The awards were created to recognise the quality of service offered by landlords who advertise properties on the University’s private accommodation advertising platform, Studentpad.
Gemma Lomas, Accommodation Property Manager, said: “We wanted to create an awards ceremony to recognise the landlords who go above and beyond with their service to our students to make sure they have the best student experience whilst studying at Loughborough.
“When we go out and meet the landlords that we work with, it is easy to see how much they genuinely care about the students that rent with them. We created six categories for our awards that focused on the attributes that students are most concerned about when looking for private accommodation.”
Studentpad Good Landlord Award categories included:
- Sustainability
- Accessibility
- Safety and Welfare
- International Student Experience
- Community Building
- Emergency Response
See the list of Good Landlord Award winners nominated by student tenants.
Landlords were also asked to nominate student tenants who had made a positive contribution to the local community and had been good neighbours.
The Good Student Neighbours Award was presented to a household of four students, nominated by their landlord for being friendly, considerate and respectful of their neighbours and the property. The winning household was awarded a £100 gift card.
The event was also an opportunity to gather landlord and private accommodation providers together to share information about upcoming new legislation. The Renters Rights Bill is currently progressing through parliament, and its reforms will have an impact on how people rent properties in the future. Experts in the sector, Linda Cobb OBE from DASH Decent and Safe Homes and Irving Hill from Sulets, explained the impact of the legislation to the student market.
A range of University departments and community partners also attended the event to share information about support services available to students so that these resources can be shared through the landlords with their student tenants.
With over 12,000 Loughborough students living in private accommodation off campus, events like this are important to engage with private providers and build a community to help ensure students have a great experience off campus.