Running Ready To Rent at your institution Training for Facilitators

Plan for the day 10.30-12pm: Why Ready To Rent and why it’s useful for unions How the training works Part 1: House-hunting 12.45-2.15pm: Understanding the Trainer Guide Part 2: Contract checking Using the Ready to Rent Hub 2.30-4pm: Part 3: Tenant Troubleshooting Part 4: What next? Collective action Discussion: Running Ready to Rent at your institution

Why Ready to Rent? Homes Fit for Study research showed that: Under a third of respondents thought that there was enough support for private renters Less than half felt that they knew their rights as a tenant Just over half of respondents felt that they knew where to turn if they had a problem with their housing Less than a third had made use of any house-hunting services provided by their university or students’ union, and only 12 per cent had attended a housing fair or talk

Why Ready to Rent? Aims: To communicate to students about their rights as renters in an engaging way To provide support to students’ unions who have less capacity and expertise in housing To enable more developed students’ unions to enhance their offer to students To create a culture where student tenants are more discerning, have more confidence and so have more influence To develop a cohort of pathfinders in the private rented sector, whose expertise will stay with them throughout the rest of their renting careers

Ready to Rent: How it works Two key parts for Ready to Rent at your university: A two hour training workshop written ready for delivery to students An online Ready to Rent Hub with further resources and support

Ready to Rent: Timeline Motion passed at National Conference: April 2014 Funding received: Aug 2014 Training facilitators: Nov 2014 – Jan 2015 Hub goes live and resources finalised: Jan 2015 Training delivered: Jan 2015 onwards

Ready to Rent: Training design A two 2 Hour interactive workshop focused on: Building skills: Focus on skills makes training relevant across a wide range of issues/contexts Building confidence: Interactive and practical focus develops confidence Problem prevention: Aims to prevent issues from arising in the first place Trainers: You don’t need to be an expert!

Ready to Rent: Training design Part 1: House-hunting

Ready to Rent: Using Trainer’s Guide Use the Ready to Rent script and PowerPoint in the way that works for you Wherever possible draw answers from participants and affirm with slides We’re developing a Tips for Trainers guide to help you out!

Ready to Rent: Training design Part 2: Signing a contract

How the training works: The hub The Ready to Rent hub will enable trainers to: Access resources including training guides, tips for trainers, training tools and videos Create an event Approve and manage users Access contact details of participants

How the training works: The hub The Ready to Rent hub will enable participants to: Find out about and register for an event Access resources including training tools (e.g. house-hunting checklist, tenancy trouble-shooting guide) and videos Fill in evaluation survey which will result in them being entered into a prize draw

Ready to Rent: Training design Part 3: Tenancy Troubleshooting

Discussion How would you use Ready to Rent on your campus? How can we make sure as many students as possible benefit from Ready to Rent training? How can we use Ready to Rent as a springboard for campaigns and collective action? What else can we offer advice on to make Ready to Rent successful on your campus?

Thank you! Contact us: readytorent@nus.org.uk