After Lundagård’s exposure about the worse conditions for exchange students the International Housing Office, IHO, and Folkuniversitetet admit that there are additions to the rent. Several hundred students are affected. The university may now have to pay back hundred of thousands SEK to dissatisfied tenants.
No one knows exactly where the final cost will land. But it is already clear that the university has charged hundreds of thousand SEK in exorbitant rent from the exchange students for just this term. Earlier the people responsible at Folkuniversitetet and IHO claimed that there did not exist any other addition except for the administrative fee of SEK 600. But when Lundagård together with the tenants’ association worked out the monthly rent the source of the too high rent was discovered. IHO charge five months from August 20th to January 2nd. This means that every single exchange student pay about SEK 500 more per month than their Swedish corridor friend for identical rooms- still with worse conditions.
– It is obvious that there is some kind of discrepancy between agreement and reality, says Per Ola Olsson, head of department at Folkuniversitetet.
Thousands affected
He promises that they will look into the problem and states that about half of IHO’s tenants are affected. It involves hundreds of students who pay rents that by far exceed the utility value which is established in negotiations between AF Bostäder and the tenants’ association. In total it adds up to more than SEK 2,000 per student and term, which gives a total of several hundreds of thousands SEK, charged by the university in too high rent. Depending on for how long the incorrect periods of rent have been in use it may have affected thousands of students and add up to millions of SEK in exorbitant rent.
People in charge at Folkuniversitetet have previously in an official letter to Lundagård verified that there are more students who are affected.
– Students who choose to stay during summer have to pay extra, but they are incredibly few, says Per Ola Olsson who has compiled the letter together with the chief accountant Hans Olausson.
Average rent
IHO state that it is about 30 tenants who stay through the summer. Exchange students who in these cases also pay far more than a hundred thousand SEK in additional rent altogether. This since they have to pay for the summer months which for a Swedish tenant are free of rent. In the official letter they also note that IHO use an average rent for every housing area. And this in its turn means that the exchange students have to pay the same rent regardless of size or normal rent for separate rooms.
– We work with extremely different parameters and if every single tenant should get their specific rent it will be a question of higher administration fee, says Per Ola Olsson.
Translation: Yvonne Tevström
