Students in Dundee urgently seek housing after complex closure — The Guardian
In Dundee, UK, nearly 70 students were forced to urgently seek alternative accommodation after the company that owned the Marketgait Apartments complex entered administration. The building in the city centre was closed, and tenants had to remove their belongings at the start of the academic year, The Guardian reports.
In mid-July, the company filed for the appointment of administrators. At that time, 68 rooms in the complex were rented, although only a few weeks earlier operator Prestige Student Living had been advertising available accommodation to students.
Reasons for the closure
The 116-room complex is located less than a 10-minute walk from the University of Dundee and Abertay University. Renting a studio cost £199 per week, while rooms with en-suite bathrooms cost £165.
On 15 July, partners at FRP Advisory were appointed administrators for the Jersey-registered special-purpose company that owned the building. Its owners — property management company 90 North and Kuwaiti investment company Rasameel — were unable to repay a £5.7 million loan secured against the property.
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A decline in the number of students living in the complex caused financial losses. As a result, the company could not fund the necessary fire safety works. The new owner, ATK Property, is carrying out these works, so the building remains closed.
Students' move
James Elliott, a University of Dundee graduate and activist with the Living Rent tenants' union, said that Marketgait residents known to him were distressed, tense and shocked. According to him, some students had contracts for the next academic year but received a demand to move out within a month.
Prestige Student Living said that, at the time administrators were appointed, 27 students had renewed their contracts for the 2026–2027 academic year. Seventeen of them had already left for the summer, while six independently paid for a removals company. The operator said it had helped students find alternative accommodation in Dundee and refunded all payments received.
The publication notes that the problems in Dundee are one manifestation of financial pressure on the student accommodation sector in the UK. Operators are facing a decline in the number of international students, rising borrowing and construction costs, and the fact that an increasing number of local students live at home because of high rents.
