Press releases

Deloitte offers graduates a helping hand on housing

9 September 2015

More than 40 of Deloitte’s 2015 graduate intake are preparing to move into East Village (the former Athletes’ Village on the doorstep of Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park) as part of a new initiative with Get Living London - owner and manager of the privately rented homes at East Village. The offer will give graduates joining Deloitte the opportunity to choose between newly furnished two or three bedroom apartments with exemption from credit checks and the benefit of Get Living London’s no fees approach. Deloitte’s graduates in the scheme will receive two weeks’ rent free, the ability to reserve a property up to six weeks in advance and free fibre optic broadband. As part of the initiative the firm has organised events and social media forums to help its new graduates meet each other before they start and find a flatmate.

The move comes after a survey of the firm’s 2014 graduates found that securing quality and affordable accommodation in central London is a major concern. 72% of last year’s graduate intake lived in rented property with the remainder living in family homes and commuting into Central London. In the survey, 86% of graduates joining Deloitte said they would like help from the firm to find suitable shared accommodation.

James Ferguson, partner at Deloitte UK, said: “The availability of affordable rented accommodation is a problem for all Londoners, including young professionals. 5% of our graduate intake last year found the city’s housing costs so prohibitive they had to share a bedroom, whilst others lived in property where communal living space had been converted into an additional bedroom to make renting affordable. London has an image problem as a place where affordable accommodation is hard to find. Initiatives like this seek to address the problem to ensure London remains an attractive destination for the best and brightest.”

“Deloitte is one of the largest employers of graduates in the UK, recruiting more than 1,000 each year with the majority working in our London offices. With so many young people arriving in London to work for our firm, we feel it is the right thing to do to provide more support. We believe this initiative will have a positive impact on our graduates’ experience of joining the firm, helping to turn the process of moving to the capital from a daunting to an exciting prospect.”

Alina Serdjukova graduated from the University of Warwick last year and joined Deloitte as an associate in the firm’s audit practice. She will move into her three-bedroom apartment in East Village in the next two weeks. Alina said: “I moved to London last autumn straight after University. Finding affordable accommodation with good facilities was really difficult. The better flats are often taken before you even speak to the agent, or in some cases are not as nice as advertised. I heard about the opportunity to live in East Village through a Deloitte social media forum and am now really excited about moving in. It is going to make a real difference to my experience of living in London.”
 

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Note to editors

About Get Living London
Get Living London is a true pioneer in the private rental sector, changing the way London rents. As the residential owner directly managing 1,439 private rental homes in the former Athletes’ Village, East Village, Get Living London aims to make renting refreshingly straightforward and convenient. In this unique position, Get Living London doesn’t charge fees, provides long term tenancies (up to three years) with built-in flexibility, ensures a service-oriented approach and offers high quality homes at East Village.

Work Perks is Get Living London’s bespoke corporate offering to help meet the requirements of employees looking for private rental homes in London. For Deloitte, Work Perks, includes the first two weeks rent free, 1 Gbps free Hyperoptic broadband plus free evening and weekend landline calls, the ability to reserve homes up to six weeks in advance and an exemption from credit checks.

Get Living London was announced ‘Landlord of the Year (Privately Owned) at the 2015 RESI Awards and ‘Property Newcomer of the Year’ at the 2014 RESI Awards. For more information on Get Living London visit www.getlivinglondon.com

East Village, the former Athletes’ Village on the doorstep of Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, won ‘Best New Place to Live’ and the ‘Mayor’s Award for Planning Excellence’ at the 2014 London Planning Awards. For more information on East Village visit www.eastvillagelondon.co.uk

About Deloitte
In this press release references to Deloitte are references to Deloitte LLP, which is among the country's leading professional services firms.

Deloitte LLP is the United Kingdom member firm of Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited (“DTTL”), a UK private company limited by guarantee, whose member firms are legally separate and independent entities. Please see www.deloitte.co.uk/about for a detailed description of the legal structure of DTTL and its member firms.

The information contained in this press release is correct at the time of going to press.

Member of Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited.

Sue Gibson
Deloitte LLP
+44 020 7303 3156
+44 078 5539 9368
sugibson@deloitte.co.uk

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