Imperial rent negotiations

When we updated you on the undergraduate halls’ rent situation a few weeks ago, we told you the university had initially proposed a 30% average increase to rents across all first-year halls, and that we had negotiated this down to a 16% average increase. Here were some wins back then:

Initial proposal (29th October):

- 30% increase in costs

- Split of the rooms 28:36:36 (Market:Peer:Affordable)

- Space, quality and value for money inconsistent across rooms in Beit and Wilson.[2]

Proposal on 28th November:

- Reduced to a 16% increase in costs[1]

- Increase in Affordable and Peer groups 9:54:38

Beit basement rooms will be discounted relative to the same rooms on upper floors. Wilson single rooms categorised and priced according to size reflecting experience.

In a nutshell, we scrutinised the budget given to us for halls whilst advocating for equitable pricing across all rooms.

Smooth Scaling: Since this last update, we’ve continued pressuring the university to bring rents down to more reasonable levels. Firstly, we must thank over 1000 people for signing our open letter, which was invaluable in demonstrating the issue to the university higher-ups. All the noise you made forced them to listen, and they agreed to smooth the impacts increase over 3 years, rather than hitting next year’s newbies hard. The average annual increases now stand at:

Affordable Accommodation: There were three big wins for affordable rooms. Most importantly, Imperial have committed to freezing rents for all rooms in the “affordable” category, a huge win for those who need it most. This will be paired with a mechanism ensuring those on an Imperial bursary who select to stay in a room in the affordable category are guaranteed a room in this price range. Looking to the future, Imperial has also committed to expanding the number of en-suite singles in the affordable category, phasing out those non-suite twin rooms.

Summer Stays: Finally, Imperial has also agreed to explore a 50-week rent option, likely at a cheaper per-week rate, to allow first-year undergraduates to spend their summers in London. This should especially benefit international students, as well as those looking for second-year accommodation.

We’re very proud of the changes mentioned above and we want to thank everyone who played a part in them. Despite this, we’re not satisfied. We still think the increases to rents are too high and have not signed off these increases with the university. Although progress has been made, we still aren’t happy with the overall transparency in many facets of the rent setting. To this end, we’re working on longer term agreements with Imperial to secure guarantees of student involvement, transparency and affordability in the coming years[3], and will push the university to explore subsidising rents in future. But to make these big changes, we still need your help. If you haven’t already, please do sign our open letter, as well as sending it to any other students you know, past and present. We’ll keep working, and look forward to bringing you some good news with the university in the new year.

[1] Successfully excluded decarbonisation and wardening opportunity costs. Reduced bill increases.

[2] Some 7 m2 single rooms with the same rent as a 17 m2 single room in Wilson and Beit rooms with restricted view were not receiving the same discount as in Southside/Eastside.

[3] A memorandum of understanding (MOU) is being agreed with the university, which we will share as soon as we can