UCL rent strike steps up a gear
Their head of Estates said “some people just simply cannot afford to live in London”
The rent strikes that UCL students have been undertaking since late January are gaining more and more traction, now boasting a cohort of over 500 disgruntled tenants.
The unpaid rent now exceeds £1,000,000 and as the strike action continues more and more people are joining, adding to this total on a daily basis. This is a huge surge from last month, when the number who had actively stood with the UCL Cut The Rent campaign was just 150.
The protest centres around the rent prices that the body feel are excessive and target low income students. The movement are also aggrieved at the response from the UCL management, notably the UCL Director of Estates, Andrew Grainger, who said “We don’t set our rents on the basis of the least well-off students” and “some people just simply cannot afford to live in London” which the campaign feel heavily disregards student’s opinions. UCL are also thought to be pursuing evictions for the rebelling students.
500 people have now joined the strike
The accommodation at UCL has increased its rent by 56% since 2009 and is thought to run at a 45% profit margin, corresponding to around £15 million a year. The strikers maintain that they are willing to negotiate, and are demanding a 40% cut in prices with concrete, long term commitments to low rent levels as well as an improvement on poor living conditions that are present in some halls.
The last UCL strike over accomodation was successful, with students complaining after large amounts of noise and disruption from building works during exam season. This resulted in a terms worth of rent being refunded, giving a sign that change may be brought about should the cause continue to gain momentum.
