In January of this year, students at University College London held a rent strike over what they considered to be extortionate prices for substandard student accommodation. “UCL rent strikes were prompted by appalling conditions – mice, loud construction works going on in and near buildings that left students unable to do work – and rent hikes that left many students in poverty,” a spokesperson for Rent Strike, who preferred to remain unnamed, recently told Occupy.com. “Rents rose with no regard for the income of most students, leaving many students with around £12 a week for all expenses (including) food, clothes and books.”

Nine months later, with student rent costs now increased by 18% in the last two years, the student rent strike movement has spread to 25 different universities. “The success of UCL, with over 1,000 people on rent strike last year and £1.2 million in concessions won from management, has emboldened students from other campuses in London, and now beyond,” he said.

Students at these 25 universities have recently organized and attended pre-term workshops on how to hold a rent strike at their educational establishment, with a variety of different awareness-raising actions discussed and planned. “This could involve going and having a cup of tea in halls, talking to residents about their conditions and cost of living, disseminating leaflets, stickers and posters, hosting parties, burning effigies, filling the air around university with flares and red balloons or cooking communal meals,” the spokesperson went on.

Now, the growing movement looks to expand beyond just student accommodation. “Rent strikes themselves can obviously be useful to all sorts of people, not just students. We already have friends and [allies] across the housing movement and we look forward to making many more.”

Some students’ protest methods have been quite inventive. The publication Property Week recently held its inaugural Student Accommodation Awards and asked a panel of students to judge the “Student Experience” category. In an unequivocal statement about student rent hikes, the entire panel refuse to choose a winner. Hayden Cooper from Exeter University was one of those panelists.

“There's a whole host of reasons for us not giving the award,” Cooper told Occupy.com. “First of all, giving an award to the private sector renters during massive rent increases would betray working class students, like myself, struggling to pay that rent. Secondly, we do not feel any of the accommodation options that were put up for an award were worthy, seeing as they averaged around £146 a week, something well out of the regular student’s grasp.”

To Cooper’s surprise, the organizers backed the panel’s decision.

“We knew the judges would all roughly agree, but for the organizers to give us support really surprised me. The optimist in me thinks maybe they'll recognize the desire for cheaper, easier, accommodation,” he added, but "the realist in me says that they're only out for their profits and this won’t phase them. However, the wide support of this project is larger than we first thought and it might springboard into concrete actions which do affect the nominees.”

Property Week has since withdrawn its “Student Experience” category from the awards ceremony.

A Movement Grows

Back in August, the National Union of Students suggested a “fair” rent structure in which 25 percent of beds are priced at a maximum 50 percent of a student’s available maintenance loan. Speaking at a press conference, NUS vice president Shelly Asquith said: “We demand an end to the exploitative profits from university accommodation. We fully support the actions of rent strikers, and urge universities to urgently engage in negotiations to ensure future rates are set at a level which students can afford to pay.”

Later addressing a students’ pre-term rent strike campaign workshop in September, Asquith told those assembled that “extortionate rents, coupled with course fees and other rising living costs, are now preventing lots of working-class students from attending university altogether, especially in cities such as London.” Even if students do take the risk and attend university, she said, they often find themselves in dire straits once they get there.

“According to our own figures at NUS, over 50 percent of students say they can’t afford their basic expenses of rent and other bills," she added.

Taking Action

A “Cut The Rent” bloc is due to join the Free Education march in central London on Nov. 19. After this, an event on Dec. 7 will bring together all the universities involved in the rent strike campaign to protest the Student Accommodation Conference being held by private student housing providers. “I’ll be there at both demos and I’ll be heavily involved in the rent strike campaign at my university in the meantime,” Goldsmiths University student Kieran, 18, told Occupy.com.

“With my finances the way they are, and things only getting worse, I simply can’t afford not to.”

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