Landlords are charging students higher rents because they are demanding more claims letting agent.

A report by the National Union of Students (NUS) about the high rate of rents that they claim to be charged has been disputed by a lettings agent in the university city of Oxford.

The NUS claims that rents were now unaffordable and that soon, many students would be unable to leave home to go to university or college.

But lettings company Finders Keepers, which runs a specialist student division, says that while rents have, on average, increased, the reasons some seem unaffordable is because students are aiming for places that are too expensive for them.

Associate Director Simon Tyrrell explained that a generation ago, many students may have been content to live a ‘Young Ones’ type existence in modest student digs. But today’s students are no longer prepared to live in digs with tired interiors and instead, are looking for or demanding a higher standard of accommodation.

Many are opting to live in fully renovated houses or new build flats that would be described as luxurious.

Generously sized bedrooms and at least one bathroom for every two people are standard.

Tyrrell said: “The report misses the point. We find that there is a huge appetite for the best accommodation in the best locations, with students queuing overnight to reserve these properties.

“They are not queuing because they fear they will miss out on a home altogether but because they want the very best. Students demand good locations, parking, a garden to barbecue in and crucially, high quality kitchens and bathrooms.”

Finders Keepers lets and manages over 2,400 properties each year and claims a 98.25 percent occupancy rate.

FKStudent Lettings, its specialist student division, has a portfolio of over 200 properties, 95 percent of which are already let for the 2010/11 academic year with an average rent of £400-450 per person per calendar month.

• Overseas students coming to the UK are the latest target of the rental scam in which fake landlords ask prospective tenants to prove that they can afford the rent by send money to one of the tenant's friends or relatives using money transfer companies, and sending a copy of the receipt.

The con has already caught out people looking to rent holiday homes in other countries, but now the fraudsters are operating the other way by targeting visitors to the UK.

They have already been at work in the Dundee area where the fraud is being highlighted by the Scottish Scambusters team.

They are warning overseas students to be wary of flats for rent being advertised on line which don’t provide an address for the property and limited contact details for the landlord.

A spokesman for Scottish Scambusters, said: “This sort of practice is often aimed at international students who are eager to find accommodation before they go to university.

“All too often the money paid via these transfer systems goes straight into the so-called landlord's pocket outside the UK and is never seen again.”

Craig Melville vice convener of Dundee City Council's environmental protection committee said: “A legitimate landlord in Dundee would never ask for money up front, and certainly not until a viewing had taken place.

“Dundee City Council operates a landlord registration scheme and I would encourage anyone seeking accommodation in the city to contact us to make sure that the offer is legitimate.”