Hello. Im thinking of booking a room with Unite, in Kirby Street, EC1N 8TE (http://www.unite-students.com/student-accommodation/london/kirby-street?). Anyone has had any experience with them in the past?

Hi Beicon...Fire away, what do you want to know? Know this company intimately including the board members Mark Allen and Joe Lister...Also the main shareholder/founder Nick Porter...A very well managed firm...I was working for a major Asian fund manager back then and we funded all of their developments in London...I have not valued Kirby Street but I probably valued most of their other London developments...Do you have specific questions?

http://www.unite-group.co.uk/
If you check the news for 2005 you will know what I was talking about in the previous message...
The security, facilities etc are really top notch and there is no hassle, that's why we invested in Unite. If you are prepared to spend quite a bit more than check out Nido. They are funded by Goldman Sachs/Blackstone and put more luxury options like gyms etc... Unite is doing well in the mid-range...You will have all of the basics and good clean 3* facilities....Nido is 4-5*

Thanks you very much, Private Equity!!! It's been quite helpful!!!

That's OK. So you guys understand..(well, you are future lawyers :-)) The law re student accommodation in the UK is a bit different. Some accommodation is owned and run by the universities themselves. Normally this type of accommodation is of the worst quality (with the exemption of the LSE's one) - because universities do not have enough money to invest in the facilities. What they often do in the UK is to have a partnership with the specialist developers/construction companies. Under the agreements the developers build new properties or redevelop old ones and then sign one of 3 things:
1. Pure lease agreements - under these agreements universities take a full lease on the property, pay money to the construction company and the company manages the facilities for the universities. While these properties tend to be the cheapest, they are also poorer quality because these agreements are not terribly profitable for construction companies
2. Nomination agreements - under these agreements university only take a lease on, say, 70% of the rooms and the construction company is allowed to sell some of the rooms to the students themselves. This is the best situation for everyone. You can be sure that the property is monitored by the university and the quality is normally much better because the construction company gets a bit more money. This is what Unite normally does, so some of the rooms they sell to universities and some spare rooms they offer on the open market
3. Construction company just builds a property and lends rooms to students directly. This is what Nido does - that's why the quality is the best (of course, they need to attract students) but the prices are sometimes are ...hmm...extortionate. Why? because the construction company does not get any minimum payment guarantee from the university and it needs to cover its costs +make a healthy profit

Thanks, mate. Quite an accommodation lecture that was, huh? Thanks a lot. It's been really helpful! : )

Hi Beicon,
I'm also considering the Kirby Street accommodation. The rooms seem quite nice :)