The majority of King’s students will see a 5% rent increase in the next academic year with the average rent reaching £14.5k a year for a 40-week term – making King’s one of the most expensive universities to rent from in London.
Following negotiations with the KCL Students’ Union (KCLSU), King’s Affordable Accommodation Scheme (KAAS) rent has remained fixed this year. KCLSU has confirmed to Roar, however, that KAAS rent too will rise in the next academic year.
For the 2026/27 academic year, Roar‘s analysis shows that the median-weekly rent for a non-KAAS King’s room is £357, up from £344 in 2025/26.
For a standard 40-week term, this would equate to £14,280 per annum, which exceeds the maximum maintenace loan of £14,135. Averaged across residences, this is a 5% increase, higher than CPI inflation in 2025, which was 3.8%.
Comparable London institutions have significantly lower rents, with LSE’s median being £300 a week for 2026/27 and UCL’s £302 a week for this academic year (UCL is yet to publish data for 2026/27).
KAAS provides subsidised rent for students whose family income falls below a fixed threshold, yet this threshold has not risen in over a decade, despite campaigns to do so.
KCLSU negotiations
KCLSU negotiates annually with King’s to represent students’ interests during rent setting. Fatima Hire, VP of Welfare and Community at KCLSU, represented the union in this year’s negotiations.
“We’ve been very lucky this year that King’s Residences has been responsive to the concerns we’ve brought to them”, she told Roar.
Last year King’s raised rent by 6.5%, she says; the union has successfully campaigned for this year’s rise to be reduced to 5%. She argued that it’s “not really fair or viable to pass [rising costs] on to the student”, who are increasingly paying “more for less”.
“It just goes to show that the cost of operations for King’s is being passed on to the student and it’s not something that we find to be acceptable.”
King’s has attributed some of the increases to external landlords raising the rent they charge to King’s. Of the 14 King’s halls of residence, just four are owned and operated by the College:
“…having worked with the King’s Residences team, one thing that sticks out is that they really are trying to do the best for students…[but] the nomination agreements that they have with third parties are ultimately really financially predatory.”
The renegotiation of certain agreements has seen a threefold increase in price, she says.
‘The money doesn’t go as far’
Roar has previously reported on the skyrocketing costs for many King’s students who live in London, with many struggling to meet their needs.
The lowest price non-KAAS room is now £200 a week; this is a 14-bed flat at Wolfson House, a King’s-managed residence that Fatima says is currently not “fit to live in”.
Residents were evacuated from the Wolfson earlier in the month after a transformer exploded. Many students have since criticised King’s response, which left many students stranded overnight.
By contrast, UCL’s cheapest undergraduate offering is £160 a week for a twin room and LSE’s £155 a week for a triple room.
KAAS was introduced in 2014 after lobbying from KCLSU, with a fixed household income of £42,875 per annum. This threshold has not risen in over a decade, a key point in the union’s “Halls for All” campaign.
“…people who were eligible, say, 10 years ago just won’t make a cut now, the money doesn’t go as far.”
Fatima Hire, KCLSU
In the 2027/28 academic year, the cap on KAAS rents will rise from £169 per week to £173. KASS rents have been unchanged for ten years, according to King’s.
For those that wouldn’t meet the KAAS threshold, regardless, the union has successfully campaigned for over 500 rooms to be moved into the most affordable bracket above KAAS.
Fatima says that she would like to see KAAS separated from the King’s Living Bursary and more consideration given to postgraduate students.
Currently, the postgraduate-only City accommodation, run by Urbanest, takes the top spot for rent across all King’s residences, with its most expensive offering – a large studio – coming to £562 a week.
This can only be booked for 51 weeks, not 40, meaning the annual price comes to £28,662. The average rent in London is £27,000 a year.
It is difficult to compare King’s data to other institutions as it does not publish the number of rooms available, unlike other universities.
Industry troubles
A faltering international student market and industry concerns around the Renters’ Rights Act (which comes into effect in May) have led to a precarious student accommodation market in recent years.
Compared to other universities, King’s owns few of the residences it allocates. According to King’s, this allows it to reduce overall costs and reinvest more elsewhere into the university.
The problem-ridden Champion Hill residence, which it does own, is set to partially reopen in the next academic year, according to university papers, but it has not yet publicly confirmed this.
A spokesperson for King’s College London told Roar:
“We always work to keep accommodation costs as low as possible, negotiating lower than market rates from the third-party partners who own the majority of our residences, and passing that discount on to our students. All rates and any rent increases are agreed with KCLSU and are representative of our Central London location.
“A fifth of our rooms are part of the King’s Affordable Accommodation Scheme (KAAS), which we have worked hard to keep at an unchanged rate for ten years, despite increasing cost pressures, and although next year this heavily subsidised rate will increase slightly, this will remain well within the Student Union and Great London Authority definitions of ‘affordable accommodation’.
“KAAS is a sector-leading programme we’re proud to be able to provide, along with a variety of residences to suit all models of study, to give all those who choose to come to King’s a range of high-quality housing options in the heart of London.”
