r/Glasgow Tools

Title
Author	SaltAccident5
Comment	> Part of my safety net was e.g. I would say "PhD researcher" instead of "PhD student", say "I receive a stipend which is a taxable salary equivalent of ~£18k", and that I was council tax exempt. It's enough that most people get what you mean without getting penalised for it. A lot of estate agents and landlords have got wise to that one, I tried that with no success. As soon as we say we can't provide payslips and we're exempt from council tax estate agents and some private landlords reject us with no room for explanation or negotiation, even though my advisors were willing to write a reference backing up the white lie that I'm a researcher at the uni. I'm not sure what things were like for postgrads before the pandemic, but the surge in demand and decrease in supply means landlords and estate agents can be very selective these days. > There are guarantor services available now for about £200-300 I think or some universities also offer guarantor services for their students. Yeah, I'm lucky that I didn't have to go through these since I'm a UK national with family nearby. A lot of people in our department have to rely on these services, it's a hidden cost they didn't expect when they signed up to study here. >In general, an estate agent not accepting these is usually an indicator that the estate agent is a bit dodgy. Standard practice these days imo. The only landlord I've had who chose me as a tenant through an estate agent while I've been a PhD student had a doctorate of some sort himself. Every other time has been a flat out refusal because of student status, they know there's a large number of other potential tenants they can get into any reasonable quality property.
Reddit Link	https://www.reddit.com/r/glasgow/comments/sswnd2/no_students_allowed_in_rentals/hx1zttq/
Created	Tue 15th Feb 2022 4:55pm
Status	normal ()

> Part of my safety net was e.g. I would say "PhD researcher" instead of "PhD student", say "I receive a stipend which is a taxable salary equivalent of ~£18k", and that I was council tax exempt. It's enough that most people get what you mean without getting penalised for it.

A lot of estate agents and landlords have got wise to that one, I tried that with no success. As soon as we say we can't provide payslips and we're exempt from council tax estate agents and some private landlords reject us with no room for explanation or negotiation, even though my advisors were willing to write a reference backing up the white lie that I'm a researcher at the uni.

I'm not sure what things were like for postgrads before the pandemic, but the surge in demand and decrease in supply means landlords and estate agents can be very selective these days.

> There are guarantor services available now for about £200-300 I think or some universities also offer guarantor services for their students.

Yeah, I'm lucky that I didn't have to go through these since I'm a UK national with family nearby. A lot of people in our department have to rely on these services, it's a hidden cost they didn't expect when they signed up to study here.

>In general, an estate agent not accepting these is usually an indicator that the estate agent is a bit dodgy.

Standard practice these days imo. The only landlord I've had who chose me as a tenant through an estate agent while I've been a PhD student had a doctorate of some sort himself. Every other time has been a flat out refusal because of student status, they know there's a large number of other potential tenants they can get into any reasonable quality property.