A developer is asking permission to rent its student flats to professionals because it is struggling to let them out.
SE Properties Ltd put up the two blocks of purpose built student accommodation (PBSA) on Hollingdean Road, Brighton after getting planning permission in 2021.
It is now asking to turn half of the 91 studio rooms in Holden Court into general co-living flats which can be rented by anyone.
The application, written by Third Revolution Projects, says: “The scheme has been occupied, but is not currently viable as PBSA-only in the current market.
“PBSA is classified as a sui generis use. The proposal seeks to allow a flexible dual-use of the building as both PBSA and co-living accommodation. The co-living accommodation will operate on a similar basis to PBSA, with longer-term letting arrangements, communal facilities, and managed occupancy.
“The practical effect of the proposed change is that the building could be occupied partly by students and partly by residents of co-living accommodation, with each use occupying around 50% of the available units.
“The operational characteristics, including management, tenancy length, and intensity of use, would remain consistent with those of the current PBSA use.
“Importantly, the proposal does not introduce short-term or transient stays akin to hotel or hostel use (Class C1), but rather a continuation of long-term managed occupation, whether by students or non-student residents.”
When the scheme was originally approved in 2020, council officers expressed concerns that no university or college was officially interested in sending students to the blocks.
They asked councillors on Brighton and Hove City Council’s planning committee to reject the scheme.
SE Properties’ consultant, Simon Bannister from Lewis and Co, told the committee the company had made “soft approaches” to colleges.
He also said there was a “significant shortage” of student accommodation in Brighton.
The committee – which only had three councillors as it was meeting during covid restrictions – voted to approve the scheme.
Flats are currently available to let at Holden Court via the Prestige Student Living website ranging from £225 to £290 per person per week – equivalent to £975 or £1257 a month.
According to the StuRents website, rooms in shared student houses in Brighton start from about £125 per person per week – or £541 a month.
The flats should never have been approved – the walls were built to the very edge of the pavement on Hollingdean Road allowing no refuge for pedestrians. The pavement is barely 3 feet wide
Anyone with any sense wouldn’t have built this block of flats. The city planners should have looked at this plot of land, Sainsbury’s carpark and the 8 tiny houses and marked this square for development. Instead no forward planning to improve the area, just shoehorn random flats in
Greedy developers.
They seem to have built it too big and actually extended on to the public pavement. Every time I drive past there I wonder how they got away with that!
Living close by to this building and enduring 24/7 whining air conditioning units installed on the roof without planning permission, ( still fighting!) this development needs to be shut down now!
Sui Genesis planning standards ( which were the basis for this site) means that ceiling heights/room sizes etc etc are far lower than even short term hotel requirements needed because those living there are short term residents. Therefore these buildings are not suitable for any long term occupation. Developed because stock market investors saw opportunities for a quick return from poorly regulated student accommodation market…bottom falling out of the market now…but we will have to reap poor returns
Why not house male only asylum seekers with the rich students that can afford to live there, you know as students are so tolerant and welcoming of refugees, nothing will go wrong… Come on who’s going to start a petition to make it happen
Its more likely Asian and Middle Eastern students who would not welcome such visitors in their home countries. Not the Blue haired brigade who LOVE THEM
You?
Aww boo hoo overseas slum landlord investor doesn’t get their investment to pay off. Hand me the world smallest violin when you have finished with it
Basically they are charging to much money, wayyyy to much and don’t want to drop the prices to fill the place. So instead of lowering their rents and filling the place, taking students away from family houses, they propose not to lower the rents and to let randoms mix with students, recipe for disaster lol and equally do nothing for the local population in terms of freeing up family houses.
If I was at the council I would chuck the change of use out as it’s not for a lack of students, it’s the price of the rooms.
I agree, it’s the cost of the rooms being so prohibitive. Let’s remind ourselves that LHA pays about £105 a week for co-living spaces like these.
The new Act, which covers student and other rental housing, has banned short term let’s for the academic year. A change of use would leave the development with students able to give notice any time and leave the other residents with a half empty house.
That isn’t quite how the new Renters’ Rights Act works. It doesn’t ban short-term or academic-year student lets. The main change is that most private tenancies, including student ones outside purpose-built halls, will shift to periodic tenancies. That means students can give two months’ notice rather than being locked into a fixed 12-month AST, unless the landlord qualifies for one of the student-specific exemptions.
Purpose-built student accommodation is likely to remain exempt if it signs up to the new Code of Practice, and student HMOs can still use the new student-only possession ground to regain the property for the next cohort.
