ANOTHER conundrum about students is why privately owned houses let out solely to students is exempt from any council tax.

It makes no sense whatsoever.

There is no reason why landlords of these properties should not pay council tax as they would for any other property they owned.

They are after all getting a great deal of income on their investment.

If landlords paid half the tax on each property – the half covering the services, they would no doubt add that amount to the rent – so it wouldn’t cost them anything in the long run, and in a house of five or six students it would actually not be a big increase for each of them.

What a huge difference this would make to our local economy though, wouldn’t it?

Angela Bailey Haxby, York.