Purpose Built Student Accommodation (PBSA) - scoping survey findings

2. Introduction

This report presents the findings of scoping research carried out to inform the development of a review of Purpose Built Student Accommodation (PBSA).

2.1 Background

PBSA is a specialised form of housing built for students to live in, generally taking the form of either:

• 'Cluster' flats, which have multiple private ensuite bedrooms and shared kitchen/living areas
• Private studio flats

In both types of PBSA there are often attached communal facilities, such as gyms or leisure spaces.

PBSA has become more common in recent years, particularly that built and managed by the private sector. At present, Higher Education (HE) institutions and the private sector are the main providers of PBSA in Scotland. The share of PBSA built and managed by the private sector has increased in recent years, with some providing accommodation through contractual arrangements with institutions.

PBSA is excluded from the Private Residential Tenancy (PRT) regime in Scotland. This generally means that PBSA tenancies are common law tenancies, regulated by the contract between landlord and renter, rather than a specific law.

The expansion of PBSA has been accompanied by stakeholder concerns regarding a range of issues such as affordability, tenant's rights, and student mental health and welfare. The COVID-19 pandemic further highlighted issues such as the ability of students to give notice to leave PBSA, although this has been temporarily addressed through the provisions of the Coronavirus (Scotland) (No2) Act 2020 in relation to student tenancies in halls and PBSA.

The 2020-2021 Programme for Government (PfG) commits to a review of PBSA:

"In the context of the significant growth in purpose built student accommodation and COVID‑19, we will conduct in 2021 a review of purpose built student accommodation, in partnership with stakeholders. This will be taken forwards in parallel with work to ensure rent affordability and improving standards across the Private Rented Sector."^[2]

2.2 Purpose and scope of the research

In order to meet the PfG commitment to undertake a review of PBSA, in January 2021 the Scottish Government carried out scoping research to refine the parameters and key themes that the review could consider. The aim of this scoping work was to provide an evidence base to assist the PfG review of PBSA in:

• Establishing a clear and constructive scope
• Providing data that the Scottish Government currently does not hold and that can inform the PfG review.

2.3 Method

A Steering Group comprising stakeholder representatives was set up to inform the scoping research.^[3] The Group agreed to gather evidence through an online survey, which was drafted in collaboration with members. The survey contained a combination of multiple choice questions, as well as free-text questions to enable the collection of qualitative data.

In January 2021, the survey was shared with key stakeholders, including universities and colleges, university and college student associations , local authorities, and PBSA providers and representative bodies. The survey remained open for one month.

The majority of respondents were either student representative groups, institutions, and private PBSA providers. Other respondents included local authorities and unions. The overall response rate from local authorities was low.

The total number of responses received was 46: 42 responses were submitted via the online survey portal and an additional four respondents submitted evidence via email. The survey platform generated quantitative data based on responses, while qualitative answers were analysed using a thematic coding framework.

The low sample size achieved for this survey should be noted. Results from this study should be considered indicative only and cannot be generalised to the wider population or sector. The quantitative findings in particular should be treated with caution and have been reported using numbers rather than percentages.