The University will be “relinquishing” the leases to 41 UniFlats at the end of the year, due to the (extremely likely) decrease in international student numbers for 2021.
“As the number of international students is predicted to drop next year because of the pandemic, UniFlats has relinquished leased flats next year that provide 216 beds but hopes to be leasing them again in the future,” said Campus and Collegiate Life Director James Lindsay.
The 41 flats to be “relinquished” are the ones that the University leases from other landlords, rather than the ones that the University owns. They plan to lease them back from those landlords in the future, if the number of international students return to pre-Covid levels.
“It’ll be hard for people with plans next year who were relying on kiwi hosting for a flat situation,” said John*, who currently lives in a UniFlat.
Peter*, who also lives in a UniFlat, said “if they don’t bounce back when the international community returns that would be a shame, it would be sad to see them go”. He thinks that they’re “great when you have an international student community, but if you don’t I don’t see the point”.
“It’s a much more secure form of living than renting from landlords,” Peter said.
“It adds a lot of uncertainty around the quality of the flats, a lot of people use UniFlats because power is included,” said UniFlat resident Jack. “There will be less flats on the market which have standardised, good standards of living. You can blast the heater in UniFlats and I love being able to be warm.”