Students should check the tenancy agreements supplied by landlords and letting agents with a solicitor or their National Union of Students’ (NUS) office advises a report from Student Housing.

It followed a survey that showed many students are signing documents that fail to protect their housing rights.

Student Housing claims that many letting agents and private landlords have ‘boilerplate’ tenancy agreements that are amended over time and do not necessarily keep up with changes in the law.

This claim came to light after a team at the University of Edinburgh started checking student tenancy agreements as part of their law course.

The team found that many of the agreements conflicted with the Housing (Scotland) Act 2006. This legislation gives tenants rights over the property they live in and is similar to the Housing Act 2004, which covers England and Wales.

In an interview with Student Housing, law student Christine Tonner who was part of the team examining the documents, explained: “Most of these leases are very weighted in favour of the landlord still, and undermine that act.”

The university said the worst lease was from a private landlord and the rest were from city letting agencies.

Elaine Tyre, assistant director of Edinburgh university’s legal practice unit, added: “The worst lease was ‘barely legal’ and had absolutely no responsibilities on the landlord in it.” The agreement stated the tenant could not give up the property before the date of termination and would be liable to cover any costs the landlord incurred as a result of them leaving.

Tyre suggested that the best way to avoid getting caught in difficult legal situations is to read the leases thoroughly before signing and that there are places that would help students understand them including the Students Union, Citizen’s Advice Bureaux and law centres. Or a solicitor can examine the document for a small fee.

The Student Housing report concluded that while it is important to check agreements from private landlords and letting agents, it was equally important to check out those from universities and colleges as well.