planned to influence the number of new students using private landlords in Sheffield.

The strategy included the £160million development of the Endcliffe and Ranmoor student villages, which were built to minimise the impact on the local area from the number of students moving in, by placing them in a single, purpose-built community.

The student accommodation, built by construction company Bovis Lend Lease, will be maintained over the 40-year contract period by the facilities and estates management company Vita Lend Lease.

At the end of this lease, ownership will revert back to the University.

By building these new student communities and increasing their overall housing capacity, the Student Residencies Strategy aimed to move students away from private landlords on their arrival to the city.

Then, if there is a drop in demand, private landlords would be forced to sell their properties which can then revert back to private residential use.

But in response to the initiatives, Andrew Jarvis, the owner of Jarvis Properties in Crookesmoor, claimed that students will continue to seek property in Crookesmoor and Broomhill because of their proximity to the University.

He said: “We have been here for 30 years and nothing has changed in those 30 years.

“Endcliffe being built hasn’t had an effect at all on our business.”

The University of Sheffield has sold several of its properties back to local communities as part of a move to limit the number of students living in some of Sheffield’s residential areas.

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