Student lettings 2026: handling the summer enquiry surge under the new RRA rules

Student let season starts in seven weeks. Most agencies will field two to three months of enquiries in the second half of June, run viewings through July, and sign tenancies in August for September moves.

This year, that volume hits a regulatory framework that didn't exist twelve months ago. Fixed-term academic-year tenancies are gone. Joint tenancies still exist but joint-and-several liability has new wrinkles. Pet requests follow new rules. And the rent increase framework that used to happen quietly between academic years now requires statutory notice.

If you let to students, the next eight weeks will tell you whether your post-1 May process actually works at volume. Here's how to set up so you don't break.

Why student lettings is the hardest test of the new rules

Student lettings has always been the highest-velocity, lowest-margin segment of the letting market. It works because it's predictable: the academic calendar runs on rails, students sign in groups for fixed twelve-month terms, and the same five letters fall through doors at the same times every year.

The Renters' Rights Act has broken that predictability in three places:

• Fixed academic-year tenancies don't exist any more. Every student tenancy is periodic. The tenancy that starts on 1 September 2026 has no end date.
• Notice periods are now tenant-led. Students leaving in June 2027 need to give two months' notice in writing. Most won't, by habit, until you train them to.
• Rent increases require Section 13. The modest annual uplift baked into your usual landlord conversation now needs form 4 served between July and August.

None of this is unworkable. All of it is new, and student lettings is going to surface every weakness in your process.

The "12-month periodic" reality and how to communicate it to landlords

Landlords expect a twelve-month tenancy because that's what the academic year used to give them. Now they're getting a periodic tenancy that the students will probably leave at the end of the academic year, but technically might not.

Your landlord conversation needs to cover three things:

• The tenancy will continue past September 2027 unless the students give notice. Most will. Some won't. Plan for both.
• You can serve Ground 1A or Ground 1 if the landlord wants the property back. Four months' notice. Evidence required.
• The rent review happens via Section 13, not by re-letting. The old "we'll re-list at a higher rent next year" routine is now a one-month notice followed by a possible tribunal challenge.

Landlords who push back on this need a written summary they can read and re-read. Build the email template once and send it on every student instruction. The survival guide covers the landlord conversation in more depth.

The enquiry pattern we expect from late June onwards

Based on the 2024 and 2025 summer cycles, scaled by the volume of "I don't understand the new tenancy" calls we've been logging since 1 May, expect:

• A 300–500% spike in volume between mid-June and end of July.
• Around 40% of enquiries from parents, not students - and parents are the ones asking the new compliance questions ("is this a real tenancy?", "what protection does my son have?").
• Out-of-hours enquiry rate climbing to roughly 35%. Students enquire late evening and at weekends. Parents enquire on Saturday mornings.
• Same-day viewing requests becoming same-hour viewing requests. Top properties go in days, not weeks.

If your phones aren't covered after 6pm or on Saturdays, you're losing 30% of the addressable market to whoever is. We covered some of the underlying ideas in stop missing enquiries in property management.

Triage: which enquiries deserve a callback within five minutes

Not every enquiry is equal. The ones that convert in 2026's market:

• Group enquiries with funding confirmed (parents on the call, deposit-ready). Five-minute response window.
• Returning students with a track record. They know the area, they know what they want, they sign fast.
• Postgraduate enquiries from international students. Higher rents, longer tenancies, fewer red flags.

The enquiries that don't convert as well:

• Single students looking for a room. Refer to the HMO product, don't burn a property viewing.
• "Just looking" enquiries with no urgency. They're shopping; let them ring back.
• Anything where the funding isn't clear in the first thirty seconds.

If your front office can triage in 30 seconds, you'll convert at twice the volume of an agency that treats every enquiry the same.

Running 4x viewings without losing detail

The hardest operational problem of student let season isn't enquiry volume - it's viewing detail.

Every viewing produces three or four pieces of information that have to land in the right system: who attended, what they asked, what they liked, what condition the property was in, whether they're proceeding. In a normal market you have time to type that up between viewings. In July you don't.

Three things help:

• Voice-note immediately after the viewing. Walk back to the car, record everything, transcribe later. Don't trust memory.
• Single shared viewing log, updated by whoever did the viewing, visible to everyone in the office. Use a spreadsheet if you have to. The cost of a missed callback is one lost tenancy.
• AI receptionist coverage on the inbound side so the team running viewings isn't also answering the phone. We build this at Odjo for exactly this scenario, but the principle is operational, not vendor-specific - separate the inbound and outbound work.

The deposit, guarantor and joint-and-several gotchas

Three areas where student lets break under the new rules.

Deposits. Five-week cap still applies. Joint tenancies require one deposit, not one per tenant. Protect within 30 days. None of this changed under the RRA - but the documentation requirements did. Your prescribed information has to be served on every tenant, every guarantor.

Guarantors. Most agencies require a UK-based guarantor for student lets. The guarantor agreement now needs to clearly state liability extends to the periodic tenancy, not just a fixed term. Old templates that reference "the term of the assured shorthold tenancy" need re-drafting.

Joint and several. Still applies. But periodic tenancies mean a single tenant leaving doesn't automatically end the tenancy for everyone else. The remaining tenants can continue. This needs explaining at signing or you'll get angry phone calls in March 2027.

A summer staffing model that doesn't burn anyone out

The agencies that come through July intact are the ones that:

• Add a Saturday rota from 21 June to 31 August. Two-person Saturdays at minimum.
• Use a phone overflow (AI receptionist or human service) for after 7pm and weekends.
• Block out admin hours in the morning before viewings start, so paperwork doesn't slip into the evening.
• Pay overtime properly. This is the wrong year to lose a senior negotiator over money.

The agencies that don't, will lose a key team member by August. We've seen it every year. The Act has only made the mid-summer pressure worse.

Frequently asked questions

Can student tenancies still start on 1 September with all tenants?

Yes. The start date is whatever you agree. The tenancy is then periodic from that date.

What happens if one student leaves mid-year?

On a joint tenancy, the tenancy continues. The remaining tenants are jointly and severally liable for the full rent. Replacing the leaver requires either a deed of assignment or, more commonly in practice, a surrender and new tenancy.

Can we still take a "summer retainer" rent for the holiday period?

Yes - the rent is whatever's stated. Many agencies charge a reduced rent for July and August. This must be in the tenancy agreement and is part of the Section 13 calculation if you later increase.

What if the parents want to sign as guarantors but live overseas?

You can accept overseas guarantors but enforcement is harder. Most agencies require a UK-based guarantor or a higher deposit. This is operational policy, not regulation.

The takeaway

Student let season is going to expose every weakness in the post-1 May processes you built. The agencies who get it right will set their book up for the academic year. The agencies who don't will spend October dealing with rebooks, complaints, and possession-grounds problems they could have avoided in July.

Build the templates now. Cover the phones now. Train the team on the periodic explainer now. And it's all easier with OdjoAI.