Exeter’s first build to rent residential flats are being advertised to let at The Hay, a five-storey 53-unit development in Prince Charles Road, with full-price rents ranging from £1,375 to £2,350 per month.
Ten of the units are “affordable” flats reserved for key workers including nurses, teachers and firefighters, the minimum proportion required by government policy.
These are being advertised with rents that are 20% lower than the other one, two and three-bedroom flats in the block, with rents ranging from £1,080 to £1,800 per month, but still cost 22-36% more than Exeter private sector rent averages.
The rents for the full-price flats are 52-70% above Exeter private sector averages.
Eutopia Homes Exmouth Junction build to rent development front elevation
Developer Eutopia Homes has not published any tenant eligibility criteria for the full-price flats. All it says is that tenancy eligibility is “subject to job and income criteria”.
A spokesperson for the company initially agreed to answer our questions about tenancy types and minimum lengths, required income thresholds and whether non-salaried workers would be able to live in the block, then failed to respond.
The standard private rented sector financial eligibility threshold, below which agents will not normally consider letting to tenants, is an annual income of at least two and a half times the annual rent, usually paid as a salary rather than hourly wages.
This would mean that prospective tenants would need to earn at least £41,250 to rent a one-bedroom flat, £53,100 to rent a two-bedroom flat and £70,500 to rent a three-bedroom flat at The Hay.
However the gross annual median salary in Exeter is £29,300 – £2,600 lower than the national median – meaning that a full-time worker on median Exeter pay earns nearly £12,000 less than would be required to meet the minimum income requirements for a one-bedroom flat in the block.
If he or she lives with a partner who also works full-time and earns Exeter median pay, the two of them together could rent the flat. But they would be left with £15,000 less than the Joseph Rowntree Foundation minimum income for a socially-acceptable standard of living each year.
A full-time worker receiving the national living wage earns nearly £17,500 less than would be required to meet the minimum income eligibility requirements for a one-bedroom flat.
If he or she lives with a partner who also works full-time and earns the national living wage they would together be eligible to rent the flat. But they would be left £26,000 short of the Joseph Rowntree Foundation minimum income standard each year as a result.
Eutopia Homes Exmouth Junction build to rent development rear elevation
In contrast with the full-price units in the block, Eutopia Homes has published some eligibility criteria for “affordable” key worker tenancy applications.
Applicants must not only be employed in a public sector job on Eutopia’s list – ruling out bus drivers, for example – they must have lived in Exeter for at least twelve months.
They must also earn a gross annual income of less than £30,200 to be eligible for a one or two-bedroom apartment and less than £39,800 to be eligible for a three-bedroom apartment.
This means that a newly-qualified teacher earning £31,650 would be not be eligible for a one-bedroom key worker flat because their salary exceeded the threshold, but if they tried to rent the same flat without claiming key worker status they would fall far short of the minimum income requirement.
A newly-qualified nurse starting at band five on the national scale would be eligible to apply for a one-bedroom key worker flat. But they would have to spend 52% of their net income on rent, leaving them £10,000 short of the Joseph Rowntree Foundation minimum income standard as a result.
Similarly, while both trainee and development firefighters are eligible to apply for a one-bedroom key worker flat, they would have to spend even more of their net income on rent, leaving them with lower living standards than their NHS peers.
Eutopia Homes Exmouth Junction build to rent development brochure
The Hay is the first block to come on stream of several planned on the fifteen acre Exmouth Junction development site, beside which the Exmouth branch line diverges from the London Waterloo to Exeter mainline.
The site was acquired from Network Rail in 2018 for £8.5 million with finance from Chenavari Investment Managers.
The city council granted outline planning consent for the development of 465 new dwellings on the site – a mix of private rented and for-sale high-density units plus extra-care homes – six years ago.
Several amendments and condition variations followed, with the total number of units rising to 540.
The Hay occupies a half acre corner of the site beside Morrisons’ car park. It is a joint venture between Eutopia Homes, which says it focusses on “a long-term approach to create communities”, and Housing Growth Partnership, which says the aim is to sell the scheme after a “rental stabilisation period”.
Eutopia says the block “blends modern design principles with inspirations from Exeter’s rich history” in which tenants will “experience a seamless blend of modern convenience, personalised support and a welcoming community - all designed to make life at The Hay truly exceptional.”
