AS MRS K Pepper writes (Letters March 2), there are a shortage of affordable houses on the market because they are bought up by landlords to rent out to the university as student lets.

And, as she points out, there is no council tax paid on the property which can sometimes have five or six students living there.

Which means five to six times more waste to collect and at least two cars to block the road and the local residents have to put more into the council pot to cover the shortfall for the privilege of having a university in our city. A quick count of student houses in Broadway alone is about 12. That equates to about £14,100 and that is only in Broadway.

Come on City of York Cuncil, that can’t be right.

Why should we have to pay for students’ digs just because the university hasn’t enough bedrooms for them? And to lose £14,100 in one road is no small amount to lose K Hartley Broadway, Fulford, York.