Meet the second year who’s running his own letting agency

Ryan wants to treat you right

| UPDATED landlords letting ryan hill sloppycop12 students the student agency york

Tired of money-grabbing landlords? Why not set up your own lettings agency – that’s what York second-year Ryan Hill did.

The Business and Management student followed his initiative and set up a student-run letting agency after becoming tired of greedy landlords exploiting students. His agency claims it won’t charge you extra and won’t make you meet any unrealistic expectations.

Ryan came up with the idea around Christmas time. He says: “As a fresher, I was looking for people to live with and houses to live in, but some of my housemates were told by a certain letting agency that if they weren’t dressed smartly or presented themselves incorrectly at a viewing, then they wouldn’t be considered as potential tenants for the house.

“We could turn up to lectures in our tracksuits or pyjamas if we wanted to, so not many of us are going to view a house in a suit and tie!”

Although he does dress up sometimes

The project is similar to one YUSU attempted to start previously, though they failed to gain the £150,000 of funding they required. Ryan’s main aim is to keep students’ money in their pockets, so he sees his set-up as a good alternative to YUSU’s expensive plans.

Having enjoyed his first year in James college, praising its social life and all-rounder qualities, Ryan saw his opportunity and took it, using his years of previous experience as a letting and estate agent to make signing a first lease easier for York’s freshers.

He says:  “I was talking with my girlfriend one night and the idea to start The Student Agency came up.

“Within 48 hours we had a live website and were making calls about potential properties. We currently  have flats and rooms in The Boulevard and Foss Studios, which are amazing properties with en suites and all your bills included.

“But I know they’re not for everyone so we are working hard to find landlords to work with so that we can offer standard houses too.”

The Student Agency’s website

We all often hear stories of “horror landlords”, but Ryan said he’s spoken to some really great people since he started up.

He said: “It was really encouraging to find so many lovely people as landlords in York.

“There’s a guy who stores students things over summer or when they’re between houses for free, and another who will pick international students up from the airport, stopping at Argos for them to buy anything they might need.

“Unfortunately i don’t have many funny stories so far, I haven’t walked in on anyone in the shower or anything like that yet.Though in my previous job I did have to wait out side with some viewers waiting for an answer, only for the guy to come to the door in a towel.

“I should have thought of some more for the Tab, really.”

Ah, he knows us so well.

You can visit The Student Agency’s site here.