Malia Bouattia, President of the National Union of Students.

[The National Union of Students] has officially backed the UCL [University College London] rent strike as a matter of serious concern over the ‘extortionate rents’ charged on London properties, offering “full support…with students on rent strike”.

In an open letter published yesterday on the NUS website, NUS President Malia Bouattia has voiced her concern that the “non-acceptable” low-level of affordable accommodation available to students living in London has reached a point of unsustainability.

Bouattia has written to UCL management to “re-affirm the NUS’ support for students taking actions”  and calls on them to “resolve [the rent strike] as soon as possible by engaging with the demands.”

NUS guidelines stipulate that affordable rent counts for 25 per cent of all bed-spaces at a University should be offered at 50 per cent of the maximum amount of student finance. According to the NUS-conducted Accommodation Cost Survey, only 0.8 per cent of UCL accommodation fulfilled the criteria.

According to Cut the Rent, rent charged at UCL Halls of Residence increased by 56 per cent between 2010 – 2015.

This year the members of UCL’s Cut the Rent campaign demand “an immediate announcement of 10 per cent rent cut for the upcoming academic year.” Additionally, they demand the publication of documentation from UCL Estates regarding the rent-setting process.

Source: Malia Bouattia offers ‘full support’ to rent strike and will not tolerate ‘bullying’ UCL management

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