Landlords and council work together to help with student housing changeover
The Leeds Property Association (LPA) has teamed up with the University of Leeds, Leeds Beckett University, Leeds City Council and student housing charity Unipol to help reduce the impact of this year’s annual student housing changeover and promote the recycling and re-using of unwanted items.
Student rental contracts traditionally start and end on the same day each year, and so on the 30th of June thousands of students vacate their houses in Hyde Park, Headingley, Woodhouse and the surrounding areas to move back home or into a new property for the next academic year.
Due to the sheer volume of waste and items being left behind at the same time, this mass migration has in the past led to large amounts of rubbish, overflowing bins and furniture and personal items left in the streets
.This year a group of Landlords, through the LPA, are working to combat this and help reduce the negative impact of the housing changeover on local residents. This includes working with the council to promote waste disposal options and the participation in this years Blue Bag Collection Scheme – providing thousands of blue bags for students to donate items such as clothing, bedding, books and electrical items that they no longer need.
These bags are being delivered through students’ letterboxes and given out by participating student letting agents DEU Estates, Pickard Properties and Sugarhouse Properties. The bags will then be collected from outside student properties.
Donations from the scheme will be distributed to the British Heart Foundation or given directly to vulnerable community members through other local charities.
In addition, the LPA is funding two large, caged waste waggons, one in Headingley and one in Hyde Park, to collect any excess rubbish that is left behind.
The LPA’s chairman, Andrew Parascandolo said “It’s important that responsible landlords and letting agents in Headingley and Hyde Park recognise their responsibilities to the community by helping the hardworking council and their colleagues keep the streets clean and tidy at this busy time. To assist the council workers, the Leeds Property Association (LPA) has once again sponsored 2 caged wagons to collect some of the waste. Last year over 7000kg of waste was removed from the streets.”
Leeds has around 37,000 students living in the city and the vast majority of these will move house each year at the same time, creating unique pressure on the local area and initiating a huge clear up operation.
Richard Napier from Sugarhouse Properties, one of the Letting Agents participating in the scheme, said “It’s great to be involved with a coordinated effort to help to keep the area tidy and try and re-cycle and re-use some of the items that are discarded each year. We already run a pop-up foodbank in our office so it’s great to be part of a wider coordinated initiative to promote re-using and responsible recycling.”
Landlords that wish to participate or join the LPA can find more information on their website
