“Smelly Oaks” – Student Heaven or a Dangerous First Home for Young People?

Selly Oak, or as it is affectionately called Smelly Oak, is a residential area in South West Birmingham. It is nestled closely next to The University of Birmingham, one of the biggest universities in the UK, and most students chose Selly Oak to be their home in their second and third years of studies. It is an area of five main streets, rows of red brick terrace houses as far as the eye can see each and each and everyone are filled with students. If you find yourself in Selly Oak, you will normally see the streets littered with take away boxes, a random costume from a night out or maybe even some confetti or balloons left over from another party. Every morning hundreds of blurry eyed students make the 10 minute walk towards The University. 

The UK system of accommodation and university life is a little different to other countries, most students move to a new city to study and are given a room in student accommodation for their first year. Then in the following years of studies they move into rented accommodation in nearby districts next to the university and live with their new friends.

Birmingham has one of the highest rates of student housing in the UK, one in 51 homes in the city are filled with students, double than what is normally seen in the rest of the UK. It has increased 19% since last year and landlords in the area work on 12 month contracts that coincide with term time, convert the roof to hold more students and even change the living rooms to bedrooms to try and fit more students in their properties. Houses sell for nearly half a million pounds, and the rent is proportionally higher than other nearby areas. 

A debate is brewing in the UK around the argument that students are getting the raw end of the deal by paying above and beyond the average price for their rent, landlords are gaining huge profits but the quality of the housing is poor and local areas become hot spots for crime. Selly Oak is a classic case study for the reality of student housing in the UK.

“Landlords keep us out of pocket, and treat us badly.”

A report by the website Save The Student says that the average student rent in the UK is £125 a week for one bedroom in a shared house – this is significantly higher than non-student housing. Due to high demand for the best houses, in Birmingham, you have to secure your home up to nine months before you move in.

“This financial pressure and time pressure plays into the landlord hands, and they know students start looking before Christmas and tell us that most houses are gone by November at least”, student Issy Lloyd told me. “You pay so much for housing, I could get a much cheaper and nicer place to live a few miles away from the university – but all my friends want to live nearby.”

This sentiment is felt across the student community, and especially in Birmingham. Issy had a multitude of issues with her housing in her second year, that included leaking pipes, a fridge that was broken for six weeks and an unresponsive landlord. This is a common theme across the UK, a Save The Student recent report also states that a third of students have gone without heating or running water in their student houses.

On the other hand, what can landlords and The University do to combat these issues? Selly Oak is a district with rows of old properties and the demand for housing is increasing every year, as The University of Birmingham expands.

Plans have recently been rejected to build a new complex of student housing in Selly Oak as local residents worried that it would not be in keeping with the area and it would increase traffic. Landlords know the demand for their houses will keep increasing, so don’t feel the need to renovate them but still increase prices every year.

Birmingham Council has made several attempts to crack down on student housing and try to regulate more. Plans are in the pipeline to stop house conversions into student houses and banning houses for students exceeding nine bedrooms in Selly Oak. Currently landlords must register and comply with regulations on room sizes and number of bathrooms per property, but there is no control on rent prices at the moment. 

“Selly Oak is the best place to be a student, but I don’t feel safe here.”

Selly Oak hit the headlines in the UK in October last year when thousands of students signed a petition calling for The University to do more to protect students safety in the area. A young man was stabbed in at attempted car jacking, and a 15 year old boy later appeared in court charged with attempted murder. One of the main student roads in Selly Oak has been named one of Birmingham’s burglary hot spots. Between January and December 2017, there were 365 violent and sexual assaults reported in the area of Selly Oak – one for every day of the year.

“I don’t feel safe walking around a night time”, said a student who lives in Selly Oak told me. “After that guy got stabbed, it felt too dangerous to walk around. I heard a story about a man climbing through a window and trying every bedroom door in the house in the early hours of the morning, it makes you feel a bit nervous.”

However, Selly Oak does not have a higher proportion of crimes compared to other nearby areas, but the perception of students living there is that it is not a safe area to live in. In August, 188 crimes were reported in Selly Oak, with 182 in neighbouring Bournville or 268 in Harborne, according to police figures.

“There isn’t really an alternative, I will always choose to live here as a student.”

The University, students, landlords and the council appear to not be able to find common ground on how to solve the issues in Selly Oak. The University employs full time police officers to patrol the streets during the long winter nights, the council restricts housing developments but students are caught in the middle fearing for their safety and then face an increase in rent as demand increases against the supply of houses.

It is a complex issue, and a possible solution could lie amongst the student population. The experience of university in the UK is tied up with living experiences, moving away from home and the taste of independence. Maybe if students expanded into different areas of Birmingham, quality could be higher and competition between landlords would drive down rent and increase the quality of homes as the demand would not be so high in Selly Oak.

Instead of accepting below quality of housing, students should take back control and understand the power their money has in their pockets – demand more from your landlord and if you are unsatisfied use the legal support offered by The University or council to help your situation. In the case of safety in Birmingham, more needs to be done to protect these young people – but surely making neighbourhoods more diverse and less student heavy may be worse for our social lives and party habits but may make the streets a little safer for us all.