So the issue isn’t a “ban” on academic-year tenancies, but a change in how they operate. It may create more uncertainty for landlords, but the Act doesn’t prohibit the model altogether.
If you drop your rip off prices you’ll fill the rooms easily. The council needed to chuck this application out
It is unequivocally discriminatory to determine eligibility for housing based on a person’s occupation. Such practices have no place in a fair and modern society. If an individual requires accommodation and is willing and able to pay the rent, they should be afforded the opportunity—without prejudice.
The fact that discrimination on the grounds of occupation or marital status is not explicitly prohibited under the Equality Act does not make it acceptable. These actions echo the divisive and exclusionary ideologies of a bygone era—values that should remain firmly in the past. They have no place in 21st-century Brighton, a city that prides itself on inclusivity and equality.
Let us move forward by ensuring that anyone who wishes to rent a property, and meets the financial requirements, is free to do so without arbitrary barriers. Discrimination belongs in history, not in our housing market.
It’s worth being clear about how the law actually works. Selecting tenants by occupation isn’t unlawful discrimination. Occupation isn’t a protected characteristic, and the courts have consistently allowed landlords to set criteria such as no students, professionals only, or NHS staff preferred, provided these don’t indirectly discriminate against a protected group. Marital status sits in the same space.
Yeah, except in the real world that’s not a very intelligent thing to do is it, lol.
Sussex Uni and other unis across the country have had a drop in admissions. Less young people are applying as the job market is dire after graduating because of AI and poor government economic policies. There will be more student accommodation white elephants across the city in future years.
This is the same investment company that has many other plots of land across Brighton, they build student flats then turn them into air B&B style lettings or ‘professional’ lettings as they call them. Pay as little as possible into the local community. Look at the mess they are building on Melbourne Street, 9 tower blocks of 352 studio flats and self contained rooms – no family homes in sight. Same people check out Kozy living. Terrible company with a rather bad reputation.
In theory, purpose-built blocks like this should be great and reduce the need for HMOs. This should be ideal with such easy links to both universities and town. But not at those prices!
Greedy developer now trying their luck with the Council again. Here’s hoping the council see sense and refuse this application.
I would have thought at a reduced price per unit, you have a less voids, which overall makes you more money and furnish any loans on the building.
The universities have had a significant drop in admission due to the government restrictions on foreign students being unable to to bring family’s with them when studying. The other real aspect is that students are not taking up places due to the cost of living – the rents being asked by this developer and many others in the area are a prime example. The universities themselves have also heavily invested in building on-campus accommodation, thus short circuiting this type of housing offering. In this case, the market is over-saturated; almost directly opposite this building is Hollingbury House, there are Vogue Studios on the Gyratory, two more large installations on the former Preston Barracks. Another at Circus Street. Even more on Pelham Street and London Road (Former Co-Op), Oxford Street/London Road junction and “Student Castle” on Lewis Road. The existing halls of residence at Moulsecoombe Place are about to be demolished and replaced with tower blocks. The Council are largely to blame for allowing that many developments to go ahead. The priority should have been on-campus builds with in town brownfields next. In the case of Holden Court, thee needs to be a review of the boundary as other have said – the pavement is downright dangerous and not helped in the slightest by a complete absence of parking so contractors and delivery vehicles are regularly parked ON the pavement, which results in pedestrians having to dice with death on Hollingdean Road.
Unfortunately Tony, the data does not support your claim on students. UCAS undergraduate entries dipped very slightly (about 2–3% in 2023–24), and postgraduate taught visas issued to overseas students fell from a record high in 2022 but remain well above pre-pandemic levels. Very much textbook normalisation.
Brighton’s PBSA occupancy rates remain high (usually above 90%), and both universities continue to complain they’re short of guaranteed beds. High supply alone doesn’t show saturation; high vacancies would. We’re not seeing that.
Tony, maths isn’t a strong point is it. 2 universities both have just under 20k students. That’s 40k students. Do you really think 2000 flats that you mention even make a dent. No obviously not.
Prices however do matter, hence this place being empty
This idea would be troll worthy.
Students should remain in halls for the duration of their studies.
As a resident who is forced to live next to students the noise, drug taking and general disruption is unbearable. Greedy landlords charging £1,900 for a 2 bed flat !
No concern from the council because they don’t have to live nextdoor.
My solution don’t allow but to let in residential areas, halls are ideal.
I suspect that the local drug cartels will be pleased to rent an apartment on each floor.