Table of changes
| Weekly rent | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Residence | Room Type | Operator | 2025/26 | 2026/27 | % change |
| Angel Lane | KAAS Ensuite | Unite Students | £163.00 | £163.00 | 0.00% |
| Angel Lane | Ensuite | Unite Students | £283.00 | £297.00 | 4.95% |
| Angel Lane | Studio | Unite Students | £420.00 | £441.00 | 5.00% |
| Atlas | 4-Bed Non-Ensuite | Downing Students | £314.00 | £330.00 | 5.10% |
| Atlas | Ensuite | Downing Students | £369.00 | £387.00 | 4.88% |
| Atlas | Large Ensuite | Downing Students | £385.00 | £404.00 | 4.94% |
| Atlas | Large Studio | Downing Students | £497.00 | £522.00 | 5.03% |
| Atlas | Medium/Standard Studio | Downing Students | £485.00 | £509.00 | 4.95% |
| Atlas | Small Studio | Downing Students | £458.00 | £481.00 | 5.02% |
| Atlas | 3-Bed Non-Ensuite | Downing Students | £322.00 | £338.00 | 4.97% |
| Battersea | Ensuite | Urbanest | £394.00 | £414.00 | 5.08% |
| Battersea | Ensuite KAAS | Urbanest | £169.00 | £169.00 | 0.00% |
| Battersea | Non-Ensuite KAAS | Urbanest | £169.00 | £169.00 | 0.00% |
| Battersea | Shared Ensuite KAAS | Urbanest | £169.00 | £169.00 | 0.00% |
| Battersea | Twin Studio (1/2 Twin) KAAS | Urbanest | £169.00 | £169.00 | 0.00% |
| Canada Water | Ensuite | Scape | £324.00 | £340.00 | 4.94% |
| Canada Water | Large Ensuite | Scape | £339.00 | £356.00 | 5.01% |
| City | Ensuite | Urbanest | £412.00 | £433.00 | 5.10% |
| City | 4-Bed Non-Ensuite | Urbanest | £320.00 | £336.00 | 5.00% |
| City | Large Studio | Urbanest | £535.00 | £562.00 | 5.05% |
| City | Medium Studio | Urbanest | £520.00 | £546.00 | 5.00% |
| City | Standard Studio | Urbanest | £515.00 | £541.00 | 5.05% |
| City | 3-Bed Non-Ensuite | Urbanest | £335.00 | £352.00 | 5.07% |
| City | Twin | Urbanest | £280.00 | £294.00 | 5.00% |
| City | 2-Bed Non-Ensuite | Urbanest | £346.00 | £363.00 | 4.91% |
| Great Dover Street | KAAS Ensuite | King’s | £169.00 | £169.00 | 0.00% |
| Great Dover Street | Ensuite | King’s | £245.00 | £249.00 | 1.63% |
| Great Dover Street | Large Ensuite | King’s | £265.00 | £278.00 | 4.91% |
| Hayloft Point | Ensuite | Unite Students | £360.00 | £378.00 | 5.00% |
| Hayloft Point | KAAS Ensuite | Unite Students | £169.00 | £169.00 | 0.00% |
| Julian Markham | Ensuite | Unite Students | £330.00 | £347.00 | 5.15% |
| Julian Markham | Studio | Unite Students | £425.00 | £446.00 | 4.94% |
| Moonraker Point | Large Ensuite | Unite Students | £380.00 | £399.00 | 5.00% |
| Moonraker Point | Ensuite | Unite Students | £372.00 | £391.00 | 5.11% |
| Orchard Lisle & Iris Brook | Non-Ensuite | King’s | £253.00 | £263.00 | 3.95% |
| Orchard Lisle & Iris Brook | Standard Studio | King’s | £321.00 | £334.00 | 4.05% |
| Orchard Lisle & Iris Brook | Medium Studio | King’s | £331.00 | £344.00 | 3.93% |
| Orchard Lisle & Iris Brook | Large Studio | King’s | £343.00 | £357.00 | 4.08% |
| Stamford Street | KAAS Ensuite | King’s | £169.00 | £169.00 | 0.00% |
| Stamford Street | Ensuite | King’s | £290.00 | £299.00 | 3.10% |
| Stamford Street | Large Ensuite | King’s | £295.00 | £310.00 | 5.08% |
| Stamford Street | Small Studio | King’s | £392.00 | £412.00 | 5.10% |
| Vauxhall | Non-Ensuite | Urbanest | £320.00 | £336.00 | 5.00% |
| Vauxhall | Studio | Urbanest | £483.00 | £507.00 | 4.97% |
| Vauxhall | Ensuite | Urbanest | £372.00 | £391.00 | 5.11% |
| Vega | Non-Ensuite KAAS | iQ | £169.00 | £169.00 | 0.00% |
| Wolfson House | One Bed Flat | King’s | £421.00 | £442.00 | 4.99% |
| Wolfson House | Non-Ensuite (14-bed flat) | King’s | £190.00 | £200.00 | 5.26% |
| Wolfson House | KAAS Non-Ensuite | King’s | £155.00 | £155.00 | 0.00% |
| Wolfson House | Non-Ensuite (4-bed flat) | King’s | £212.00 | £223.00 | 5.19% |
Download this data as an interactive Excel spreadsheet (xlsx, 25 KB)
This article was corrected on 6 March 2026. It previously stated that KCLSU had campaigned this year for a 6.5% rent rise to be reduced to 5%. This was incorrect: last year’s rent rise was 6.5% and this year’s 5%. It also stated that ‘500 rooms’ had been moved into a lower rent bracket. This should have read ‘over 500 rooms’. Roar is happy to correct the record.
Kaveh Kordestani is a staff writer for Roar
